Portrait of Heidi Arneson by Alberta Mirais

ABOUT HEIDI

Heidi Arneson is an author, playwright, storyteller, and visual artist. She leads workshops in recovering memory to build autobiographical fiction, tells darkly-comical stories, and paints portraits and landscapes. Ms. Arneson trained in theater and dance (Institute for Professional Actor Training, Nancy Hauser Modern Dance), worked in alternative theater (Olympia Arts Ensemble), and as a playwright, actress, and designer for educational theater (Science Museum of Minnesota Acting Company), then created a series of one-woman shows about childhood and the psyche.

While developing solo works for the stage, she led whole-body workshops to develop autobiographically-based plays, most notably in a men’s correctional facility. After establishing herself as a trailblazer in the realm of solo performance, she began to write fiction. Her first book, Interlocking Monsters, probes small-town secrecy. Her second novel, The Chalk Canoe, is a coming-of-age adventure about forbidden love.