Eric Dregni is an American author. He is an associate professor of English and Journalism at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

, where he teaches writing. He has written or cowritten travel memoirs and essays about Minnesota, Norway, and Italy, as well as guidebooks and books on popular culture in the American Midwest.

Childhood and personal life

Dregni lives with his wife, Katy, and three children in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis. His family lived in Belgium when he was a child, and traveled in Britain and Northern Europe before they settled in

Minnetonka Minnetonka ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Minnetonka is located about west of Minneapolis. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 53,781. Minnetonka is the home of Car ...

. In the 1990s he played in the amateur novelty band ''Vinnie and the Stardüsters''. Dregni founded the band with John Perkins. The two met as teenagers on a junior high school church trip but formed the band as undergraduates at

Macalester College Macalester College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1874, Macalester is exclusively an undergraduate institution with an enrollment of 2,142 students in the fall of 2023. The college ha ...

. Dregni, a music major, graduated in 1990.

Career

MinnPost ''MinnPost'' is a nonprofit online newspaper in Minneapolis, founded in 2007, with a focus on Minnesota news. Content and format The site does not endorse candidates for office or publish unsigned editorials representing an institutional posit ...

profile characterized Dregni's writing career as suggestive of a man on "an endless (and sometimes endlessly weird) vacation." He has written several guidebooks to the American

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

, the product of a series of road trips. His book ''In Cod We Trust'' came out of a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

that funded Dregni to spend 2003 in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

with his wife and their newborn son. ''Never Trust a Thin Cook'' was written after a series of extended visits to Italy, culminating in a yearlong residence in

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

in the 1990s.

Bibliography

As author

*''Zamboni: The Coolest Machines on Ice'' *''Scooter Mania''(1996) *''Let's Go Bowling!'' *''Scooters: Everything You Need to Know'' * ''Vikings in the Attic; In search of Nordic America''. (

University of Minnesota Press The University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota. It had annual revenues of just over $8 million in fiscal year 2018. Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its book ...

br>University of Minnesota Press
2011). *''In Cod We Trust''. Minneapolis. *''Midwest Marvels''. Minneapolis. *''Minnesota Marvels''. Minneapolis. *''Never Trust a Thin Cook and Other Lessons from Italy's Culinary Capital''. *''By the Waters of Minnetonka''. Minneapolis. * ''Let's Go Fishing! Fish Tales from the North Woods'' (2016. University of Minnesota Press) * ''You're Sending Me Where? Dispatches from Summer Camp'' (2017. University of Minnesota Press) * ''For the Love of Cod. A Father and Son’s Search for Norwegian Happiness'' (2021. University of Minnesota Press)

As co-author

*''Weird Minnesota (Weird) '' *''Scooter Bible: From Cushman to Vespa, the Ultimate History and Buyer's Guide'' *''Ads That Put America on Wheels '' *''Illustrated Motorscooter Buyer's Guide (Illustrated Buyer's Guide)'' *''Follies of Science: 20th Century Visions of Our Fantastic Future''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dregni, Eric Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Writers from Minneapolis Academic staff of Concordia University American people of Norwegian descent American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers