Laura McCallum
Minnesota Life Team Leader
Food & CultureA North Dakota native, McCallum came to the Minnesota Star Tribune after nearly 27 years at Minnesota Public Radio News as a reporter, editor and newsroom leader. She spent four years as Politics & Government Editor at the Star Tribune and now leads the Minnesota Life team in the Food & Culture Department. She is an avid reader who occasionally reviews books.
Latest from Laura McCallum
Review: Popular ‘The Maid’ writer Nita Prose to meet fans in Minneapolis
Fiction: She’s here April 22 to discuss her fourth Molly the Maid book, in which a hotel cleaner solves a heist.
April 16, 2025
How the Star Tribune is covering the 2024 election
Our mission this election cycle is to provide the facts and context you need. Here’s how we’ll do that.
October 8, 2024
Review: With Peggy Flanagan in headlines, Minnesota’s first elected woman lieutenant governor tells her story
Local nonfiction: In “Rise to the Challenge,” Marlene M. Johnson writes about her two terms in office, decades ago — and caregiving for her spouse after he suffered a traumatic brain injury.
September 19, 2024
Book shows how ‘True Believer’ Hubert Humphrey made deals, fought injustice, skinny-dipped with JFK
NONFICTION: James Traub delivers a big biography of an exuberant champion of liberal causes.
February 7, 2024
Curious about the great Willa Cather? Start with 'Chasing Bright Medusas'
NONFICTION: This slim homage to one of the great American writers is an absorbing introduction.
November 8, 2023
Review: 'The Secret Gate,' by Mitchell Zuckoff
NONFICTION: The true story of an American diplomat, an Afghan writer and a dangerous escape from Taliban rule.
April 28, 2023
Review: 'Empress of the Nile,' by Lynne Olson
NONFICTION: Lynne Olson's ninth book of history profiles a fiery Egyptologist who led an international campaign.
March 17, 2023
Review: 'Cabin Fever,' by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin
NONFICTION: "Cabin Fever" takes us inside the Zaandam, which had an unanticipated passenger — the coronavirus.
June 17, 2022
Curious about the great Willa Cather? Start with 'Chasing Bright Medusas'
NONFICTION: This slim homage to one of the great American writers is an absorbing introduction.
November 8, 2023
Review: 'The Secret Gate,' by Mitchell Zuckoff
NONFICTION: The true story of an American diplomat, an Afghan writer and a dangerous escape from Taliban rule.
April 28, 2023
Review: 'Empress of the Nile,' by Lynne Olson
NONFICTION: Lynne Olson's ninth book of history profiles a fiery Egyptologist who led an international campaign.
March 17, 2023
Review: 'Cabin Fever,' by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin
NONFICTION: "Cabin Fever" takes us inside the Zaandam, which had an unanticipated passenger — the coronavirus.
June 17, 2022