Grant Evans joins the Havre Daily News

Grant Evans just joined the Havre Daily News team as a full-time reporter Monday and said he is is looking forward to meeting the people of Havre as he begins his work.

Evans was born in Langdon, North Dakota, where he got his first taste of agricultural work, a subject he will now be reporting on as a reporter.

"Growing up in rural North Dakota, you know, I worked the farm since I was 13 driving the grain cart, so I had a lot of experience farming," he said.

After turning 18, he went to school at the University of Minnesota-Moorhead where he studied mass communication with an emphasis on advertising which he got his degree in before returning home.

Around the same time as his entry to college he became interested in songwriting, which he said was his introduction to writing as a possible career path.

"I started songwriting when I was about 20, I guess that's where my writing and education started," he said.

When he went back to school in 2013 and settled in Minnesota more permanently, he studied English, beginning in creative writing before refining his interest to creative non-fiction.

He said the greatest inspiration for his writing was David Foster Wallace.

Reading creative non-fiction would become one of his two favorite pastimes, accompanying his continued interest in songwriting.

He said he eventually took up journalism around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Evans said, as his professors moved to remote learning, he needed a greater outlet to write, which led him to the school's newspaper.

During his time there, he taught himself AP style and took interest in what was going on around campus, which would end up being relevant experience for covering Montana State University-Northern in Havre, a subject he said he is most interested to begin covering.

"I look forward most to that," he said.

Evans said he's also interested in speaking with farmers during his time with the agriculture beat and wants to hear how they are doing and get their perspective about things like government subsidies.

"Just meeting new people and hearing their stories and being a conduit for their stories ... it's really just about the people which interests me the most," he said.

Evans said he's excited to start getting to know the people of Havre as his work begins with the paper and he works to become a part of the community he covers.

"I just hope I get the chance to meet a lot of people," he said.