Thanks for the cookbook recipe, i made an example where all the rows are extracted and converted back to the original datatype, maybe this is useful for someone else too. {-# LANGUAGE QuasiQuotes, TypeFamilies, GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving, TemplateHaskell, OverloadedStrings #-} import Database.Persist import Database.Persist.Base import Database.Persist.Sqlite import Database.Persist.GenericSql.Raw import Control.Monad.IO.Class (liftIO) import Control.Monad.Loops (whileJust) import Database.Persist.TH import Data.Either (rights) import Data.Text (Text) share [mkPersist, mkMigrate "migrateAll"][persist| Person name Text |] main :: IO () main = withSqliteConn ":memory:" $ runSqlConn $ do runMigration migrateAll insert $ Person "Michael Snoyman" insert $ Person "Miriam Snoyman" insert $ Person "Eliezer Snoyman" insert $ Person "Gavriella Snoyman" insert $ Person "Greg Weber" insert $ Person "Rick Richardson" lol <- withStmt "SELECT name FROM \"Person\";" ([]::[PersistValue]) $ \pop -> whileJust pop (return.fromPersistValues) liftIO $ print (rights lol::[Person])