This collection encompasses 50-plus years of interviews, readings, speeches, and reports on the vibrant literary scene in Minnesota. Not only home to giants F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis, our state has an array of incredible contemporary poets, novelists, and playwrights. Their words make up majority of this collection.
Repeatedly being named the “Most Literate City in the United States,” the Twin Cities has played host to numerous visiting national writers via book tours, festivals, and lectures. Many recordings of these are also included.
This project was funded by the National Historical Publications & Records Commission.
December 11, 1996 - Twin Cities playwright Kevin Kling takes to the stage of the Jungle Theatre in Uptown Minneapolis tomorrow night for the annual seasonal run of sacred and possibly heretical Christmas stories. It was a Freudian slip, I swear, when I asked Kevin to explain the show, and I referred to it as Fear and LOATHING in Minneapolis.
December 13, 1996 - An essay on "look at me" houses by Voices from the Heartland contributor Mike Perry.
December 14, 1996 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews author Lee Smith about using Christmas letters as an idea for creating a novel…with recipes, of course.
December 14, 1996 - Lessons passed from one generation to another are an important part of the continuity of family. However, commentator Ann Dunn recalls one time when the lesson was that of disappointment.
December 16, 1996 - Hour 2 of Midmorning, featuring a "double header" of Voices of Minnesota with playwright Barbara Fields, best known for her adaptation of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" for the Guthrie Theatre. Also hear from Mike Nelson, the host of the TV show, "Mystery Science Theatre 3000." Arne Fogel discusses a new 2 cd set, "Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters: The Complete Recordings" on the MCA label.
December 18, 1996 - Newspapers -- dailies and weeklies, all over Minnesota -- are rushing to incarnate themselves on the Internet. Less than a year ago, seven papers had online editions; now, fifty Minnesota newspapers can be found on the World Wide Web, and more are going on-line every week. This, even though the electronic readership is still small -- some papers reach only dozens of readers per issue.
December 20, 1996 - Voices from the Heartland: Kent Nerburn, "Blue" from his new book, A Haunting Reverence: Meditations on a Northern Land.
December 21, 1996 -
December 24, 1996 -
December 24, 1996 - MPR’s Eric Friesen interviews local composer Stephen Paulus and poet Kevin Crossley-Holland about carols. They have collaborated on the creating the piece “Pilgrim Jesus” for the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge.