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.
May 7, 1993 -
May 8, 1993 - A reading from Native American author Louise Erdrich’s book "The Blue Jay's Dance: A Birth Year." Book is a meditation on the experience of motherhood - the first nonfiction work by Erdrich.
May 8, 1993 -
May 8, 1993 -
May 8, 1993 - Chris Roberts interviews author Karal Ann Marling about the history and impact of the public holiday, Mother’s Day in the United States.
May 12, 1993 - "The Piano Lesson" by August Wilson at Penumbra Theater and two 1-Act plays by Kim Hines, "Cut on the Bias" and "Do Not Pass Go" at Illusion Theater.
May 14, 1993 - An interview with Jon Hassler talks about the process of his newest book "Dear James" from when he first got the idea during a trip to the Vatican.
May 14, 1993 - Essay on spring cleaning and remembrances later collected in Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map by Barton Sutter, published October 1998 by University of Minnesota Press.
May 15, 1993 - Minnesota travel writer John Shepard visits MPR studios with some summer vacation ideas. Shepard details areas of state beyond the well-traversed.
May 19, 1993 -