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.
October 7, 1997 - Remember the house of straw? Built by a hasty and foolish piglet, blown down with ease by a hungry wolf - the straw house was a warning to us all. Well, in fact, it turns out straw makes a pretty good house. Nebraska farmers knew it a century ago, and now houses made of strawbales are making a revival that's reached from New Mexico, to New Zealand, to Northern Minnesota.
October 10, 1997 - Midday’s Gary Eichten speaks with former Minnesota governor Elmer L. Andersen about his life and his book, Views from the Publisher's Desk. Andersen also answers listener call-in questions.
October 18, 1997 - A young boy's fear and admiration for Wolves is the subject of Minnesota author Mary Casanova's new book "Wolf Shadows". Casanova's home is near the Minnesota/Canadian border. Her surroundings often provide the inspiration for her young adult books. Her intimate knowledge of the north woods and her frequent sightings of wolves helped to spark the idea for "Wolf Shadows". Mary Casanova is not afraid to take on controversial subjects in her writing. "Wolf Shadows" explores animal rights and man's complex relationship with wolves.
October 23, 1997 - The name Disneyland conjures images of fairy tale castles, Mickey Mouse, clean and tidy streets and glimpses of the future; a place where nostalgia and fantasy are woven together. Disneyland has also become a metaphor for American popular culture and its grip on the rest of the world. Many cultural critics cringe at Disney's sweeping global influence. But a new exhibit making its American debut at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis seeks to supply a new, more historical perspective on Disney's cultural rise to power. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts spoke with the exhibit's curator, University of Minnesota Art Historian Karal Ann Marling.
October 25, 1997 - The skies turn darker earlier this weekend as we return to standard time. That means bedtime is going to be darker. "Getting Used to the Dark" is a new book of poetry by St. Paul children's author Susan Marie Swanson. Her book is aimed at helping children brave the darkness and those bumps in the night.
October 31, 1997 - With a mandolin revival underway in the music world, MPR’s Dan Olson profiles the University of Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra.
November 2, 1997 - Minneapolis, Taos, and Europe and are among the locations captured in Natalie Goldberg's new book "Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World". The book contains more than 60 full color paintings and explores Goldberg's symbiotic relationship between painting and writing. Goldberg says she began painting at 26--when she used a cheap children's water-color set and crayons to make her art. But she credits bad teeth and frequent trips to the dentist office as the beginning of her artistic spark.
November 18, 1997 - Much of what we know as Minnesota's fertile farmland would still be swamp had it not been drained. A hundred years ago it was common practice to dig ditches and dredge rivers, and today those ditches and rivers keep the land arable. But conservationists say increasingly, it's a practice out of sync with environmental biology; and a proposal for a major ditch overhaul in northwestern Minnesota has divided local residents.
November 22, 1997 - This is National Children's book week. From HOP ON POP to WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE--children's books are the foundation for a life long love of literature. As the holidays approach many of us turn to critics to guide us towards good gift books. Jane Resh Thomas has reviewed books for the Star Tribune newspaper for the past 25 years. She's also written 11 children's books--including her latest book CELEBRATIONS. Resh Thomas says although the colorful illustrations in children's books are better than ever...things are not ROSY in the world of children's publishing.
November 29, 1997 - Can you go home again--that's the question posed in Jonis Agee's new book "South of Resurrection". The story centers on Moline Bedwell--a tough-minded woman who returns to her hometown of Resurrection, Missouri after 20 years. "South of Resurrection" is Agee's third novel. Agee says her new book is a tale of modern rural life and is a tribute to her family's homestead. Agee's spending a lot of time these days thinking about "Home." She recently left her teaching position at St. Catherine's in St. Paul to teach in Ann Arbor, Michigan.