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.
February 19, 1999 - MPR’s Katherine Lanpher talks with poets Robert Bly and William Duffy about their adventures in poetry - both then and now.
February 26, 1999 - Jim Knipfel has walked on the dark side of life. As a young man, he was a heavy drinker, and a petty thief prone to start fights. He spent time in psychiatric wards after multiple suicide attempts. Finally, in his late twenties he started settling down, landing a job as a newspaper columnist, getting married and moving away from his wilder drinking buddies. But then Knipfel entered a literal dark side. His eyesight had always been poor, but doctors told him that he was going to be blind by age 35. Now almost completely blind, he recounts his wild years and his loss of vision in his new blackly comedic memoir Slackjaw.
March 5, 1999 - Novelist Jon Hassler is best known for his fictional tales of ordinary people who experience extraordinary things. Hassler brings those same elements and even a few familiar characters to his latest literary pursuit, a darkly comedic play set in the small Midwestern town of Staggerford, the same town he wrote about in his very first novel.
March 9, 1999 - Many Minnesotans experienced a few white knuckle moments on the roads today, but imagine if driving was your work. Author Ellen Hawley spent five years as a twin cities cab driver. Her first novel, "Trip Sheets" is a fictional account of a young female cabbie loosely based on Hawley's life. Hawley says she's glad she didn't have to spend 9 hours on the roads today, but the cab driving life does offer some perks.
March 12, 1999 - A lot is going on in the world of popular music this weekend. Minnesota Public Radio's Jim Bickal talked with James Deers, music critic for Sidewalk.com about some of the highlights.
March 30, 1999 -
April 1, 1999 - The University of Minnesota library is 12,500 books larger than it was yesterday. Former governor and University Regent Elmer Andersen contributed four truckloads of books to the U. An article in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune says Andersen has a history of donating rare and valuable books to his alma mater. Thomas Shaughnessy is University librarian.
April 2, 1999 - This is a significant week in the religious world: tonight is the third night of Passover, when Jews around the world celebrate the Israelites' escape from slavery in Ancient Egypt. And today is Good Friday, the day most western Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The Holy Week leading up to Easter is a celebration of resurrection and new life. For Minneapolis author Margaret Wurtele, the occasion was a chance to reflect on the small gains she experienced from a devastating loss.
April 14, 1999 - A sampling of readings at Minneapolis Public Library in celebration of 1999 National Poetry Month. More than a dozen local luminaries read their favorite poems for a lunchtime audience.
April 23, 1999 - You might know Lynda Barry from her NPR commentaries, from her comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek, or her novella -- what she called a "novelini" - The Good Times Are Killing Me. Barry has just finished her first novel. Cruddy is an illustrated novel, Barry says based in form on illustrated novels from the turn of the century, with paintings instead of the quirky line drawings of her comic books. Cruddy is definitely an adult book, and is at the same time charming and disturbing. You're charmed by the heroine's spirit given her cruddy life, but then disturbed when you find out "cruddy" doesn't begin to describe it.