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.
November 25, 1994 - Essay later collected in "Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map" by Barton Sutter, published October 1998 by University of Minnesota Press.
December 2, 1994 -
December 7, 1994 -
December 8, 1994 -
December 9, 1994 -
December 9, 1994 - Recorded while a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Saint Olaf College and Endowed Chair in Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Saint Thomas.
December 10, 1994 - MPR presents various readings from a collection of essays written by teenagers about their life experience. Topics include isolation, sexual orientation, race, and despair.
December 10, 1994 - On this Weekend program, Carol Erdahl, co-owner of the Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, talks about children's books. Topics include picture books, characters, and parent awareness of subject matter. Erdahl also shares book recommendations and answers listener questions.
December 12, 1994 - MPR’s Beth Friend interviews author Jane Pejsa about her book “Gratia Countryman: Her Life, Her Loves and Her Library.” The book details the life of Gratia Countryman, a nationally known librarian who led the Minneapolis Public Library from 1904 to 1936. She was a pioneer in outreach and creating accessibility to books for the greater public.
December 15, 1994 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Minneosta poets Diane Glancy and C. W. Truesdale about the book “Two Worlds Walking: Short Stories, Essays, and Poetry by Writers of Mixed Heritages" that they edited. Segment includes Glancy doing short readings.