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 3, 1999 - Minnesota author Frederick Manfred was so dedicated to his creative calling that despite writing 33 books, he was frequently broke. The critically acclaimed author of Lord Grizzly, The Golden Bowl, and This is the Year died in 1994. While he was good at getting his books published, he was not as adept at negotiating his pay. In her new memoir, Frederick Manfred: A Daughter Remembers, Freya Manfred says her father didn't have a lot growing up and in some ways it's surprising he went on to become a respected literary force.
December 8, 1999 - Historian and baseball fan Doris Kearns Goodwin will talk about presidents, sports, and family in her speech, "Walking with Our Daughters into the 20th Century."
December 9, 1999 - Writer Bill Holm reflects on Christmas letters in this Voices of Minnesota holiday favorite. Originally broadcast in 1997.
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December 13, 1999 - For patients sitting through hours of chemotherapy or family members waiting for a loved one to come out of radiation, there are the usual distractions - old magazines, the newspaper or television. But there isn't much to feed the soul, especially for those who haven't come to terms with the disease. Karin Miller is hoping to change that. Two years ago, her husband Thom was diagnosed with cancer. He was 36 and had a tumor the size of a football in his abdomen. Karen began writing poetry to get through the difficult months of his treatment. She suspected others touched by cancer might be doing the same thing, so she founded the Cancer Poetry Project. Through a Web site and other publicity, Miller is soliciting poetry for an anthology that she hopes will be published next year.
December 14, 1999 - The Hungry Mind, Saint Paul's nationally known bookseller, literary review, and press is looking for a new name. The Hungry Mind sold its name to a cyber-university earlier this fall, and needs a new one before April, 2000. In this age of branding, trademarks, and electronic commerce the task of coming up with something as potent as what it's had for the past 29 years is a challenge.