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 10, 1993 - In this segment of Voices from the Heartland, Duluth author Michael Fedo reads essay on his recollections while traveling with musical partner Dan Kossoff as they toured the Midwest during the holidays.
December 10, 1993 - La Posada (The Inn) was premiered by Teatro del Pueblo, December 1993 in Minneapolis, MN and included the following cast: Nicolas Carter, Jose Alfredo Panelli, Sally Ramirez and Nick Lopez; producers Jose Alfredo Panelli and Alberto Justiniano; director Raul Ramos.
December 11, 1993 -
December 13, 1993 - Writer Suzann Ledbetter reads a holiday story on the lengths taken in getting a Christmas tree. Story is from Ledbetter’s book “The Toast Always Lands Jelly-Side Down: And Other Tales of Suburban Life.”
December 16, 1993 -
December 17, 1993 - 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 22, 1993 - Minnesota Times and Tastes: Recipes and Menus Seasoned with History from the Minnesota Governor's Residence, published by Susan Carlson with the 1006 Summit Avenue Society, edited by Jean Steiner
December 22, 1993 - Minnesota poet and author Bill Holm comments on a number of winter topics, from the sense of poverty on the farm, to the meaning behind lutefisk.
December 23, 1993 - MPR’s Euan Kerr profiles local Celtic band The Flash Girls. The duo, Emma Bull and Lorraine Garland, discuss their unique “semi-Celtic polite folk Riot grrrls” style, Neil Gaiman, and doughnuts.
December 23, 1993 - MPR’s Joe Follansbee reports from Rochester’s Federal Medical Center, where prisoners are preparing an annual production of “A Christmas Carol.” Follansbee interviews a few of the participants.