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.
January 27, 1997 - It seems everyone's a stargazer these days, with all the publicity given to Comet Hale-Bopp. The comet is expected to be visible over the next few months; after that, it's a safe bet most folks will put their telescopes back on the shelf and start concentrating on earthly things again. But Jim Wentworth won't.
January 31, 1997 - As part of the Voices from the Heartland series, Minnesota poet Diane Glancy reads her poem "The Back Porch of the Country."
January 31, 1997 - Many Minnesota school districts are wondering how to make up for missed "snow days". There's a lot of winter still to come, and while it's common for schools to build two or three extra days into the educational calendar, two or three extra weeks are another matter.
January 31, 1997 - Larger-than-life puppets and the magical realism of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez come together in the latest production of "In the Heart of the Beast" Mask and Puppet Theater in Minneapolis. "A very old man with enormous wings" tells the tale of a broken, elderly man with wings who mysteriously appears in a coastal village and causes an uproar. While the story sounds more like an ancient legend, the production's creators believe it resonates in modern times.
January 31, 1997 - Pioneer Press architecture critic Larry Millett gives us a critique of the Twins' proposed new ballpark.
January 31, 1997 - "The Loon Resort and Bait Shop" opens in Bemidji tonight. Playwright Phil Holt, a Bemidji native who now lives in Minneapolis, says the play is about returning to one's hometown after many years away.
February 2, 1997 -
February 5, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Mark Steil reports that county governments in Minnesota are in a financial squeeze as state and federal grants decline. They must either cut services or find new revenue sources. In southwest Minnesota, a bookmobile with a roadrunner painted on its side is directly in the path of the funding dilemma. People who use it say it's foolish to cut a service which enriches minds.
February 7, 1997 - A reading by Robert Treuer, "the Tree Farm," part of the Voices from the Heartland series.
February 7, 1997 - Ojibwe storyteller Ann Dunn lost her mother recently. It's been a painful loss, but she has found some comfort in her mother's belongings and her legacy.