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.
June 26, 2001 - Most Minnesotans know what the word Minnesota means. It means "sky-tinted water." It's a combination of the Dakota Indian words "mini," which means water, and "sota," which means somewhat clouded. But do you know how your city or town got its name, or that nearby lake or river? The Minnesota Historical Society recently published the third edition of the book, "Minnesota Place Names," which explains how cities and other places got their names. Ann Regan is the managing editor of the Minnesota Historical Society Press.
July 9, 2001 - MPR’s Elizabeth Stawicki presents report on attempts to save the Ojibwe language. Report includes various interviews, including Jim Northrup. At one time more than 300 American Indian languages were spoken in the U.S. But with each passing generation, many of the indigenous languages have died; others are on the verge of disappearing. With that in mind, tribes from northern Wisconsin and Minnesota are trying to keep their Ojibwe language from going silent and along the way gain new insight into how their ancestors viewed the world.
July 16, 2001 - In Carol Muske-Dukes' novel "Life After Death" a St. Paul woman tells her husband, in a fit of anger, to drop dead. The following day he does just that, collapsing of a heart attack while playing tennis. She is left angry, confused, guilty, and troubled by strange memories, such as the time he proposed to her in New York. Carol Muske-Dukes says when she began writing "Life after Death", she intended to write a satire on the funeral industry in the spirit of Evelyn Waugh and Jessica Mittford. But as she did her research, talking to funeral directors, she began wanting to write a book about what actually happens to people, both living and dead, when someone passes away. Then, as she told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr, things took a bizarre twist. The week she mailed the finished manuscript for publication, her own husband collapsed and died on a tennis court.
July 20, 2001 - A favorite speech for the summer by author Rebecca Wells. Wells is the author of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood and Little Altars Everywhere. She visited the Twin Series during the 2000-2001 season of the Hennepin County Library Foundation's Pen Pals Lecture Series.
July 30, 2001 - MPR’s Annie Feidt interviews slam poet Thadra Sheridan. She is one of five local poets that are sharpening their words, and clearing their throats in perparation for this year's National Poetry Slam.
August 3, 2001 - Local author James Chiles talks about his new book, Inviting Disaster: Lessons from the Edge of Technology.
September 25, 2001 - Great religious minds reflect on tragedies surrounding September 11, 2001. As America moves beyond raw emotion and religious sentiment, this program explores theological and spiritual reflection for the long haul. Host Journalist-theologian Krista Tippett has gathered provocative reflections across a broad spectrum of faith, woven together with evocative sound and music. Guests: Richard Mouw, Christian philosopher and president of Fuller Theological Seminary. Joan Dehzad, Episcopal deacon and executive director of the Institute of New Americans. Rabbi Barry Cytron, director of the Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning.Patricia Hampl, poet and author of A Romantic Education and Virgin Time. Linda Loving, pastor at the House of Hope Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota. Dan Grigassy, Franciscan friar and professor of liturgy, Washington Theological Union. Cynthia Eriksson, clinical psychologist at the Headington Program in International Trauma.
October 1, 2001 - ctress Jessica Lange and playwright Sam Shepard will host a special concert next month to raise money to help build a monastery and cultural center for Minnesota's Tibetan community. The November 12th event will include performances by musicians Jackson Browne, Greg Brown, T. Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips and Guy Davis. Writers Louise Erdrich and Richard Ford will also participate. Lange says she has been interested in the study of Buddhism for a long time and has studied with local monks. She says after bouncing around from one classroom to another, she decided to help the monks find a permanent home.
October 2, 2001 - The simple tales told in St. Paul writer Jim Heynen's new collection of short stories may be a good antidote to the horrible news from the sites of the recent terrorist attacks. "The Boys' House" introduces readers to a group of mischevious Minnesota farm boys. The boys rescue pigs from a blizzard, throw tomatoes at passing cars and feed apples to a blind pony. They also build a house out of junk cast aside by adults. Critics have said Heynen's tales are as uniquely American as the writings of Mark Twain.
October 4, 2001 - One of the most eagerly anticipated and critically acclaimed books of the year is Jonathan Franzen's new novel "The Corrections." It's an insightful and funny story about a family breaking down in the modern age. The father is suffering from Parkinsons Disease; the mother wants nothing except a picture-perfect Christmas at home with the whole family. But their three adult kids aren't cooperating. On a recent visit to the Twin Cities Franzen spoke with Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Curtis. He talked about how Gary, the eldest son in the novel, illustrates what Franzen means by "The Corrections."