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.
October 23, 2006 - Author Edna O'Brien left Ireland years ago, as a young woman but her first novel about two girls trying to escape life in the convent made her notorious in her homeland. Tonight O'Brien appears at the Fitzgerald Theater for Talking Volumes to discuss her long career and her newest book: "The Light of Evening" a story that reveals how unresolved her feelings still are about how and where she grew up.
November 3, 2006 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on "Vestibular Sense," the Mixed Blood Theatre play that peaks into the life of a young man with autism in its latest production. The play raises questions about what autism is and whether it's a deficit or an attribute for someone who has it.
November 10, 2006 - A Matisse painting of a woman gazing at a bowl of goldfish is the center of St. Paul author Patricia Hampl's {ham-pull's} new book, "Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime." Hampl first saw the painting in 1972 in Chicago and became captured by the the life and work of Matisse. The image in the painting fuels Hampl's journey to explore the ideas of artistic inspiration and creativity. Patricia Hampl is a Regents Professor of English at the University of Minnesota.
November 14, 2006 -
November 14, 2006 - A new magazine in the Twin Cities is trying to put minority business owners in touch with each other to improve their chances for business success. The publication, called Business Nation, launched in September. The magazine's founders say they're catering to the Twin Cities large number of entrepreneurs of color.
November 15, 2006 - Duluth has long been known as a union town. A new book tells the story of how and why. It's called "By the Ore Docks...A Working People's History of Duluth." Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Hemphill reports.
November 21, 2006 -
November 23, 2006 - As Thanksgiving brings family together to share food and gratitude, "Giving Thanks" brings together music, stories and writers that contemplate the meaning of the holiday.
November 24, 2006 - Oscar Wilde. Mark Twain. Antonin Dvorak. Gertrude Stein. Those are just a few of the artists who have made their way through St. Paul over the years. The University of Minnesota's Patricia Hampl explored the Capitol City through their eyes in a perfromance Nov. 10 at the Fitzgerald Theater.
December 4, 2006 - A new foundation has awarded three Minnesota artists with substantial grants. United States Artists is a new organization dedicated to supporting America's finest living artists. Starting this year it plans to award 50 grants of 50-thousand dollars each. Minnesota recipients include theater director Dominique Serrand, and writers Susan Power and Sandra Benitez . Benitez says she's thrilled that there's a new foundation directly supporting artists.