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 7, 1999 - It's a delicious thought: somewhere, tucked away in a closet, or a store room near you, is something hugely valuable. A vase, an old coin, or even a picture, which could propel you to the front pages, or bankroll you through retirement, if only you can find it. The central character in the new comic novel "Headlong' makes such a discovery: a long lost masterpiece by the Flemish artist Breughel. He realizes the painting will make him a national hero if he can get it into a big museum, and probably quite rich too. The only problem: he finds it in his neighbours house. The resulting moral and artistic dilemmas spin increasingly out of control.
October 7, 1999 - The joys, the struggles and the comfort of an enduring relationship are explored in Minnesota author Warren Hanson's new book "Older Love." The book is sort of a picture book for adults. Hanson's previous book "The Next Place" struck a chord with people aross the country. The book is a poem about dying and heaven--and it's been read at funerals and in grief-support groups around the country.
October 11, 1999 - The Vixens and the Vikings may be off to a bleak start, but for local cheeseheads it looks like a promising season. The Green Bay Packers are now 3-and-1 after yesterday's victory over Tampa Bay. But is another SuperBowl victory possible? Pulitzer Prize winning author David Maraniss says as much as today's fans are hoping to rival the 2 SuperBowl vicories of legendary Coach Vince Lombardi in the 60s, he is a tough act to follow. In the new biography "When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi" Maraniss says the coach was so great there is a whole culture of myth about him.
October 12, 1999 - Nature and Outdoor writer Jerry Dennis' latest book is "From a Wooden Canoe". As the title suggests, the Michigan resident's collection of essays pays homage to enduring possessions like canoes, fishing rods and iron skillets.
October 13, 1999 - Midday presents a Mainstreet Radio special program to discuss shipwrecks on Lake Superior. Hosted at the Canal Park Maritime Museum in Duluth, Rachel Reabe speaks with guest panelists, including director of The Maritime Museum, an underwater photographer, a Maritime historian, and founder of the Great Lake Shipwreck Preservation Society. Panelists also answer listener questions.
October 21, 1999 - Live Westminster Town Hall Forum with Dr. James Garbarino, psychologist and author of the book "Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them".
October 22, 1999 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman presents short profile of Former U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy. Includes clip of listener commentary on McCarthy.
October 22, 1999 - Hy Berman, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, discusses Eugene McCarthy.
October 26, 1999 - Strong-willed, eccentric, passionate women are the driving force behind first-time novelist Linn Ullmann's new book "Before You Sleep." The story is set in present-day Norway and Brooklyn of the 1930s. Ullmann has experience with both places. She was born in Oslo and at age 15 moved to New York with her mother, actress Liv Ullmann, where she quickly absorbed the English language and American culture. Ullmann, who is also the daughter of director Ingmar Bergman, eventually moved back to Norway and became a journalist. When her love for writing spawned the beginnings of her novel, Ullmann wondered whether to write it in English or Norwegian.
October 27, 1999 - Best-selling author, historian and Pulitzer Prize-winner Doris Kearns Goodwin will be in the MPR studios to talk to Gary Eichten about presidents, history and baseball.