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 27, 1999 - Best-selling author Roger Kahn will be in the MPR studios to talk to Gary Eichten about his new book, A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring 20's.
October 27, 1999 - Like any truly committed professional, ballerinas give up a lot to attain an elite level of performance. For many, the sacrifices are worth it. For others they're not. For most, even when their career is over, it's hard to let it go. In her new book The Old Ballerina, Ellen Cooney tells story of a retired ballerina who renews her passion for life and dance when she teaches a class of teenage boys.
October 29, 1999 - Commentator Nanci Olesen got a couple of insights about the people who live near her. Olesen shares a Halloween memory, titled “Pumpkin.” It involves a third trimester and a very unique costume.
October 29, 1999 - James Galvin is the rare author who knows from experience how to rope cows. Writing from his ranch in Wyoming, Galvin extolls the glory of hard work in his new novel "Fencing the Sky". He also laments the disintegration of rangeland culture.
November 1, 1999 - MPR’s Euan Kerr interviews Minneapolis author Alexs Pate about his book “The Multicultiboho.” The book opens with an police officer entering a South Minneapolis apartment to find a dead body and a live African-American writer, named Ichabod Word.
November 1, 1999 - Three-time Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Edward Albee is in the Twin Cities tonight to discuss the state of American theater. Albee's "A Delicate Balance", "Seascape", and "Three Tall Women" all won Pulitzer prizes. He is also the author of the critically acclaimed and equally criticized "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Despite his own success and many honors, Albee has had a difficult time getting his plays on Broadway, something that hasn't stopped the playwright from staging his work elsewhere in the county and abroad.
November 3, 1999 - Frequently at this time, we bring you an interview with an author, many of whom are giving readings at the Hungry Mind bookstore in St. Paul. Soon you won't be hearing that name anymore. The bookstore, which also publishes a literary review and runs a small press, is selling its name to a new cyber-university based in San Francisco for an undisclosed amount.
November 4, 1999 - As thousands of Minnesotans lock up their lake cabins for winter, many wonder whether everything will be intact when they return. Seasonal homes are favorite targets for burglars, and protection against property crime has been a high-profile subject since a Minnesota man set a booby trap in his cabin and wounded an intruder. In the Brainerd lakes area, summer homes provide a challenge for law enforcement; and big returns for home-security companies.
November 4, 1999 - Twin Cities Theatergoers were joined by a distinguished guest at the Guthrie Theater lab last night. Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Arthur Miller attended the opening of his latest play "Mr Peter's Connections", in its first performance outside New York.
November 4, 1999 - Over 200 mandolin players from North America and Europe are in Minneapolis to attend annual convention of the Classical Mandolin Society of America. Jack El-Hai formed the Minnesota Mandolin Orchestra in 1991, and talks with MPR’s Bob Potter about mandolins.