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 16, 2007 - Twin Cities film fans have a unique opportunity on tap tonight. For one night only, a group of local actors will present a staged reading of "Flag Day." It's a screenplay based on Minneapolis writer Jennifer Vogel's award-winning memoir "Flim Flam Man." The book describes Vogel's relationship with her father John, a felon on the run, accused of counterfeiting 20-million dollars. Vogel describes how she came to see deep flaws in the man she once idolized. Accomplished British screenwriter Jez Butterworth wrote the screenplay. Butterworth had to cancel his travels here because of work on another script. However the film's producer Bill Horberg will be at the reading. Horberg made "Cold Mountain" and "The Talented Mr Ripley."
October 23, 2007 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Wabasha native Nelson Peery, who describes growing up Black in Minneosta, his path to the Minnesota Communist Party, and his book "Black Radical."
October 24, 2007 - The weather should be perfect today to get outside and do some yard work... maybe mow the grass or rakes your leaves. Of course you can't rake leaves that haven't fallen to the ground yet. This is a dilemma for commentator Peter Smith who lives in Hopkins. It seems that every year he can't quite get all his leaves raked before the city stops collecting them in mid-November. It's become such a problem that he's decided to write a letter of complaint to city officials.
October 26, 2007 - Minnesota turns 150 next year, and to celebrate, the Minnesota Historical Society has compiled a list of the 150 "people, places, and things that shape our state." What made the list? The Minnesota Historical Society is gathering input now on an exhibit celebrating the state's 150th birthday in 2007.
October 29, 2007 - Kevin Kling, one of Minnesota's best-known storytellers, explains the title of his new book "The Dog Says How," the difficulties of catching a wild beaver and why he's so obsessed with squirrel monkeys, in a recent performance at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Minnesota writer and humorist Kevin Kling has collected some of his best NPR pieces and new essays into his first book, "The Dog Says How."
October 29, 2007 - Kevin Kling explains the title of his new book "The Dog Says How," the difficulties of catching a wild beaver and why he's so obsessed with squirrel monkeys, in a recent performance at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul.
October 29, 2007 - Kevin Kling, one of Minnesota's best-known storytellers, explains the title of his new book "The Dog Says How," the difficulties of catching a wild beaver and why he's so obsessed with squirrel monkeys, in a recent performance at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Minnesota writer and humorist Kevin Kling has collected some of his best NPR pieces and new essays into his first book, "The Dog Says How."
November 13, 2007 - Norman Mailer on life, art and politics.Literary legend Norman Mailer died Saturday at 84. The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner talked about his long career in American letters in January at an event sponsored by the New York Times. The event was part of the New York Times' "TimesTalks" series.
November 19, 2007 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews nature photographer Craig Blacklock about his art and devotion to the pristine landscapes of Lake Superior. Blacklock is using his book "Minnesota's North Shore" to educate Minnesotans about development around Lake Superior. Blacklock says those landscapes could easily be ruined by irresponsible land development. The photographer says he's devoted to the area because the raw nature of the big lake captures his imagination.
November 21, 2007 - "Prince of Tides" author Pat Conroy says "Patricia Hampl writes the best memoirs of any writer in the English language." She has written five of them, most recently "The Florist's Daughter," which she adapted into a performance and reading recently at the Fitzgerald Theater. Minnesota memoirist Patricia Hampl has won numerous honors including a Guggenheim fellowship and a MacArthur Fellowship. Hampl is also a regents professor of English at the University of Minnesota.