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.
December 22, 1999 - That's author Jim Lenfestey reading from his book The Urban Coyote: Howlings on Family, Community, and the Search for Peace and Quiet. The book is a compilation of columns and essays he's written for a community newspaper in Minneapolis.
December 23, 1999 - Christmas gatherings are the stuff of family memories. Some people remember these through photographs, others through journals. Six generations of family history are gathered in British author Sallyann Murphey's new book, The Metcalfe Family Album. Resembling a scrapbook, it's actually part fact, part fiction. It includes pressed flowers, family photos, recipes, and letters supposedly gathered at Christmas by the family matriarchs. Minnesota's Public Radio's Stephanie Curtis talked with Sallyann Murphey about how she collected real stories from letters and journals to create the book.
December 24, 1999 - Rabbi Harold Kushner's speech on how to make a difference with the rest of your life. Rabbi Kushner was in the Twin Cities this fall to give a lecture on What to Do With the Rest of Your Life. Rabbi Kushner is the author of the best seller, Why Bad Things Happen to Good People. He is also in wide demand as a lecturer and this fall, he spoke at the Academy for Faith Exploration, an educational outreach program sponsered by the Wayzata Community Church.
December 24, 1999 - This weekend, Christians around the world will once again hear the story of the Virgin Mary...a humble peasant woman who became the mother of God. Mary is perhaps one of the best-known figures in the Bible. But for many Christians, she is nearly invisible the rest of the liturgical year. That was the case for Kathleen Norris, who grew up in Methodist and Congregational churches. Norris, who is a poet from South Dakota, rediscovered Mary during a visit to a Benedictine abby 15 years ago. Mary's image seemed to be present everywhere. Norris, found the experience comforting and peaceful. In her new book "Meditations on Mary", Norris re-examines our assumptions about Mary in a series of personal essays.
December 24, 1999 - Splendid Table host Lynne Rossetto Kasper talks about the history of fruitcake, and the idea of sending it to others.
December 28, 1999 - Neil Haugerud, author of Jailhouse Stories: Memories of a Small Town Sheriff, discusses his book. It is published by the University of Minnesota Press.
January 3, 2000 - A speech about the impact of the global economy, by Benjamin Barber, director of the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy at Rutgers University. He is the author of the best-seller Jihad versus McWorld.
January 4, 2000 - A Commonwealth Club speech by Dr. Robert Butler, President of the International Longevity Center in New York City. His speech is titled, "The Wonderful New World of Longevity: Celebration or Calamity." Author of Why Survive: Being Old in America.
January 19, 2000 - As the population ages, short-term memory loss and dementia are becoming more common. Four million Americans now suffer from Alzheimers Disease. Most of those who can no longer live at home are in nursing homes; but many say there's a lack of facilities that understand how to care for dementia victims. In Meeker County, where 17 percent of the population is over 65, an entrepreneur has risked everything to start an innovative foster home for Alzheimer patients. The home, in rural Darwin, features aspects of farm life and could become a model for the future.
January 31, 2000 - A Chautauqua Lecture by the new host of NPR's Talk of the Nation-- longtime Washington Post journalist Juan Williams. The speech and his book are titled Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary. The paperback goes on sale Tuesday. (Williams is also author of Eyes on the Prize.