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.
May 16, 2000 - Writer Nancy Cobb knows first-hand how the death of a loved one changes your life forever. Her father committed suicide, her mother died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and her close friend Elaine died of cancer. Cobb's personal experiences with grief are the inspiration for her new book "In Lieu of Flowers: A Conversation for the Living." The book is part memoir--and part advice column. Cobb wants people to accept the "divine intersections" where the living meet the dying. She says she wrote it as a way help her deal with her overwhelming grief.
May 17, 2000 - Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Thomas Friedman of the New York Times will be in the MPR studios to talk about the controversy over globalization. He is a native of St. Louis Park.
May 22, 2000 - Critics have called it a modern day "Midsummer Night's Dream." Charles Baxter's new novel "The Feast of Love" opens with a sleepless character--also named Charles Baxter--meeting his insomniac neighbor Bradley. The two men are in a park at 4 o'clock in the morning and begin talking about love and relationships. Bradley suggests that Charles should write a book about him--and call the book "The Feast of Love." The novel charts Bradley's ups and downs in relationships. It also lets characters linked to Bradley to tell their story. His neighbors, his employees and his two ex-wives all appear in the book. Charles Baxter is a Minneapolis native and a Macalester College graduate. He's appearing at this alma mater tonight.
May 23, 2000 - A speech by Robert McChesney titled "Corporate Media and the Attack on Democracy." McChesney is a professor of Communications at the University of Illinois and author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy. He spoke at Hamline University in St. Paul.
May 24, 2000 - The 400 Bar in Minneapolis is a West Bank institution, with a rock and roll crowd, hot bands, cold beer and almost no one over 30. Now wildly successful bar readings in New York and L.A. are inspiring 400 Bar owner Tom Sullivan--who wonders will it work here?
May 24, 2000 - Memories are easy to come by for anyone who sifts through piles of old family photographs. But what about pictures of people you've never met and places you've never been? For author Lawrence Sutin, these images were even more useful than a family album in sparking his memories. In his new book, "A Postcard Memoir", Sutin relies on 97 antique postcards to help chronicle moments in his life. Sutin says he first began collecting old postcards during the 1970s.
May 29, 2000 - A Commonwealth Club speech by PBS news host Jim Lehrer. He'll talk about his new novel and his show The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
June 13, 2000 - The Victorian grandeur of St. Paul's Summit Avenue and the dusty, noisy sewing rooms of the Pillsbury flour mills provide the backdrop for Minnesota native Mary Sharratt's debut novel "Summit Avenue." Set at the dawn of the first World War, Sharratt's tale follows the experiences of a young German immigrant who travels to America after the death of her mother, in the hopes of creating a better life. Sharratt says this period of American history is particularly interesting because of the many changes in society.
July 11, 2000 - The College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph is collaborating with Graywolf Press to create the Upper Midwest's first ever Literary Arts Institute -- featuring programs for area writers, readers, actors and publishing enthusiasts. All week, the College and Graywolf are hosting a publishing workshop called "Inside Books" to inaugurate the new partnership.
August 8, 2000 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports on a unique new Minneapolis bookstore.