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 1, 2008 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports on the appearance of sidewalk poetry being created throughout the city as a public art project designed to bring more poetry into everyday life. Roberts interviews Marcus Young, the creator of the project, as well as, one of the poets and other residents, about the concrete verse penned by St. Paulites.
October 2, 2008 - A million dollar grant will help the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis develop new work, and promote it on the web. The money from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will be paid out over five years. Center Producing Artistic Director Polly Carl says in addition to developing and presenting new plays the center will develop trailers for plays which will be available on the web.
October 3, 2008 - Minneapolis author George Rabasa's new novel explores love, opera and the agony of writing. "The Wonder Singer" is the story of Mark Lockwood who is hired to ghost-write the autobiography of an aging operatic diva. When she dies suddenly leaving him with hours of interview tapes, he realizes he has the greatest story of his life, but he faces the greatest struggle of his life to tell it. George Rabasa told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that he didn't start out to write about opera - his interest was more in the plight of the ghost writer.
October 6, 2008 - Later this week fans will likely pack a St Paul church to hear author Neil Gaiman read from his latest novel, "The Graveyard Book." Gaiman is a writing rock star, producing best selling comic books, novels and film scripts. He's often swamped at reading and now has devised a new way to keep himself physically accessible to his readers.
October 17, 2008 - Cathy Wurzer, Minnesota Public Radio Morning Edition host, highlights the history of one of Minnesota's most famous roads in her new book "Tales of the Road: Highway 61." She joins Midday to share her stories.
October 22, 2008 -
October 24, 2008 - Popular Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Carrol Henderson joins Midday to talk about his new book, "Birds in Flight: The Art and Science of How Birds Fly."
November 7, 2008 - Hector Tobar, the son of Guatemalan immigrants, author of "Translation Nation" and Los Angeles Times Mexico City bureau chief, spoke recently during a Westminster Town Hall Forum.
November 17, 2008 - Author and humorist Garrison Keillor talked about poetry, writing and his own relationship with the library at this month's "Talk of the Stacks" series at the Hennepin County Library in downtown Minneapolis.
November 18, 2008 - Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin examines the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and identifies attributes that distinguish truly great presidents. Goodwin's latest book is "Team of Rivals: the Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln." She spoke in Minneapolis at the annual Planned Parenthood fundraising dinner in October.