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.
January 30, 2009 - Many collectors will tell you that books are works of art. Not just for their words, but as objects of art. Many artists at some point in their careers have made books. The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is celebrating the book as an art form with it's exhibition "Text/Messages." It features books created by Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Kara Walker, among others.
February 3, 2009 - A rare, original oral history of Indian life has surfaced in the Twin Cities. It's one of the oldest known examples of it's kind. In 1910, Lakota Chief Martin White Horse dictated stories about his community, located on a reservation in South Dakota. After the oral history, called a winter count, was typed up, the transcript went into storage. There it lay for decades, forgotten about. The descendants of the white woman who typed up the document rediscovered it last summer, and opened up a window to the history of the Lakota and to their own family.
February 3, 2009 - abin fever season is upon us - the time of year when Minnesotans will do almost anything to kill the monotony. We'll join gyms. We'll take classes. But if someone invites you to join their book club, commentator Peter Smith says don't do it. No matter how tedious late winter gets.
February 3, 2009 - A nearly century-old oral history of a band of Lakota Indians in South Dakota has been found in the Twin Cities. It's one of the oldest examples of a tradition known as the winter count.
February 4, 2009 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer talks with St. Paul Pioneer Press theater critic and self-described poetry rube Dominic Papatola about the state of poetry in Minnesota. They also discuss Graywolf Press book of poetry by Elizabeth Alexander, who recited one of her works at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
February 17, 2009 -
February 26, 2009 - MPR’s Marianne Combs presents a profile of acclaimed Minnesota poet and essayist Bill Holm, who passed away at the age of 65. Segment includes excerpts of Bill Holm speaking, and remembrances from those who knew him.
February 26, 2009 - Minnesota Author Bill Holm has died.
February 27, 2009 - Essayist and poet Bill Holm, who was nationally known for his distinctly Minnesotan writing, died at age 65. On this program, Midday features some highlights from Holm's many public appearances and rememberences from those who knew him.
March 1, 2009 - Funeral arrangements are in the works for Minnesota author Bill Holm. Holm died last week at age 65. He was born on a farm in Northern Minnesota and taught English at Southwest Minnesota State University for 27 years before retiring in 2007. Longtime friend and pastor Stephen Rasmusson says they expect overflow crowds. Organizers are working on a way to broadcast the ceremony remotely for those who cannot fit into the small church.