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, 2001 - ctress Jessica Lange and playwright Sam Shepard will host a special concert next month to raise money to help build a monastery and cultural center for Minnesota's Tibetan community. The November 12th event will include performances by musicians Jackson Browne, Greg Brown, T. Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips and Guy Davis. Writers Louise Erdrich and Richard Ford will also participate. Lange says she has been interested in the study of Buddhism for a long time and has studied with local monks. She says after bouncing around from one classroom to another, she decided to help the monks find a permanent home.
October 2, 2001 - The simple tales told in St. Paul writer Jim Heynen's new collection of short stories may be a good antidote to the horrible news from the sites of the recent terrorist attacks. "The Boys' House" introduces readers to a group of mischevious Minnesota farm boys. The boys rescue pigs from a blizzard, throw tomatoes at passing cars and feed apples to a blind pony. They also build a house out of junk cast aside by adults. Critics have said Heynen's tales are as uniquely American as the writings of Mark Twain.
October 4, 2001 - One of the most eagerly anticipated and critically acclaimed books of the year is Jonathan Franzen's new novel "The Corrections." It's an insightful and funny story about a family breaking down in the modern age. The father is suffering from Parkinsons Disease; the mother wants nothing except a picture-perfect Christmas at home with the whole family. But their three adult kids aren't cooperating. On a recent visit to the Twin Cities Franzen spoke with Minnesota Public Radio's Stephanie Curtis. He talked about how Gary, the eldest son in the novel, illustrates what Franzen means by "The Corrections."
October 4, 2001 - One of the most eagerly anticipated and critically acclaimed books of the year is Jonathan Franzen's new novel "The Corrections." It's an insightful and funny story about a family breaking down in the modern age. The father is suffering from Parkinsons Disease; the mother wants nothing except a picture-perfect Christmas at home with the whole family. But their three adult kids aren't cooperating. He talked about how Gary, the eldest son in the novel illustrates what Franzen means by "the corrections."
October 12, 2001 - On Word of Mouth, MPR’s Chris Roberts provides a radio guide to the local arts. This episode includes "Hush, Hush", John O'Donohue, Bakken Ensemble, “The Rink,” Jazz and Italian modern art, Lea Thomas, and an arts round-up..
October 19, 2001 - Peter Razor's debut novel was a lifetime in the making. The 72-year-old Native American author spent the better part of his adulthood trying to forget his childhood as a ward of the state orphanage in Owatonna. But after his own children kept prodding him for details on their family history, he finally decided it might be worth dredging it all up. In his new memoir, "While the Locust Slept", Razor talks frankly about his life in the orphanage.
October 19, 2001 - Peter Razor's debut novel was a lifetime in the making. The 72-year-old Native American author spent the better part of his adulthood trying to forget his childhood as a ward of the state orphanage in Owatonna. But after his own children kept prodding him for details on their family history, he finally decided it might be worth dredging it all up. In his new memoir, "While the Locust Slept", Razor talks frankly about his life in the orphanage.
October 29, 2001 - It's John Adams' birthday and to celebrate, a speech and an interview with best-selling historian David McCullough. McCullough talks about his new book, "John Adams".
November 5, 2001 - Anne Morrow Lindbergh published 13 books, recording her thoughts and experiences in memoirs, essays and poems. But a series of strokes left her unable to write or speak fluently during the last few years of her life. Lindbergh spent those days with her youngest daughter, Reeve, who describes the experience in her new book, "No More Words." She told Minnesota Public Radio's Greta Cunningham she got the title from one of her mother's poems.
November 6, 2001 - F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the great American novel. We know him as the author of "The Great Gatzby," and Minnesotans take pride in his Minnesota roots. But the inspiration for many of his stories comes from a largely uncredited source. His wife Zelda. In a new book titled "Sometimes Madness is Wisdom," author Kendall Taylor examines Zelda's talents and her marriage to one of America's great literary giants of the 1920's. Taylor says the marriage between Zelda and Scott was complicated.