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.
September 10, 2009 - Jim Perlman, founder of Holy Cow Press, discusses collection of poems "Beloved on the Earth" from Duluth based publisher. The book focuses poems about grief, mourning - and celebration.
September 11, 2009 - When you think of a Coen brothers movie you might think of murder or dark humor. Religion columnist Cathleen Falsani thinks there are deep moral truths embedded in most of Joel and Ethan Coen's work, including the films "Blood Simple", "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski."
September 15, 2009 - Writers researching novels sometimes have to do some strange things, as Twin Cities novelist Pete Hautman can attest.
September 15, 2009 - The students have returned to liberal arts college campuses across the region. And commentator Peter Smith says that means across the region, thousands of alumni are secretly wishing they could return too.
September 21, 2009 - The inaugural formal meeting of The Kerri Miller Book Club presents an interview with Louise Erdrich, twenty-five years after Erdrich's novel "Love Medicine" was published and became a bestseller. Program recorded before an audience in Minneapolis.
September 22, 2009 - And no one's denying the tough months ahead. In all, the district estimates as many as 58-hundred students in Minneapolis will need to find a new school to attend next year, once this plan is in place.
October 2, 2009 - If they don't advance to the 2009 playoffs, it will be the last time the Minnesota Twins play baseball under the inflatable roof of the Metrodome. Next season they get to play under the sky in their fancy new outdoor ballpark...It's progress, perhaps, but but the still dome holds a lot of nostalgia for Twins fans, including Minnesota playwright Kevin Kling.
October 5, 2009 - David Allen Sibley on tree and bird identification. The acclaimed wildlife artist and best-selling author of "The Sibley Guide to Birds" is out with his latest book, "The Sibley Guide to Trees." Many consider David Sibley to be the "new John James Audubon."
October 13, 2009 - Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Nicholas Kristof addresses the Westminster Town Hall Forum about his new book, "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide."
October 13, 2009 - Best-selling author Harold Kushner joins Midday to talk about his newest book, "Conquering Fear: Living Boldly in an Uncertain World."