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.
November 10, 2005 - Many people across the Northland will remember where they were thirty years ago tonight, when they heard about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. She was plowing through a fierce storm on Lake Superior when she disappeared from radar, sinking to the bottom of the big lake, with all crew members aboard. Despite a number of reports and many theories, the sinking of the Fitz is still a mystery. Michael Schumacher is the author of a new book, "Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald." He says the crew never thought the big ship would go down.
November 10, 2005 - Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born British novelist who was forced into hiding after the Iranian government put out a death warrant on him in 1989, speaks Thursday at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in downtown Minneapolis.
November 11, 2005 - Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter whom journalists defended for protecting her anonymous sources and criticized for her reporting on weapons of mass destruction, has ended her 28 year career at the paper. What impact has the Miller affair had on the Times and on journalism in general?
November 24, 2005 - Former Star Tribune columnist Jim Klobuchar talks about his book “Walking Briskly Toward the Sunset," which collects some of essays about Minnesota, Uganda, politics and courtship.
November 24, 2005 - This year's edition of "Giving Thanks" includes music, poetry, stories and much more. One highlight is a rare recording of Charles Laughton in which the actor connects his personal discovery of Chartres Cathedral with an excerpt from Jack Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums" and the 104th Psalm.
November 29, 2005 - MPR’s Jayne Solinger visits with former members of the Grand Meadow girls’ basketball team, as they join together to commemorate the release of the book Daughters of the Game - The First Era of Minnesota Girls High School Basketball, 1891-1942. The former basketball players, who are now beyond 80 years old, look back at an era in which the school’s girls’ teams compiled a 94-0 record between 1929 and 1939.
December 3, 2005 - Michael Segell discusses his book "The Devil's Horn"
December 3, 2005 - Peter Levinson author of "Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way "
December 5, 2005 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Brian Horrigan, editor of the book “Christmas In Minnesota.” Some of the Minnesota's best-known writers share memoires and stories from the holidays in Minnesota.
December 9, 2005 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill reports on Cheng-Khee Chee, one of Minnesota's best-known watercolor artists, who has published a book for children. It's called "Noel," and it's a free-flowing poem by Tony Johnston about the sights and sounds of an old-fashioned Christmas. Hemphill talked with the artist about the technique he used to convey the magic of an evening full of snow and Christmas bells.