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.
May 1, 2007 -
May 8, 2007 - Author Sherman Alexie isn't shy about sharing. He's a prolific writer whose novels and short stories often describe the paradoxes of life as a Native American in the 21st century. Alexie told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that he's been thinking lately about violence. What resulted is a book of gritty fantasy called "Flight" which is about a young man named "Zits.'
May 15, 2007 - It's a rare novel that opens with instructions on how it should be read. But that's exactly how Heather McElhatton's "Pretty Little Mistakes" begins.
May 15, 2007 - That is photographer Doug Ohman who took the pictures in a new book from the Minnesota Historical Society Press called "Cabins of Minnesota." Bill Holm wrote the accompanying text.
May 22, 2007 - The Minnesota History Center in St. Paul holds a reception tonight to celebrate a new exhibit and book featuring photographs of Ojibwe people in Minnesota. The author of "We Are at Home: Pictures of Ojibwe People" is historian Bruce White. His book explains that to truly understand a photo you need to know who took it and why. I asked White to select some of his favorite pictures from the book for us to talk about. The first one he chose was taken around 1900 in Grand Portage. It shows a woman in front of a tipi with a baby on her back.
May 28, 2007 - It's been nearly a year since the new Guthrie Theater complex opened its doors on the banks of the Mississippi river. By some accounts the Guthrie has exceeded expectations in terms of its affect on the cultural life and the economy of downtown Minneapolis. It's also permanently altered the Twin Cities theater landscape. Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Roberts went out to measure the "Guthrie effect" on other theaters in town.
May 29, 2007 - Novelist Anoshi Irani says he still pines for India and in particular Bombay, where he grew up. But he also says he knows he can't write about his homeland while he's there, because it's just too close. He now spends most of his time in Vancouver. The Minneapolis-based press Milkweed Editions has just published his new novel, "The Song of Kahunsha." The book follows two little boys living on the streets of Bombay when the huge Indian city is torn apart by religious violence.
June 6, 2007 - This morning we have another installment in our series, "The Bookshelf," in which we ask notable Minnesotans to tell us about a book that's been meaningful in their lives. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman came in to our studio to tell us about books important to him.
June 8, 2007 - A memorial to the Minnesotans who served in World War II gets its official dedication ceremony at the Capitol Saturday. Midday takes a look at what life was for those Minnesotans -- both in the military and on the home front.
June 8, 2007 - A memorial to the Minnesotans who served in World War II gets its official dedication ceremony at the Capitol Saturday. Midday takes a look at what life was for those Minnesotans -- both in the military and on the home front.