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.
February 20, 2008 - Petty attacks mark the presidential race Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton meet Thursday in a debate in Texas. Texas and Ohio are the next big contests in the Democratic race for president. So far, the candidates have generally been civil to one another, despite the tight contest. But commentator Peter Smith says that could be about to change.
February 26, 2008 - Commentator Peter Smith says he thought the coming 2008 Twins' season looked hopeless until he heard from an old friend. Positivity and hypotheticals commence.
March 10, 2008 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Mary Hu, high school poetry champion of the Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest held at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Segment also includes clip of Hu performing a Thomas Hardy poem. The students recited poetry of old -- by Longfellow, Poe, Kipling and Browning -- as well as new, like Maya Angelou, Billy Collins and Sharon Olds. After three rounds, Morris Area High School student Mary Hu emerged as this year's winner.
March 10, 2008 - The warmer weather has some Minnesotans wondering whether we might finally be headed for spring. Morning Edition commentator Peter Smith is looking ahead to his spring exercise program, and he says it's not going to be pretty.
March 12, 2008 - Midday presents recording of prominent Minnesotans sharing stories about Minnesota during a story telling event put on by the 2008 Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission. Mark Seeley, University of Minnesota Climatologist; Carl Eller, professional football hall of famer; Al Quie, former Minnesota Governor; Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator (D-MN), and more gathered to wax Minnesota during a story telling event put on by the 2008 Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission.
March 20, 2008 - Reknowned Minnesota author Jon Hassler died this morning. Hassler wrote about small town Minnesota life in novels such as "Staggerford," "Rookery Blues" and "The Dean's List." In 1999 Hassler told Minnesota Public Radio that he got his first real training as a novelist while working as a boy at his father's grocery store in Plainview.
March 20, 2008 - Famed Minnesota novelist Jon Hassler died early this morning. Hassler was 74 and had suffered from Parkinson disease. He had a string of novels to his name, many of them examining the intricacies of life in small Minnesota towns.
March 25, 2008 - Midday remembers Jon Hassler in his own words, rebroadcasting an interview he did with MPR in 1999. Midday host Mike Edgerly then talks with two of Hassler's longtime friends - Bill Holm, a fellow Minnesota literary figure and author of Windows of Brimnes: An American In Iceland;” and Nick Hayes, friend and colleague of Hassler, and a professor at St. John's University. The two remark on the impact of his work, both as a writer and a teacher.
March 27, 2008 - If you're one of many Minnesotans who would like the wintery weather to stop and spring to truly arrive you are not alone. Commentator Peter Smith has a fierce case of cabin fever.
March 27, 2008 - During the Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps helped propel the conservation of Minnesota's natural resources, and it gave jobs to more than 77,000 Minnesotans. Author Barbara Sommer captures the stories of these workers in her new book, "Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota." She joins Midday to discuss her book as part of our coverage of Minnesota's sesquicentennial. Guest: Barbara Sommer: Author of "Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota.Part of MPR's original series "Minnesota Arrival", stories relating to Minnesota's 150th anniversary of statehood.