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.
April 21, 2009 - Two girls, Sabina Zimering and Lucy Smith, hid from the Nazis in Poland during World War II. They survived the Holocaust and live in Minnesota today. Zimering wrote her story in the book, "Hiding in the Open." Both women were interviewed by MPR's Dan Olson for the Voices of Minnesota series.
April 28, 2009 - We're going to stay on... or next to the water for this next story. It's a story almost as old as moveable type. And writers and editors have served it up from every possible angle - except one.
May 5, 2009 - It took its own sweet time, but it looks like spring has finally sprung. Everything is in bloom -- or about to start blooming -- everywhere. Commentator Peter Smith is waiting for one special arrival -- one that could show up just about any time now.
May 7, 2009 - In an industry that is focused more than ever on the bottom line, it's hard for young writers to get published. But some say there are more great writers working now than ever before. Midmorning takes a look at some of the writers starting to make a name for themselves.
May 7, 2009 - When times are tough, a good book can provide an escape. Two book critics offer their suggestions for books that take readers to a different place. Guests: Janice Harayda: Author and editor-in-chief of One Minute Book Reviews. Her novels include "the Accidental Bride" and "Manhattan on the Rocks." Mark Athitackis: Author and book critic. His reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post Book World, and the Star Tribune. He also writes about books on his blog, American Fiction Notes.
May 8, 2009 - Is interfaith understanding possible? Eboo Patel speaks at the Westminster Town Hall Forum about his book, "Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation." Guest: Eboo Patel: Founder and director of the Chicago-based community service organization, Interfaith Youth Core.
May 12, 2009 - Barbara Brown Taylor is an Episcopal priest, teacher, and author. She is widely recognized as one of America's most eloquent preachers. Ordained an Episcopal priest in 1984, she holds the Harry R. Butman Chair in Religion and Philosophy at Piedmont College in Georgia and is adjunct professor of Christian spirituality at Columbia Theological Seminary. She is the author of twelve books on faith and spirituality, including "Leaving Church" and "An Altar in the World." She lectures on preaching at Yale, Princeton, and Duke Universities and is a regular columnist for The Christian Century. She spoke before an audience at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Her speech was titled, "Downtime: The Sacred Art of Stopping."
May 25, 2009 - Heather McElhatton will tell you she knows a thing or two about dating. She's spent enough time using on-line dating services to know what the terms men use to describe themselves in their profiles REALLY mean.
May 25, 2009 - Veteran Dr. John Linner from Edina kept diaries of the fighting he saw during World War II, but after the war he put them on a shelf for 50 years, until his daughters and wife pressed him to write about his experiences. The result is a book, "From Normandy to Okinawa," Linner's look back at his Navy service as a medical doctor tending to the wounded on D-Day and in the Pacific.
May 26, 2009 - St. Paul architecture critic Larry Millett is out with TWO new guides to the Twin Cities this spring. They're pocket-sized guides that concentrate on two of Minnesota's most distinguished neighborhoods, the Lake District in Minneapolis and Summit Avenue in St. Paul.