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.
January 15, 2010 - There's a memorial service at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. today for former Pioneer Press executive editor Deborah Howell. She was hit by a car and killed in New Zealand earlier this month. Howell led the paper to two Pulitzer Prizes in the 1980s. She later went on to Washington and was most recently the ombudsman for the Washington Post. New York Times columnist David Carr says Howell cut her teeth in the tough, male-dominated newspaper business at an early age
February 16, 2010 - Willa Cather's "My Antonia" captured the beauty of the prairie and the hardscrabble existence of European immigrants on the Nebraska plains. The author of a new stage adaptation of the novel, and a Cather scholar, talk about why the story still resonates.
February 24, 2010 - Award-winning Minnesota history author Dave Kenney discusses the history of the Boy Scouts in central Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Kenney is out with a book on the subject, entitled Honor Bright: A Century of Scouting in Northern Star Council. Kenney also answers listener questions.
February 25, 2010 - Elizabeth Gilbert's first memoir, "Eat, Pray, Love," which chronicled her travels and personal renewal after a divorce, became a blockbuster bestseller. In her latest book, "Committed" she explains how she came to make peace with marriage as she gives it a second try with a new partner.
March 10, 2010 -
April 7, 2010 - The Guthrie Theater will open it's next season with a world premier adaptation of Louise Erdrich's bestselling novel "The Master Butcher's Singing Club. Critically acclaimed when it came out in 2003, Erdrich's novel "The Master Butcher's Singing Club" is the saga of people living in a small North Dakota town between the two world wars. The Guthrie production will bring together an all-star creative team. The script is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman. The play will be directed by the internationally acclaimed Francesca Zambello. She directed the Guthrie's musical adaptation of "Little House on the Prairie." In a statement released by the Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling said "To have the opportunity to produce a new play based on a novel by a significant Minnesota author like Louise Erdrich is particularly gratifying." The production will open in September.
April 8, 2010 - Nick Hayes, professor of history at Saint John's University in Collegeville, joins Midday in the studio to talk about his memoir "And One Fine Morning: Memories of My Father." The book traces his family origins and his father's story, including his father's experience growing up Catholic in Protestant Minneapolis.
April 8, 2010 - The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis will present the world premier of a theatrical adaptation of a novel by Minnesota author Louise Erdrich. The critically acclaimed novel - "The Master Butcher's Singing Club" - follows people living in a small town in North Dakota between the two world wars. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Marsha Borman wrote the script for the production, which will be directed by Francesca Zumbello. Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling says he expects a lavish production. Marsha Norman has done a beautiful job in not just creating the characters from the book and creating thems on the stage, but also giving the narrative a very strong through line. There will be music in it of course, because it is "The Master Butcher's Singing Club." There will be songs, various different songs, both German and some American songs. Dowling says Erdrich, who lives in Minneapolis, has been very involved in the project. The play will open the Guthrie's 2010-2011 season in September.
April 9, 2010 - The world of smackdowns and body slams is being transported from the ring to the stage in a new production that's opening at Mixed Blood Theatre. The play, called "The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity" is a local playwright's exploration of the underbelly of a sport he loves- professional wrestling.
April 12, 2010 - This is National Library Week, and one of the people out talking about the importance of libraries is Neil Gaiman. He's the award-winning author of "Coraline", "The Graveyard Book", several film scripts, and the Sandman comic book. Gaiman, who lives just outside the Twin Cities metro, is serving as honorary chair for the event. He told Euan Kerr he knows through personal experience libraries are more vital now than ever.