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 15, 2015 - A look back at how Minnesotans experienced the war and its aftermath through stories and song. "Civil War Homecoming" was presented at the Fitzgerald Theater to mark the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.
April 15, 2015 - Today marks the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. And this year is also the sesquicentennial of the end of the Civil War, which raged from 1861 to '65. Some 24-thousand Minnesotans were soldiers in the Civil War- a war that profoundly changed the nation and the state.
April 17, 2015 - MPR’s Marianne Combs reports on Internationally acclaimed author Louise Erdrich’s first-ever show of visual art, titled "Asynchronous Reading." Combs interviews Erdrich about items in the exhibit.
April 24, 2015 - On the segment of MPR News with Tom Weber, a discussion on the book "It's Okay to Ask,” which is for people who aren't disabled, but might not know exactly how to interact when they meet someone who looks different. The book tells the stories of five children who have disabilities or medical conditions and are asked about things like their wheelchair or leg braces by other children. Weber interviews Richard DiPrima, a neuropsychologist at Gillette Children's; and Ellie Goodman, a teenage patient at the hospital.
June 26, 2015 - In the coming week several major arts organizations in the Twin Cities are saying goodbye to longtime directors, notably among them the Guthrie Theater. The end of June marks the end of the fiscal year for many organizations, making it a convenient time for leadership to change hands. But rarely have we seen such a confluence of major transitions.
July 13, 2015 - Next this hour, more arts- but art in Minnesota schools. There's been a lot of talk in Washington about updating the education law known as No Child Left Behind, but that law focuses on math and reading. What about arts education? MPR news has been inviting people from across the state to our studios to talk about several aspects of the arts community today- arts education.
July 29, 2015 - Award-winning author Alexs Pate discusses how his experiences as a Black-American man influence his writing and move him to explore themes of guilt and innocence — along with hope and bitterness. Pate is the author of five novels, including the best-selling Amistad.
August 7, 2015 - Joseph Haj says he is drinking from a fire hose. Five weeks after taking over as artistic director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis he's immersed in learning his new job. He says he's unlikely to make major changes anytime soon, but Euan Kerr reports Haj is building on some basic principles.
August 17, 2015 - MPR News host Tom Weber included several places at the Fair in his guide book ”100 Things to do in the Twin Cities Before You Die.” Weber stops by one…The Miracle of Birth Center.
August 21, 2015 - A tiny publisher in Duluth has released an anthology of poetry about Minnesota's biggest lake, titled “Amethyst and Agate: Poems of Lake Superior.” The collection from Holy Cow! Press celebrates the many moods of Lake Superior, and the powerful connection it has to the people who live near its vast shoreline.