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.
June 21, 1973 - MPR’s Bill Siemering has a conversation with poet Thomas McGrath about poetry and politics. McGrath also reads his poetry.
June 21, 1973 - MPR’s Bill Siemering interviews poet Mark Vinz, editor of Dakota Territory. The interview is broken into three segments…use of regionalism in writing, young writers, and conflict/war. Vinz also reads numerous poems.
June 24, 1973 - Part eight of the MER documentary series “A Sense of Place.” This program, titled The New Doctor on Old Main Street, discusses if physicians are being adequately prepared to live in small communities, as well as community reaction to them.
August 8, 1973 - MPR’s Bill Siemering interviews Midwestern poet Mark Vinz about regional poetry. Vinz reads his poems Heartland, Line Storm, and First Summer: A Reckoning.
August 8, 1973 - Poet Jim Moore provides commentary on why poets like Thomas McGrath and Robert Bly stay in this area, in part due to the connection between poetry and politics.
September 1, 1973 - Moorhead poet Mary Anne Pryor reads her poetry about the region. Audio was recorded in segments during the fall of 1973 at KCCM.
September 1, 1973 - Minnesota poet Robert Bly lectures about the importance of reading poetry aloud, starting with Homer, and “feeling” poetry vs. knowing it.
September 6, 1973 - Poet Jim Moore compares Walt Whitman's The Role of the Poet with the poetry of Tom McGrath, specifically McGrath’s Letter to an Imaginary Friend. Moore reads aloud from both poems.
September 23, 1973 - A broadcast of regional poets Thomas McGrath and Mark Vinz speaking at IMAGINATION 1973 in Fargo, North Dakota. McGrath and Vinz also read poems to the audience.
October 2, 1973 - MPR’s Paul Grochow reports on an exhibit of early John Berryman manuscripts displayed at the University of Minnesota. Report includes comments from Berryman’s publishing friend, Robert Giroux, who speaks about the fickle nature of publishing.