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.
October 31, 1991 - Minnesota author Duke Addicks has been collecting ghost stories since he was a kid. He has a conversation with Midmorning’s Paula Schroeder about his experience and some of the eerie tales found.
November 1, 1991 - On this segment of Voices from the Heartland, writer Barton Sutter reads Dull and Out of It, an essay on living in Duluth.
November 2, 1991 - Weekend Edition’s Jim Wishner talks with author Bill Holm about the snowstorm that hit state. Holm gives his impression on what blizzards are all about…a time to read and write.
November 4, 1991 - Worldview’s Mike Maus interviews author Vicki Abrahamson about the book she co-authored, entitled War of the Words: The Gulf War Quote by Quote.
November 5, 1991 - Minnesota-based author, educator, and outdoor enthusiast Bill Hansen shares an essay recalling an experience with a moose…and a subsequent chase.
November 15, 1991 - Jack Weatherford, professor of Anthropology at Macalester College, answers listener questions about his book Native Roots: How the Indians Enriched America.
November 15, 1991 - A Voices from the Heartland essay by writer and poet Laurie Allmann on snow, hunting, and Vietnam.
November 15, 1991 - MPR’s Paula Schroeder interviews educator and writer Geri Giebel Chavis about the poetry therapy. Chavis details the process of and positive force of bibliotherapy.
November 22, 1991 - Essay later collected in "Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map" by Barton Sutter, published October 1998 by University of Minnesota Press.
November 27, 1991 - MPR’s Catherine Winter profiles Ruth Hein, a Minnesota writer who has been doing regional ghost hunting and compiling spirit stories.