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.
November 21, 1985 - Live coverage of a Westminster Town Hall Forum with Isaac Bashevis Singer on "The Stories of Isaac Singer".Isaac Bashevis Singer began his literary career in his native Poland as a journalist for the Yiddish press. He published his first novel in 1935 and, in that same year, immigrated to the United States where his stories and novels have received high acclaim. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 and is the recipient of two National Book Awards and a grant from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
December 26, 1985 - Driving Around the House by Patrick Smith at Brass Tacks Theater; Harry and Claire by Jaime Meyer at Quicksilver Stage
January 18, 1986 - MPR’s Mark Heistad interviews Charles Johnson, a professor at Macalester University, about Hmong folktales. Johnson is the author of collected Hmong traditional folk stories translated in English for ESL studies.
February 5, 1986 -
February 22, 1986 -
February 25, 1986 - Two autobiographical monologues at Brass Tacks Theater: Gravity vs. Levity by Kevin Kling and Rio Grande by Jim Stowell
February 28, 1986 - Dr. Maya Angelou, who was in town as part of the West Suburban Black History Month celebration, speaking at a meeting held by the Hopkins School District about the role literature plays in the lives of all people.
April 4, 1986 -
May 1, 1986 - Poet, author and farmer Wendell Berry speaks at the College of Saint Benedict in Saint Joseph. The speech is entitled, "In Defense of the Family Farm."
May 8, 1986 - The late John Ciardi delivers an address called "Why Read?" and reads some of his poetry: The Collectors; The Glory; Happiness; For Myra, John L. and Benn; Mutterings; Obsolescence; Habitat; Perversity.