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.
December 24, 1992 - On this Midmorning segment, MPR’s Cathy Wurzer gets a quick lesson on how to make different types of lefse from Bergliot "Bitten" Norvoll and Gary Legwold. There is also a discussion relating to stories of how lefse helped feed people in occupied Norway during World War II.
December 24, 1992 - Duluth writer Michael Fedo shares his family memory of holiday slideshow presentations and how it became a powerful time-marker.
December 25, 1992 - On this Voices from the Heartland segment, Minnesota writer Laurie Allmann reads her Northwoods essay, ‘Twas the Week Before Solstice.
December 28, 1992 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Native journalist Gordon Regguinti, executive director of the Native American journalists Association, about the history and purpose of Native American Journalists Association. Topics in conversation include bridging Native communities, mainstream media, and mentoring.
December 30, 1992 - MPR’s Gary Eichten interviews Jim Walsh, local songwriter and music editor at City Pages, about Minnesota rockers that made a national impact in 1992. Walsh notes bands such as Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, Sugar, and Cows.
January 1, 1993 - An MPR Special Coverage broadcast entitled “A Sense of Place,” which presents a collection of Voices from the Heartland essays by Barton Sutter and Laurie Allmann.
January 2, 1993 - American cartoonist and writer Lynda Barry performs a reading from Good Times Are Killing Me, a coming-of-age novella about a white girl, Edna Arkins, navigating racism, class, and family struggles in a changing Seattle neighborhood in the late 1960s, focusing on her friendship with a Black girl, Bonna Willis, and the role of music in their lives.
January 2, 1993 - American cartoonist and writer Lynda Barry performs a reading from Good Times Are Killing Me, a coming-of-age novella about a white girl, Edna Arkins, navigating racism, class, and family struggles in a changing Seattle neighborhood in the late 1960s, focusing on her friendship with a Black girl, Bonna Willis, and the role of music in their lives.
January 5, 1993 - American author Douglas Wood reads from his children’s book, Old Turtle. The book is a fable about a wise turtle who teaches all beings about the interconnectedness of life, the environment, and spirituality, addressing questions about God and humanity's role on Earth.
January 8, 1993 - In this segment of Voices from the Heartland, Minnesota Barton Sutter reads his essay, A Christmas Card. Sutter thinks back on a particular card from his grandmother.