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.
March 19, 1993 - One-woman production based on the life of Northern Minnesota pioneer woman Hephzibeth Merritt, Nickisch's great-great-great-grandmother.
March 19, 1993 - On this Voices from the Heartland segment, Minnesota writer Laurie Allmann reads Vernal Equinox, an essay about her plant and gardening experience.
March 24, 1993 - American writer Natalie Goldberg shares another reading from her book, Long Quiet Highway: Waking Up in America. This reading excerpt reflects on a childhood French teacher. Goldberg has deep roots in Minnesota, having studied for 12 years with Katagiri Roshi at the Minnesota Zen Center.
March 26, 1993 - On this segment of Voices from the Heartland, Hibbing native and second-generation Korean American author Marie Myung-Ok Lee reads from her new book, Finding My Voice.
March 29, 1993 - Richard Moe, author of The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers, talks with Midday’s Gary Eichten about his book and the Civil War participants. Moe also answers listener questions.
April 1, 1993 - Minnesota author Michael Fedo recalls a childhood memory of April Fools’ Day in a story reading.
April 2, 1993 - On this segment of Voices from the Heartland, American attorney and historic preservation advocate, and author Richard Moe reads from his book, The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers.
April 7, 1993 - Midmorning’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Jeanne Allex, who has compiled interviews on rural domestic violence in an unpublished book, Voices from the Country.
April 8, 1993 - William Cochrane, professor emeritus at University of Minnesota; and C. Ford Runge, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, discuss U.S. agriculture policy and their book, Reforming Farm Policy: Toward a National Agenda.
April 8, 1993 - MPR’s Kate Moos reads James Wright’s beloved poem, A Blessing. The poem is based on an actual experience James Wright had whilst driving home one late afternoon with his friend Robert Bly, a fellow poet. They had pulled off the highway and stopped to admire two ponies.