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.
July 6, 1994 - 80-year-old Minnesotan Edith Mucke talks about publishing her first book, Beginning in Triumph. Mucke shares memories from the former unincorporated village in Martin County, Minnesota.
July 12, 1994 - MPR’s Euan Kerr interviews Minnesota mystery author Robert Dingwall (R.D.) Zimmerman about his book, Red Trance. The book is the third Russian-centric thriller following Dingwall’s characters Maddy Phillips, a blind and paraplegic forensic psychologist, and her brother Alex.
July 13, 1994 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham interviews artist and author Howard Siverston about his book, The Illustrated Voyageur: Paintings and Companion Stories. Siverston details the use of birch bark canoes, historical diaries, and the eventual decline of fur trading in the Great Lakes and Boundary Waters region.
July 13, 1994 - Minnesota visual artist Howard Sivertson reads a short excerpt from his book, The Illustrated Voyageur: Paintings and Companion Stories.
July 14, 1994 - MPR’s Mindy Ratner interviews Alice Kaplan on her culture, growing up in Minnesota in a Jewish family, and her book French Lessons: A Memoir.
July 15, 1994 - On this installment of Voices from the Heartland, northern Minnesota writer Barton Sutter reads Existential Baseball, an essay on the sport of baseball…or more specifically, the atmosphere of the ballpark.
July 26, 1994 - An All Things Considered interview with Minnesota naturalist writers Mike Link and Kate Crowley, co-authors of Following the Pack: The World of Wolf Research. The book compiles views on the future of wolves from 20 renowned wolf researchers.
July 29, 1994 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer interviews sports columnist Jim Klobuchar about former Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant induction into the MinnesotaNational Football League’s Hall of Fame.
July 29, 1994 - On this installment of Voices from the Heartland, Twin Cities native and author Susan Carol Hauser reads her essay, Summertime.
August 5, 1994 - On this installment of Voices from the Heartland, local travel writer John Shepard recounts his birthday kayak journey on the waters of Lake Superior and through the Apostle Islands.