Repeatedly 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. This curation presents broadcasts over the decades of writer’s voices in form of speech, interview, and discussion.
November 28, 1983 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Sol Gordon about his book, Raising a Child Conservatively in a Sexually Permissive World.
November 29, 1983 - Elizabeth Hall Janeway, author and women's movement activist, speaking at Minnesota Meeting in St. Paul. Janeway’s address was on the topic "Women's Rights as Human Rights." After speech, Janeway answered audience questions.
October 4, 1984 - On this Midday, author Jane Howard talks about her book, Margaret Mead: A Life. Howard also answers listener questions.
October 15, 1984 - Writer Kurt Vonnegut lectures at the University of Wisconsin in River Falls on "How to Get a Job Like Mine." Vonnegut comments on Alcoholics Anonymous, Ronald Reagan, meditation, and the future of books, in addition to discussing his own writings.
November 10, 1984 - MPR’s Mark Heistad interview author Studs Terkel about his recollections of WWII and his commentary on war in general.
November 12, 1984 - Studs Terkel, author, historian, and actor, speaks at Minnesota Press Club. Terkel’s address is titled “On The Good War.” Following speech, Terkel answers audience questions.
December 20, 1984 - A Midday broadcast of author Madeleine L'Engle at Chautauqua Lecture Series in New York. In address, L'Engle tells her personal story of rebellion and individualism as she worked her way up the literary ladder.
April 11, 1985 - In a lecture at the University of Minnesota on April 3, 1985, linguistics pioneer Noam Chomsky looks at critics of American policies in an historical perspective and determines that even the harshest of critics operate within narrow constraints set by the government. Dr. Chomsky’s lecture is entitled "The Manufacture of Consent."
November 21, 1985 - A Midday broadcast of Westminster Town Hall Forum with novelist and short story writer Isaac Bashevis Singer. His address is entitled "The Stories of Isaac Singer."
February 17, 1986 - Alvin Poussaint, psychiatry professor at Harvard University, speaks at Coffman Union as part of Black History Month at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Poussaint’s address was on the topic "The Psyche of a Racist Culture."