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 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."
May 8, 1986 - Midday presents the late John Ciardi delivering an address called "Why Read?" Following speech, a segment of New Letters on the Air with Ciardi reading some of his poetry (The Collectors; The Glory; Happiness; For Myra, John L. and Benn; Mutterings; Obsolescence; Habitat; and Perversity).
May 22, 1986 - New York Times reporter Andrew Malcolm, author of Final Harvest: An American Tragedy, speaks to the Minnesota Press Club about his story of the murder of Ruthton, Minnesota, bankers Rudy Blythe and Toby Thulin.
September 27, 1986 - On Weekend, John Louis Anderson answers listener questions about the topic raised by his book, Scandinavian Humor and Other Myths.
May 24, 1993 - National Public Radio's Susan Stamberg talks with Midday’s Gary Eichten about her work at NPR and her new book entitled Talk: NPR's Susan Stamberg Considers All Things. Stamberg also answers listener questions.