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.
June 14, 1974 - On this program of Perspective, MPR’s Connie Goldman profiles radio show host and author Studs Terkel. Program presents Terkel speaking at the Minnesota Press Club.
June 14, 1974 - MPR’s Dulcie Lawrence reports on Gloria Steinem speaking at the Loring Park celebration of local women’s caucus.
August 14, 1974 - An audio segment of American novelist and historian Dee Brown speaking about the events leading up to the Black Hills for gold rush and its impact on the Native inhabitants.
October 5, 1974 - Alex Haley, author of Roots, speaks at Macalester College in St. Paul about his experience in a foreign crowd.
March 26, 1975 - MPR’s Bill Siemering interviews futurist Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock and Ego Spasm, about current social and political issues and offers his view about what might happen in the future.
July 1, 1975 - Forum re-broadcasts a speech by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The exiled Soviet author made his first major public address in the United States at a banquet in his honor given by the AFL-CIO. Solzhenitsyn ‘s address was titled “Words of Warning to the Western World (aka America: You Must Think About The World).”
October 31, 1975 - Midday presents a broadcast of psychotherapist, author, and lecturer Dr. Rollo May speaking at Augsburg College. May’s address was titled "Awareness and Community."
January 2, 1976 - MPR’s Bill Siemering interviews Isabel Burger, founder and administrative coordinator of the Children's Theater Association in Baltimore, Maryland. Burger is also author of Creative Play Acting and is a nationally known authority on creative children's drama.
April 15, 1976 - Tom Wolfe, the author credited for developing “The New Journalism,” speaks at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks on the direction in news writing and journalism for the 7th Annual University of North Dakota Writers Conference.
November 26, 1976 - On this Midday program, a presentation of a speech by author James Michener, followed by MPR’s Bill Siemering interview with author, where Michener talks about book Centennial and preserving local history.