March 23, 2012 - MPR’s Euan Kerr has a conversation with acclaimed photographer Alec Soth and Minnesota writer Brad Zellar about their collaboration on story about running away. The book is titled “House of Coates” and contains photography of ‘Lester B. Morrison.’
March 30, 2012 - On this episode of Minnesota Sounds and Voices, MPR’s Dan Olson explores the sounds of bagpiping with Mike Breidenbach, leader of the Macalester College Pipe Band. Olson also interviews members of pipe band.
March 30, 2012 - A photography exhibit at the Whittier Gallery in Minneapolis aims to showcase young Somali men who are improving the lives of others in the Twin Cities. MPR’s Nikki Tundel meets the Somali-American photographer, Mohamud Mumin, behind the exhibit and catches up with some of his subjects.
April 3, 2012 - David Treuer, an Ojibwe author from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, speaks at the Minneapolis Central Library as part of the Hennepin County Library's Talk of the Stacks series. His book is titled, "Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life."
April 6, 2012 - MPR’s Chris Roberts profiles French horn virtuoso Bernhard Scully and his mother, Bloomington pianist Joanne Minnetti. The pair have collaborated on album "Dialogues en Francais." The music reflects a mother and son artistic partnership that dates back to when Scully was a child.
April 16, 2012 - MPR’s Marianne Combs reports on two of the Pulitzers announced that have Minnesota connections. Kevin Puts won a 2012 Pulitzer in Music for "Silent Night: Opera in Two Acts" that premiered at the Minnesota Opera. Also, poet Tracy K. Smith won a Pulitzer for "Life on Mars," published by Minneapolis' Graywolf Press.
April 20, 2012 - The 2012 winner of the Laurence O'Shaughnessy prize for Irish poetry is Gerard Smyth. The prize is given annually by the Center for Irish Studies at the University of St. Thomas. Smyth is visiting the St. Thomas campus and stopped by MPR's studios. He shares a poem from his collection “The Fullness of Time” - and it includes a nod to Minnesota's own Robert Bly.
May 4, 2012 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Ojibwe author Anton Truer about his book "Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask."
May 8, 2012 - MPR’s David Cazares profiles Twin Cities jazz guitarist Zacc Harris, co-leader of several Twin Cities jazz projects, including The Zacc Harris Group, which has released “The Garden” CD.
May 10, 2012 - Penumbra Theater is presenting James Baldwin's The Amen Corner at the Guthrie. Director Lou Bellamy says he's waited 30 years to do the show, but now he has all the elements he needs, including his own perspective.