August 31, 2008 - Some folks are coming to the RNC to get delegates to watch movies. For the four days of the Convention the non-partisan Impact Film Festival will hold free screenings of new movies about healthcare, water protection, disaster recovery and other social challenges. The Festival opened last week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Festival co-founder Jamie Shor (SHORE) told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr when film makers heard about the chance to show their work to policy makers, they not only offered their films for free, they all agreed to attend the screenings in person.
August 15, 2008 - MPR’s Euan Kerr reports on a musical of “Little House on the Prairie” premiering in Minneapolis. Kerr talks with creative team member of show and others in the theatre scene about musical’s potential success.
July 14, 2008 - Lin Enger's new novel "Undiscovered Country" explores the effect of a northern Minnesota man's apparent suicide on his family. Enger teaches writing at Minnesota State University Moorhead, and under the pen name L.L. Enger, has written several crime novels with his brother Leif. Lin Enger told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr that "Undiscovered Country" began with a thought he had while sitting in a deerstand a dozen years ago.
May 29, 2008 - This weekend two stage veterans who have worked together on and off since the early 1960's will present their latest collaboration. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr reports Wendy Lehr and Bain Boehlke will star in "The Gin Game" at the Jungle Theater in Minneapolis.
May 12, 2008 - The McKnight Foundation today gave writer Bill Holm its 2008 Distinguished Artist Award. The award includes a fifty-thousand dollar grant.
May 12, 2008 - Writer Bill Holm is celebrating a little. Today the McKnight Foundation named him its 2008 Distinguished Artist. The award carries a fifty-thousand dollar stipend. Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr called Holm to talk about the news and found him looking both forward and back.
April 12, 2008 - The Minnesota Book Awards will be presented tonight at a ceremony at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in St Paul. Awards are presented in eight categories, including novel and short story, memoir, Minnesota books and poetry. The event is organized by the friends of the St Paul Library. Awards co-chair Elaine Hopkins says the event has attracted a great deal of attention.
March 20, 2008 - Famed Minnesota novelist Jon Hassler died early this morning. Hassler was 74 and had suffered from Parkinson disease. He had a string of novels to his name, many of them examining the intricacies of life in small Minnesota towns.
March 20, 2008 - Reknowned Minnesota author Jon Hassler died this morning. Hassler wrote about small town Minnesota life in novels such as "Staggerford," "Rookery Blues" and "The Dean's List." In 1999 Hassler told Minnesota Public Radio that he got his first real training as a novelist while working as a boy at his father's grocery store in Plainview.
February 7, 2008 - Minneapolis writer Charles Baxter describes his new novel "The Soul Thief" as being about "soul vampirism." It's a bit like identity theft, only instead of stealing a person's bank account and social security numbers, a Soul Thief tries to actually become the other person. Baxter who was nominated for a National Book Award for his book "Feast of Love," told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr "The Soul Thief" grew out of something that happened to him many years ago.