October 2, 2001 - Rancher and writer Dan O'Brien took a leap of faith five years ago, when he converted his South Dakota spread from cattle to buffalo. He tells the story in his new book "Buffalo for the Broken Heart", which opens with a description of his first face to face meeting with a bison. It came unexpectedly while he was out driving the range in his pickup, trying to sort out his troubles.
September 26, 2001 - Eight major Minnesota Arts organizations will come together in an unprecedented event October 8th to memorialize the victims of the September 11th attacks. The Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will perform as a single ensemble in a rare sharing of the stage. They will be joined by singers from the Minnesota Chorale, the Dale Warland Singers, the Minnesota Opera and the Plymouth Music Series. An actor from the Guthrie Theater will narrate part of the program and the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts will also participate. Minnesota Orchestra General Manager Bob New says the performance is also aimed at helping the local community deal with the terrible events.
September 13, 2001 - ---Top with latest--- Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Gunderson talked with people at the Big Iron Farm Show in West Fargo to get their thoughts on what happened and what the future might hold
September 11, 2001 - Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar has long served on the House Aviation subcommittee and has worked on security and terrorism issues. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Chris Julin the size of the attack is extraordinary.
September 10, 2001 - When Aleksander Hemon left his home in Sarajevo in 1992 to visit the US, he expected he'd return home soon. Then Bosnia collapsed in a frenzy of ethnic violence, and he stayed in Chicago, forced to look for whatever unskilled jobs he could do with his then limited English. He is now author of a book of essays "The Question of Bruno", based on his experiences. He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr in the early days he would watch TV for hours, desperate for information about his homeland, friends and family.
August 15, 2001 - How would you feel if you had convinced yourself you are a writer, even though in reality you hadn't put pen to paper in years, but then discovered your law student roomate had used your life to write the Great American Novel? Then what would you do if your roommate died suddenly, without telling anyone but you about the manuscript? That's just the start of John Colapinto's new novel "About the Author." Colapinto told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr the first real crime is when his hero takes the manuscript and passes it off as his own to sell it for a huge advance. John Colapinto will read from his novel "About the Author" at 7:30 this evening at the Barnes and Noble bookstore in Edina. You can hear a longer version of this interview on the "Talking Volumes" page at www.minnesotapublicradio.org Just select the all Things Considered section
July 23, 2001 - As they have done since the year 800, Sicilians hunt huge bluefin tuna, using net traps set on the floor of the Mediterranean. It was here that tuna was first canned in olive oil, a development that opened a world wide market. Now the entire catch is sold to Japanese, and flown direct to the Tokyo fish market where a single tuna can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Those changes have done little to change how the Sicilians fish. Author Theresa Maggio first saw the hunt almost a decade ago, and returned year after year to watch the ancient ritual, which she says cannot last much longer due to over fishing in other parts of the world. She told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr her book "Mattanza" (mah-TAN-zah) is named for the final slaughter.
July 16, 2001 - In Carol Muske-Dukes' novel "Life After Death" a St. Paul woman tells her husband, in a fit of anger, to drop dead. The following day he does just that, collapsing of a heart attack while playing tennis. She is left angry, confused, guilty, and troubled by strange memories, such as the time he proposed to her in New York. Carol Muske-Dukes says when she began writing "Life after Death", she intended to write a satire on the funeral industry in the spirit of Evelyn Waugh and Jessica Mittford. But as she did her research, talking to funeral directors, she began wanting to write a book about what actually happens to people, both living and dead, when someone passes away. Then, as she told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr, things took a bizarre twist. The week she mailed the finished manuscript for publication, her own husband collapsed and died on a tennis court.
July 11, 2001 - When author Ann Patchett heard the story of how terrorists seized a group of dignitaries at the Japanese Embassy in Peru and held them hostage, she felt there was an operatic quality to the story. She took that feeling and created "Bel Canto" the critically acclaimed novel about what happens when a world famous soprano is seized by terrorists, along with dozens of international businessmen in an un-named South American country. As the stand-off drags on, from days into months hostages and captors become almost an extended family, tied together by the soprano's singing. Ann Patchett told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr she wanted to create a utopia.
June 7, 2001 - "Take the advice of no one." This is the credo of August Kleinmann, 78 year old immigrant, self-made millionaire and central character of Ethan Canin's new novel "Carry Me Across the Water." Canin is currently on the faculty of the Iowa Writers Workshop, although he's probably the only MD on the staff. He took a brief sojourn into medicine as a backup in case his writing career failed to take off. Canin told Minnesota Public Radio's Tom Crann the novel is the story of his hero's journey to the US and then his journey of atonement late in life, when he reaches out to the family of a Japanese soldier he killed during World War Two.