Collection
Writers and Their Voices
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.
450 Collection Items
- MPR News Presents: Thomas Sugrue remembers civil rights activist Anna Arnold Hedgeman
An MPR News Presents broadcast of New York University historian Thomas Sugrue speaking at the Minnesota Historical Society's History Forum. Sugrue, author of Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North, a book exploring the stories of Northern activists who challenged racial inequality.
- Pen Pals: Presidential biographer Jon Meacham
An MPR News Presents broadcast of Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential biographer Jon Meacham speaking at the Pen Pals Lecture Series. Meacham has written about Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and President George H.W. Bush. Author says he writes biography rather than history, because history is shaped by individuals who, despite their flaws, do the right thing in moments of crisis.
- Author Elizabeth Gilbert on creativity
MPR’s Kerri Miller interviews author Elizabeth Gilbert, who discusses the concept of creativity. Gilbert also answers listener questions.
- Novelist Celeste Ng plunges readers into the depths of a family tragedy
MPR’s Euan Kerr profiles American writer and novelist Celeste Ng and her novel, Everything I Never Told You. The book explores the misery of losing a child, while also using uses the story to examine the challenges of a mixed family in the Midwest during the 1970s, a time when interracial marriages and their offspring made attracted unwelcome and sometimes hostile attention.
- Talking Volumes: Elizabeth Gilbert
On this The Daily Circuit program, a broadcast of Kerri Miller's conversation with novelist Elizabeth Gilbert at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul as part of the 15th season of Talking Volumes series. The two talk about Gilbert's book, The Signature of All Things, a sprawling tale of 19th century botanical exploration.
- Daily Circuit: Richard Moe on 'Roosevelt's Second Act' / Geoff Dyer on "Stalker"
On this hour of the Daily Circuit program, an interview with Richard Moe about his book, Roosevelt's Second Act; and Geoff Dyer about his book Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room.
- Coffee House Press hopes for a big hit with "Submegence"
MPR’s Euan Kerr profiles the Minneapolis small press Coffee House Press release, Submergence. The book is written by British novelist J.M. Ledgard. The novel blends elements of a spy thriller, a romance, history, philosophy and environmental concerns about the future of the planet.
- Pen Pals: Dennis Lehane speaks on the importance of storytelling
Best-selling writer Dennis Lehane, speaks in Hopkins, Minnesota as part of Hennepin County Library's Pen Pals Author Lecture Series. Lehane says he writes fiction because he always loved to read and he comes from a long line of Boston Irish storytellers.
- Maya Angelou's 2013 Black History Month Special
MPR News Presents a special Black History Month broadcast of writer Maya Angelou hosting a conversation with award-winning African Americans Kofi Annan, Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Hudson, Regina Taylor, and Alicia Keys. They tell their own stories of success and community.
- Talk of the Stacks: Humorist Calvin Trillin
An MPR News Presents broadcast of American journalist and humorist Calvin Trillin speaking in Minneapolis at the Talk of the Stacks series. Trillin talks about his book, Dogfight: An Occasionally Interrupted Narrative Poem About the Presidential Campaign.