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Talking Volumes is back for its 25th season. Join us at the Fitzgerald Theater for four special events with renowned authors, celebrating our anniversary with a special $25 ticket price for MPR members and Star Tribune subscribers. Buy tickets here.

April 24, 2006 2:00 PM

Duluth picks Sutter as first poet laureate

Barton Sutter is the city of Duluth's first poet Laureate and the first official poet laureate of any Minnesota City. Sutter came to Duluth in 1987 and has won three Minnesota Book Awards for his writing about the city and the north country.

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April 20, 2006 11:05 AM

Post-punk poet Richard Hell

Richard Hell, the man credited as being at the forefront of the first wave of East Coast punk rock, is now a poet and novelist. His latest book of poetry titled "Godlike" is set primarily in the East Village of New York, circa 1972.

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April 20, 2006 11:02 AM

"Ordinary Man" saved hundreds in Rwandan genocide

Paul Rusesabagina managed the real-life hotel made famous in the 2004 movie "Hotel Rwanda." In 1994, Rusesabagina sheltered and negotiated for the lives of 1,200 people during 100 harrowing days of violence in Rwanda. He tells his story in a new autobiography.

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April 18, 2006 6:02 PM

Doctors and patients find healing in medical poetry

Many of the concerns of physicians and patients -- life and death, struggle and hope -- have also been the regular themes of poets through the ages. Dr. Jon Hallberg shares his annual selection of medical poetry during National Poetry Month.

by Tom Crann

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April 14, 2006 11:00 AM

A "nature-deficit disorder"

Have kids given up playing outdoors in favor of X-Boxes, iPods and the World Wide Web?

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April 13, 2006 5:50 PM

The NEA has schools teaching poetry the old-fashioned way

Six Minnesota high schools are taking part in "Poetry Out Loud." It's a poetry recitation competition sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.

by Chris Roberts

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April 13, 2006 1:00 AM

Author Julia Alvarez thrives in two worlds

Author Julia Alvarez balances two very different worlds -- in her life and in her new novel, "Saving the World." Alvarez grew up in a large family in the Dominican Republic, but moved to the U.S. at the age of 10. She spends most of the year in Vermont now, although she still owns a farm in the Dominican Republic.

by Kerri Miller

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April 6, 2006 6:00 PM

Poet Dennis O'Driscoll finds inspiration in the workaday world

Irish poet Dennis O'Driscoll is being recognized by St. Thomas University for his writing. O'Driscoll's day job is in Ireland's revenue department, but he says he finds plenty of inspiration for his poetry from the working life.

by Tom Crann

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April 4, 2006 12:00 PM

The last four years of Martin Luther King's life

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Taylor Branch has finally finished the project he began over a decade and a half ago. "At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68" completes a massive, three-volume history of Martin Luther King's career.

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March 28, 2006 12:00 AM

Lost and found in the woods

Getting lost in the woods is a hazard that many people face, whether they're prepared for it or not. A new book tells true stories of minor missteps that nearly lead to disaster.

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