Library Foundation

Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself is a fascinating new book about the legendary author David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in 2008. Based on the largely unedited “road trip interviews” by David Lipsky, contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine, this work offers an intimate portrait of Wallace during his 1996 book tour for Infinite Jest. From struggles with fame and mental illness, to getting high and getting laid, to the nature of art itself – Lipsky allows Wallace to speak for himself. Winner of a National Magazine Award for his commemorative article on Wallace in Rolling Stone, Lipsky is a frequent commentator for NPR's All Things Considered and the author of several works including the best-selling nonfiction book Absolutely American. Lipsky has appeared on the Today show, Charlie Rose, and elsewhere.

Born in Shanghai, Anchee Min grew up during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. As a teenager she was sent to a labor collective where a talent scout for ‘Madame Mao’ recruited her to work in propaganda films as an actress. In 1984 at the age of twenty-seven, she moved to the United States and learned to speak English. In 1992, Min published her first book Red Azalea, which was chosen as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and translated into thirty-two languages. Author of five other best-selling books (including Becoming Madame Mao and Empress Orchid), Anchee’s newest work, Pearl of China is the powerful story of the friendship of a lifetime, based on the life of Pearl S. Buck.

Barbara Graham is a playwright, journalist, and frequent contributor to O: The Oprah Magazine. Her new anthology, Eye of My Heart, is a collection of twenty-seven essays by acclaimed women writers that explode the myths and stereotypes about being a grandmother in today's world. In celebration of Mother’s Day, Graham will be joined by local contributing authors Sandra Benitez and Judith Guest to discuss this fascinating collection and life as writers and grandmothers. Benitez, recipient of a National Hispanic Heritage Foundation of Literature Award, is the award-winning author of four works of fiction and the memoir, Bag Lady: A Memoir. Author of five novels and several screenplays, Judith Guest’s best-selling first novel, Ordinary People, won the Janet Heidegger Kafka Prize for best fiction and was made into an Academy Award-winning movie.

Krista Tippett, creator and host of Speaking of Faith from America Public Media, is currently heard on over 230 public radio stations across the U.S. and globally via the web. A journalist, theologian, and former diplomat, Tippett's first book, Speaking of Faith — Why Religion Matters and How to Talk about It, combines autobiographical writing about her own spiritual journey with questions of faith pursued with others on her show. Her new book, Einstein's God, examines the changing way we think about science, medicine, and belief.

“In a day where religion—or, rather arguments over religion—divide us… Tippett is exactly the measured, balanced commentator we need.” —Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love

2010 A Celebration of Literary Twin Cities - Podcast coming soon.

2009 Alan Furst, The Spies of Warsaw
Mary Ann Grossman and Laurie Hertzel with Cathy Wurzer, The News of Books
Jane Hamilton, Laura Rider's Masterpiece
Arthur Phillips and musical guest Scrapomatic, The Song is You
Kevin Kling, Holiday Inn 
David Plotz, Good Book  
Padgett Powell, The Interrogative Mood
David Rhodes, Driftless
Tom Robbins, B Is for Beer
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, When Skateboards Will Be Free 
Patricia Smith, Blood Dazzler 
Andrew Zimmern, Bizarre Truth 

2008 M.T. Anderson, The Astonishing Life of Octavia Nothing 
Charles Baxter, Soul Thief 
Andrei Codrescu, Jealous Witness 
Lise, Heid and Louise Erdrich, A Celebration of Writing and Sisterhood 
Seth Kantner, Shopping for Porcupine
Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift with Tom Crann, How to Eat Supper 
Garrison Keillor, Sonnets and Stories 
Chip Kidd, The Learners 
Kerri Miller with authors of Riding Shotgun: Women Who Write About Their Mothers 
Marilynne Robinson, Home: A Novel 
Ali Selim and Will Weaver, Sweet Land: From Fiction to Film 
Tim Weiner, A Legacy of Ashes 

2007 Steve Almond, (Not That You Asked) Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions 
Sven Birkerts and Lewis Buzbee, The Unexpected Life of Books 
Michael Dirda, Reading, Writing and Reviewing at the Washington Post Book World 
Arvonne Fraser, She’s No Lady 
Judith Guest, Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee, S. Benitez, and P.W. Francisco, Paper Cuts
Bill Holm, Windows on Brimnes 
Laurel Poetry Collective, 20 poets, 4 years, 1 very special evening 
Heather McElhatton, with Kevin Kling and guitarist Robert Bell, Pretty Little Mistakes 
Per Petterson, Out Stealing Horses 
Steven Pinker, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature  

2006 Neil Baldwin, American Revelations
Charles Baxter and George Rabasa, Perfect Villains and Flawed Heroes
Brian Evenson and Laird Hunt, Literature, Morality and the Criminal Choice
Tess Gallagher, Dear Ghosts
Jacquelyn Mitchard, Cage of Stars
Matthew Pearl, The Poe Shadow
Nancy Pearl, Book Lust
Dava Sobel, The Planets