Talking Volumes, 2008-2009

Upcoming selections

"Sonata Mulattica"

By Rita Dove

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Rita Dove will discuss her most recent publication, Sonata Mulattica. The book-length lyric narrative was inspired by history and imagination. It re-creates the life of a nineteenth-century mixed-race virtuoso violinist, George Polgreen Bridgetower. He travels to Vienna to meet Ludwig van Beethoven. The great composer's subsequent sonata is originally dedicated to the young mulatto, but George, exuberant with acclaim, offends Beethoven over a woman. From this crucial encounter evolves a grandiose yet melancholy poetic tale.

Live appearance: Monday, May 11th, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.
Fitzgerald Theater
Dove will talk about her new book with Kerri Miller.

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Previous selections

"The House on Mango Street"

By Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros celebrates the 25th anniversary of "The House on Mango Street," her acclaimed novella of a young girl growing up in the Latino section of Chicago. The book is a standard in high schools and colleges across the country. She is working on several projects, including a collection of fiction titled "Infinito" and "Writing in My Pajamas," a book on how she teaches writing.

Midmorning: Friday, April 24, 2009
Washburn High School, Minneapolis
Cisneros will talk about the 25th anniversary of her novella, and her new projects with Kerri Miller.

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"Hurry Down Sunshine"

By Michael Greenberg

Michael Greenberg's acclaimed memoir "Hurry Down Sunshine" captures his 15-year old daughter's fight with depression. Greenberg artfully details the medications, therapy and family interventions required to keep her disease at bay. Greenberg is a columnist for the Times Literary Supplement, where his essays have been appearing since 2003. His fiction, criticism, and travel pieces have been published widely.

Live appearance: Greenberg talks about his memoir with Kerri Miller.
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"Bicycles"

By Nikki Giovanni

Renowned poet Nikki Giovanni will share her to-be-released collection, "Bicycles" (on sale January 17, 2009). The collected poems serve as a companion to her 1997 Love Poems. In the years that followed Love Poems' release, Giovanni experienced losses both public and private: her mother's and sister's passing and the massacre at Virginia Tech, where she teaches. Just when it seemed life was spinning out of control, Giovanni rediscovered love — what she calls the antidote.

Live appearance: Giovanni talks about her new collection with Kerri Miller.
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"The Hour I First Believed"

By Wally Lamb

Kerri Miller talks to Wally Lamb about his first novel in 10 years, The Hour I First Believed. Lamb's two previous novels, She's Come Undone and I Know This Much is True, topped the New York Times fiction charts. Lamb lead a writing workshop at the Connecticut women's prison for the past eight years, and his work with those inmates influenced the plot of his eagerly anticipated new book.

Midmorning, Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
Lamb talked about his new book with Kerri Miller and took questions from the audience.
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"Nobody's Fool"

By Richard Russo

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo joins Kerri Miller for Talking Volumes. His book Nobody's Fool was made into film starring Paul Newman. Russo's latest novel, Bridge of Sighs, will be out in paperback in the fall. Like many of his tales, it takes place in a deteriorating blue-collar town in the Northeastern United States. Publisher's Weekly says the book is "is large-hearted, vividly populated and filled with life from America's recent, still vanishing, past."

Midmorning, October 9, 2008
Russo spoke about his new book with Kerri Miller and took questions from the audience.
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Public ticket price is $20. MPR Member tickets are $18. More ticket information available from the Fitzgerald Theater Web site or by phone at 651-290-1221.