A world of great writing has sprung from Minnesota, as a trip to the American Writers Museum in Chicago shows. The museum celebrates Prince, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis, among others.
Here's where you can find the state's greats:
The Hometown Authors exhibit, near the welcome desk, has interactive touch screens that list writers, along with brief biographies, from certain cities or part of the country. Visitors can search by state or writer's last name. Fitzgerald and Lewis are listed for Minnesota.
The Surprise Bookshelf exhibit highlights the lyrics of "17 Days" by Prince Rogers Nelson, the novel "Main Street" by Lewis, and "Peanuts" comic strips by Charles Schulz.
The American Voices exhibit includes Fitzgerald and Laura Ingalls Wilder, an honorary Minnesotan.
Wilder is also the focus of a temporary exhibit that opened Nov. 18, "Laura Ingalls Wilder: From Prairie to Page." The Chicago museum mined the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove, Minn., in creating the exhibit. The author-focused Walnut Grove museum is one of many affiliated with the American Writers Museum.
Living writers — think Louise Erdrich and Kate DiCamillo — are not featured in the museum's permanent collections, but may appear in temporary exhibits.
Kerri Westenberg
