Asked to describe a typical workday, Minnesota Public Radio news host Kerri Miller ticks off a busy agenda, which begins as soon as she gets up in the morning. By 5:30 a.m., Miller is checking several national and international news and social media sites; she arrives at the MPR studios in downtown Saint Paul by 8, is on the air with MPR News with Kerri Miller from 9 to 11 a.m., which is followed by a quick debriefing and some writing for the next day’s show. By noon, Miller is on her way back to her Hudson home and a quiet office where the rest of the day is filled with more writing, research, script preparation and a lot of reading. An awful lot.
“It’s intensive hours of reading, which is great because I love it,” Miller says, adding that she reads entire books by authors she plans to interview—no first chapter, last chapter short cuts. “I don’t feel like it’s a burden.” After a break at 5 p.m. to go to her local gym, there is even more reading ahead for Miller before her day is complete.
Fans of Miller’s MPR program, which she has been hosting for the past 11 years, can attest that these hours of preparation result in interviews that are sharp, informative and engaging, whether she is talking with a Minnesota politician on her weekday program or a popular author such as Sherman Alexie or Pat Conroy, on the air or in person at Talking Volumes events.
Recently, MPR’s focus on author interviews and literary events has become even more finely tuned with the introduction of The Thread, which Miller calls “an all-encompassing, digital media and event-oriented initiative for people who love to read.” According to Miller, The Thread, which launched officially in February with new social media platforms, is the umbrella under which popular features such as Talking Volumes, digital events and other literary gatherings are integrated. Miller is active on Twitter, and in addition to a specifically curated web page, The Thread will also launch a podcast. “This is the chance to [spotlight] 15 minutes of an author interview that I felt was really special—people can listen when they have time in their day to do so,” Miller says.
Those familiar with Talking Volumes events, co-sponsored by the Star Tribune and The Loft Literary Center and held at the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, know the format is a traditional on-stage interview between Miller and an author; past events have featured Joyce Carol Oates, Elizabeth Gilbert and Isabel Allende. Miller describes The Thread events as “much looser,” spotlighting both fiction and nonfiction, and appealing to a wider variety of readers. By way of example, she cites a March 2015 event featuring Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and Dead Wake, about the torpedoing of the R.M.S. Lusitania ocean liner off the coast of Ireland in 1915.
“Before the Erik Larson event, I went out into the audience to ask people if they’d ever been to a Talking Volumes. My non-scientific poll indicated that maybe one in five had,” says Miller. “And the really cool thing was that parents were there with their kids, their teenagers, and making it more of a family event.”
Stephanie Curtis, senior producer for The Thread, says the new initiative has strong appeal for radio listeners and book lovers. “In Minnesota, we have a highly educated population, a lot of avid readers, a lot of amateur and professional writers and a good collection of bookstores,” she says. “We have a really loyal group of people who come to Talking Volumes, and one of our big goals is to get new people in the doors with The Thread events.”
The 2015 Talking Volumes season kicks off on September 15 with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Franzen, who will be talking about his new book, Purity. Miller says The Thread’s next season, featuring four or five author events, will begin in March 2016. “On top of that, we will do some Thread events out in the community for people who love books. No authors, just me hanging out and getting to know the book community better, but in a more personal space,” she says, mentioning possible happy hour and library gatherings.
Face to Face
Asked about her interviews with noted authors, Miller says some are comfortable conversations, some less so and some surprising. For example, when Franzen appeared on Talking Volumes in 2010 to promote his second novel, Freedom, Miller admits to a rare case of nerves. “I’d been warned about what Jonathan Franzen would be like. Extremely difficult, no time for fools. I was really nervous about meeting him,” she says. “He’s one of those writers that, if you ask a stupid question, he writes you off.”
But much to Miller’s surprise, she found Franzen to be charming and engaging. “We laughed. We actually laughed a lot on stage,” she says. In fact, Franzen’s return to the Fitzgerald—one of only three stops he’s making on his book tour—was his choice.
Other favorite guests include Isabel Allende (“She knows exactly how to hold the audience in the palm of her hand”) and Louise Erdrich (“I am an unabashed fan, so in the interview, I had to be the journalist and not the fan”).
Traveling Companions
Another way Miller is connecting with local book lovers is through travel, specifically with international literary excursions: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Paris in 2014, Italy’s Literati this past June, with a focus on the English Romantic poets who traveled and wrote in northern Italy, and an upcoming trip to Havana in 2016 for Hemingway’s Cuba. While the trips require extensive preparation on Miller’s part (for Italy, she brought two Kindles loaded up with 30 novels), she has found the social aspect of these literary journeys to be an enjoyable surprise.
“I’m someone who likes my own company a lot,” says Miller. “But I was really struck by how much I enjoyed the social interaction, and here’s why: The people come from various backgrounds and have interesting lives. They are usually pretty well-traveled, and they are looking for a high-value experience in a city that they know through the lens of literature.”
Travelers also need to do their homework—prior to the trip, each person receives a reading list. While “there aren’t any tests,” Miller says, there are many opportunities for the group to discuss the works of authors who spent time in those areas. For the Italy trip, there were close to 30 people in attendance; the same will be true for Havana, since the number of travelers is capped (There is currently a waiting list for the Cuba trip). Miller is very excited for this opportunity and expects there may be travelers of various ages who will be seeing Havana together for the first time.
Admired Journalist
A former television journalist and political reporter for KARE-11 who has won several awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists National Achievement Award, the Minnesota Broadcasters Award and the Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media, Miller says she does not miss television journalism as much as she thought she would when she arrived at MPR in 2004.
While she admits to occasionally missing “the muscle of being a reporter,” she has been happy that MPR will let her get out in the field a bit and do some reporting “to exercise that muscle.”
“This MPR job is so consuming and interesting—it’s everything I ever wanted,” Miller says. “It brings together every skill I spent 20 years developing; the writing skills, the love of reading, my interviewing skills. I feel like everything was leading up to this.”
Kerri Miller is looking forward to...
- Purity by Jonathan Franzen.
- A new book by John Irving that she’s heard “harks back” to his novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany.
- Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy (Cleopatra: A Life) Schiff’s new book, The Witches: Salem 1692, about the witch trials.
Talking Volumes 2015 Season:
- September 15: Jonathan Franzen
- October 25: Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink
- November 6: John Irving (Ted Mann Concert Hall in Minneapolis)
- November 10: Stacy Schiff
- December 2: Jane Smiley
- All events at The Fitzgerald Theater unless otherwise indicated. Learn more here.
Follow
Kerri Miller, the Thread and Stephanie Curtis on Twitter: @KerriMPR @thethreadmpr @stephcurtis
The Thread is also on Facebook and Instagram.
