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Arts and Culture

MPR News has you covered with news and stories about local art and culture happenings across Minnesota.

Art Hounds: Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. You can explore arts events here, or become an Art Hound today.

Art Reviews: Our arts team offers insight on the latest in theater, music, visual arts and more. We explore the breadth of creativity and innovation found throughout Minnesota, offering audiences a deeper understanding of the works and artists shaping our cultural landscape. Read more here.

Art Friend: Everyone needs an art friend. Art Friend is a new segment with our arts team. Art spaces can feel exclusive and art can be confusing, obtuse, and even boring. But, especially with the right context, everyone can be a critic. So let us be your guide- your Art Friend. Listen or read Art Friend stories here.

Our arts coverage is made possible in part by the Minnesota Legacy Amendment's Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund.

'The Lorax' warned us 50 years ago, but we didn't listen

Call it fate or an unfortunate coincidence that Dr. Seuss' eco-parable marks its 50th anniversary just as the United Nations releases a report on the dire consequences of human-induced climate change.
by Elizabeth Blair

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Inspired by 'The Decameron,' these poems are a modern pandemic time capsule

Inspired by 'The Decameron,' these poems are a modern pandemic time capsule

If you, like many people, are getting through the dragging months of the pandemic by being Very Online, you'll find poet Leigh Stein's new book is a perfect encapsulation of that experience.
by Jeevika Verma

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Art Hounds has imagination-stretching ideas for summer viewing and listening

Art Hounds has imagination-stretching ideas for summer viewing and listening

This week’s Hounds recommend “phantasmagorical” art at Minneapolis’ Gallery 360, Lanesboro’s summer music festival and the “ethereal sound” of Serious Machine.
by Emily Bright

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The nuns in 'Agatha of Little Neon' don't fly or sing, but they will stay with you

The nuns in 'Agatha of Little Neon' don't fly or sing, but they will stay with you

You don't have to be Catholic to connect with Claire Luchette's vivid story of a lonely young woman yearning for community — and also for everything she gave up to be part of that community.
by Maureen Corrigan

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Ask a Bookseller: 'Hola Papi' offers comical memoir in essays

Ask a Bookseller: 'Hola Papi' offers comical memoir in essays

Katharine Otis of House of Books in Kent, Conn., recommends the comical memoir-in-essays “Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons” by John Paul Brammer.
by Emily Bright

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Neal Conan, longtime host of NPR's 'Talk Of The Nation,' dies at 71

Neal Conan, longtime host of NPR's 'Talk Of The Nation,' dies at 71

Conan's voice graced this network for many years in many ways, always in the name of wonderful radio. Former NPR host Robert Siegel, a longtime colleague of Conan, remembers his friend.
by Robert Siegel

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5 hit men board a 'Bullet Train' in this fast and fun Japanese thriller

5 hit men board a 'Bullet Train' in this fast and fun Japanese thriller

No fewer than five assassins are on the high speed train at the center of Kotaro Isaka outlandish and virtuoso novel — and within pages, they're going after each other.
by John Powers

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All the moving parts fit together in this smart, emotional debut novel

All the moving parts fit together in this smart, emotional debut novel

YZ Chin's “Edge Case” follows a Malaysian immigrant working at a lousy, sexist startup, worried about her marriage and the thought of having to move back home — all topics it handles beautifully.
by Michael Schaub

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