Duluth's Poet Laureate - and second term poet laureate at that, Jim Johnson, is interested in the idea of local and regional voices in writing, so it's not really a surprise that he was asked to deliver the keynote address at tonight's 27th Annual Northeastern Minnesota Book Awards at UMD.
Here, he talks about the "Midwest voice," a writing style he characterizes as, among other things, "honest" and "practical."