Author and historian to lead Minding Place workshops

Author Jim Heynen and oral historian Charles Morrissey will lead workshops at Northwestern College on Saturday, April 5, as the college hosts Minding Place, a week of place-themed events.

Heynen will lead “Writing in This Place” and Morrissey, director of presidential oral histories for Truman, Kennedy and Clinton, will lead “Oral History: Interviewing in This Place.”

Both workshops will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Rowenhorst Student Center. Workshops are open to community members but limited to 25 participants each.

Visit www.nwciowa.edu/mindingplaceworkshops or call 712-707-7100 to register by March 17. Registrants are not guaranteed a place in their preferred workshop; workshops may have waiting lists.

Born near Doon, Iowa, Heynen wrote about the places and people of northwest Iowa in The One-Room Schoolhouse: Stories About the Boys (1993). He has published numerous poems, stories and articles in publications like Harper’s and The New York Times. Heynen lives in St. Paul, Minn., and is professor emeritus at St. Olaf College.

Morrissey began his oral history career when he was commissioned to record interviews with former White House staffers during the Truman administration. He has directed oral history projects for the John F. Kennedy Library and the U.S. Congress. Currently, he is an oral history consultant for the William J. Clinton Presidential History. Morrisey lives in East Hardwick, Vt., and Houston, Texas.

Minding Place will also include the college’s first Day of Learning in Community on Wednesday, April 9. Visitors are invited to join the campus community as author Kathleen Norris reads and comments on her best-selling book, Dakota: A Spiritual Geography.

For more information about Minding Place events, visit www.nwciowa.edu/mindingplace or contact event planner Jill Haarsma, 712-707-7100, to request a brochure. Minding Place is funded in part by Humanities Iowa, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.