Katherine Lanpher

For nearly twenty-five years, Katherine Lanpher was a fixture in Twin Cities journalism—first at the St. Paul Pioneer Press and then as the host of Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning show and “Talking Volumes” series. So when she moved to New York on February 29, 2004, to join Al Franken on his new radio station, Air America, the work was similar, but the territory she broadcast from was entirely new. She explores this sense of place and displacement in her recently published memoir, Leap Days.

Have you had any pure-Midwestern moments in New York?
The first month I lived here I made a big pot roast and invited over everyone I knew. Bill Hillsman [president of Minneapolis’ North Woods Advertising] was in town, and he brought along some typical Manhattan career woman: very sharp, very savvy, very chic. She clip-clopped into my apartment in her high-heeled boots, and there I am in an apron, dishing up pot roast. She just looked at me like, “Oh you poor little thrush.” They don’t feature many pot-roast aficionados on the front page of the New York Times’ Thursday’s Styles section.

Having interviewed so many authors, what words stuck with you when you sat down to write your book?
I quote Natalie Goldberg, who wrote Writing Down the Bones and had been on my show, a lot. She said that some writers have to have their throats cut before their voice comes out—some trauma, or some change, has to happen that helps them articulate a narrative. I think that happened to me with the move to New York. I had always wanted to write and I could never quite figure it out. Then when I moved here the change was so abrupt and so stimulating that, to this day, chunks of narrative just appear in my head as I am walking down the street.

How was it to shift back to writing after being on the radio for so long?
The adjustment for me was coming up with a long-form narrative; there’s a distinct difference between writing a long newspaper article and a personal essay. My problem now is that I exhale and it’s five thousand words. The other hard adjustment was that I was used to immediate gratification: Within weeks, if not hours, my writing would be in print and people would respond. In my acknowledgements for Leap Days, there is a chunky paragraph full of people I thank for reading drafts. I don’t know if I’ll need that as much for the next one.

So are you writing another book? Are you still working in radio?
I’ve got ideas for a couple books and I’m working on those proposals. I am still doing radio: I’m the host of a show that starts in January for More magazine and a substitute host for the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC, the public radio station. I do a webcast for Barnes & Noble called Upstairs at the Square. I did a show at the Fitzgerald in October with Chan Poling and we’re thinking about setting it up again somewhere. I think there is a freedom that comes from not being harnessed to a daily two-hour show, so I get to do different things.