Robert Bly was born in western Minnesota in 1926 to parents of Norwegian heritage. He enlisted in the Navy in 1944 and spent two years there. After one year at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, he transferred to Harvard and thereby joined the famous group of writers who were undergraduates at that time. This group included Donald Hall, Adrienne Rich, Kenneth Koch, John Ashbery, Harold Brodky, George Plimpton, and John Hawkes. He graduated in 1950, and spent the next few years in New York living, as they say, hand to mouth. Beginning in 1954, he took two years at the University of Iowa at the Writer’s Workshop along with W.D. Snodgrass, Donald Justice, and others. In 1956, he received a Fulbright grant to travel to Norway and translate Norwegian poetry into English. While there, he found not only his relatives, but also the work of a number of major poets whose force was not present in the United States, among Pablo Neruda, Cesar Vallejo, Gunnar Ekelof, Georg Trakl, and Harry Martinson. He determined to start a literary magazine for poetry translation in the United States, and so begin The Fifties, The Sixties, and The Seventies, which introduced many of these poets to the writers of his generation, as well as publishing essays on Americans and insults to those deserving. During this time, he lived on a farm in Minnesota with his wife and children. In 1966, he Co-founded American Writers Against The Vietnam War and led much of the opposition among writers to that war. When he won the National Book Award for The Light Around the Body, he contributed the prize money to the Resistance. During the 70s, he published eleven books of poetry, essays, and translations, celebrating the power of myth, Indian ecstatic poetry, meditation, and storytelling. During the 80s, he published Loving a Woman in Two Worlds, The Winged Life: Selected Poems and Prose of Thoreau, The Man in the Black Coat Turns, and A Little Book on the Human Shadow. His work from John: A Book About Men is an international bestseller, which has been translated into many languages. In the early 90s, Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade edited The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart, an anthology of poems from the men’s work. Since then he has edited The Darkness Around Us Is Deep: Selected Poems of William Stafford, and The Soul Is Here for Its Own, a collection of sacred poetry from many cultures. His most recent books of poems are What Have I Ever Lost by Dying? Collected Poems, Prose, and Meditations on the Insatiable Soul, both published by Harper Collins. His second large prose book, The Sibling Society, published by Addison-Wesley, is subject to nationwide discussion. He frequently does workshops for men with James Hillman and others, and workshops for men and women with Marion Woodman. He and his wife Ruth, along with storyteller Gioia Timpanelli, frequently conduct seminars on European fairy tales. Visit robertbly.com for more information about him.

Location:
South Highway #75 Madison, Minnesota 56256

Mission:
To represent visually and chronologically the priceless heritage of Lac qui Parle County.

To collect, preserve and document all relics and history and place them in a fireproof, temperature and humidity-controlled building for safe-keeping.

Hours:
May - September Week Days: 9:00a.m. - 4:30p.m.
Sunday afternoons: 1:30 - 5:00 p.m. other by appointment

Staff:
One full time employee and volunteers

Admission:
Free Donations

Membership:
$3 per person, $5 couple, $50 Life membership

Events:
Quilt Show, June 28th 1:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Heritage Day, July 27th 1:30 - 5:00

General:
The complex consists of four separate buildings; a 10,000 sq. ft. Educational Museum; an 1870's Log Cabin furnished for that period; a Rural Schoolhouse built in ca.1887, equipped for that period through the early 1900's; and an Agricultural machinery, tools and early transportation exhibit building.

Important facets: 
294 Personality Dolls in enclosed display cases
3,000 pc.  Salt & Pepper Shaker collection 20 pc.
Mounted Big Game, Wildlife & Flora & Fauna
Large Military display of all wars from the Civil War to Desert Storm
Native American Artifacts display
Township Row - contains 22 individual displays
A "Century of Education" Schools display

Other places in area:
Lac qui Parle Village, settled in 1868
Lac qui Parle Mission Site established in 1835
Camp Release Monument in first Minnesota State Park

The Prairie Arts Center is home to the Lac qui Parle Players. An active local theater group, they have produced many plays and talent shows. In addition, children's theater productions, musical concerts, and community choir performances are held each year. World renowned poet Robert Bly occasionally returns home to Madison and the Prairie Arts Center for special poetry readings.