Fitzgerald in Saint Paul

The Friends is your Fitzgerald Resource.

The Friends stewards F. Scott Fitzgerald’s legacy through programming that celebrates the life and literature of the revered author and inspires people to reflect on both his historical and contemporary significance.

Gatsby at 100

2025 was the 100th anniversary of the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s book The Great Gatsby. To mark this milestone, The Friends convened a variety of programs that invited us to revisit the book and consider how its themes apply today. Thank you to all who participated!

Scroll down to watch the recap of this monumental year.

Arguably the most well-known work of Saint Paul native Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby explores ideas about class and society, materialism, the American Dream, and more, set in the Jazz Age of the 1920s.

As the Minnesota Center for the Book and steward of Fitzgerald’s legacy in Saint Paul, The Friends will serve as a Gatsby resource in this anniversary year and partner with community organizations and individuals to produce programs like discussions, exhibits, performances, readings, and more.

Watch the Gatsby at 100 Recap Video

Watch the livestream of the discussion with the editors of "F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Composite Biography"

Upcoming Programs

Exhibit: “Gatsby at 100”

When: September 13, 2025 - March 22, 2026

“Gatsby at 100” Exhibit September 13, 2025 – March 22, 2026 Minneapolis Institute of Arts 2400 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis “Gatsby at 100,” opening in fall 2025 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, will explore how F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel shaped and was shaped by the visual art of his time. The exhibition will bring…

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Other Fitzgerald Programs

Fitzgerald Short Stories with Klecko

McDermott Lectures

The annual McDermott Lecture is named for Richard P. McDermott, who helped restore Fitzgerald’s birthplace in the 1970s and remained an avid supporter of Fitzgerald activities before passing away in 2012.

2021 McDermott Lecture
Prometheus Enriched: F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dreams of America
Featuring Dr. Sarah Churchwell, Professorial Fellow in American Literature

Dr. Sarah Churchwell is the featured speaker for this year's virtual lecture. Dr. Churchwell’s research explores American myth, early 20th century language and literature, and rhetorical turns of phrase, like “America First” and “The American Dream.” She has emerged as a go-to voice as Americans reckon with their complicated history.

2020 McDermott Lecture
Philip McGowan is the editor of the new Oxford University Press edition of "This Side of Paradise." Fitzgerald’s first novel, this publication catapulted Minnesota’s native son onto the national literary scene. McGowan's keynote revisited this seminal work, along with "Flappers & Philosophers" (the author’s first short story collection). Both are celebrating centenaries in 2020.

Ongoing Fitzgerald Programs

Fitzgerald in Saint Paul - Autobumming

Kick off summer travel with a window into early 20th century road trips with two of Minnesota’s classics. Travel west with Sinclair Lewis’s protagonists in Free Air and south with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre in “Cruise of the Rolling Junk.” Join historians Mark Taylor and Patrick Coleman as they chat about what these 20th century road trips reveal about our country, their authors, and the enduring American tradition of lengthy road travel.

Fitz Bits

Fitz Bits is a series of short video lectures on the work, life, and world of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitz Bits is presented by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and made possible by Baird, and by the Minnesota Department of Education through a grant from the State of Minnesota.

In the first episode in this series, Fitzgerald scholar Dave Page draws connections between Saint Paul and Princeton University that inspired Fitzgerald’s seminal novel This Side of Paradise.

Dave Page is a Fitzgerald scholar and the author of F. Scott Fitzgerald in Minnesota: The Writer and His Friends at Home – as well as numerous other works on Fitzgerald. Fitz Bits is presented by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library and made possible by Baird, and by the Minnesota Department of Education through a grant from the State of Minnesota.

In this chat, Fitzgerald scholar Dave Page lists and contextualizes mentions of tobacco usage throughout Fitzgerald’s corpus. As is so often the case with Fitzgerald’s work, there are rich stories behind the stories!

In this Fitz Bits installment, Dave Page explores the novelist’s connections – both literary and personal – to the American Civil War.

Mark Taylor is a Fitzgerald scholar and site tour guide. In this chat, Mark overviews the mutually beneficial relationship between the famous author and his accomplished editor, Maxwell Perkins.

Stu Wilson is former board chair of Fitzgerald in Saint Paul. In this Fitz Bits installment, Wilson details a weeks-long trip that the novelist spent in Montana and the impact that this summer had on his fiction.

Sister Mary Paula, the long-time historian of Visitation School in Saint Paul (currently at Visitation Monastery of Minneapolis), illuminates the McQuillan-Fitzgerald family’s long-standing association with the school...as well as a surprise Minnesota literary connection! Excerpts are from an interview given to Melissa Barker and Gail Shea.

For questions and more information, please contact:

Alayne Hopkins, Director of Programs and Services
[email protected]
651-366-6488

The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library acts as a catalyst for libraries to strengthen and inspire their communities. An independent, nonprofit organization established in 1945, The Friends invests in the Saint Paul Public Library through fundraising, advocacy, and programming; as a result, our Library is a nationally-recognized leader in serving its community. The Friends also serves libraries across the country and internationally through its consulting services, Library Strategies, and promotes literacy, reading, and libraries statewide as the Library of Congress’s designated Minnesota Center for the Book.

The need for a strong library is greater than ever.

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