http://www.startribune.co...62081.html

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As thousands of people have discovered in the past couple days,Minneapolis is quite the literary city. At least, Adrian Todd Zuniga, host of Literary Death Match, thinks so.

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“Not because there are great writers, but because it only costs $2.25 to get from the airport to the city center” on the light rail, Zuniga said. “It’s like they’re recognizing our financial situation.”

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Los Angeles-based Zuniga brought his traveling competition for writers here to coincide with the largest literary conference in North America. It was one of dozens of kick-offs Wednesday night to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, known as AWP, which is taking place at the Minneapolis Convention Center through Saturday.

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With some 13,000 attendees landing here, including top-tier writers, a bookish crowd has taken over a substantial chunk of downtown and beyond. Tourism officials estimate the conference will pump $28 million into the local economy as attendees spread out into bookstores, museums, restaurants and bars.

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Later Wednesday, in another part of town, two bands of royalty-inspired fans merged on a single Minneapolis street. Little girls in princess dresses with light-up wands leaving the “Frozen on Ice” show at Target Center filed past AWPers decked out in purple waiting to get into a Prince-inspired poetry reading at First Avenue.

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The line came alive when a limo drove up. “Is it Prince?” the early-birds tittered. It was not.

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Poet Patricia Smith, who hails from New Jersey, organized the event. She’s a longtime Prince fan. “When I found out AWP was going to be in Minneapolis, I knew I wanted to plot and plan an homage to Prince,” she said.

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She had her audience pegged. Almost 700 people RSVPed on Facebook for the party, which had a capacity of 300.

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Those lucky enough to get in crammed into an upstairs room at the legendary club. They got to see 13 poets deliver odes to Prince, and often, his contributions to their sexual awakenings.

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The dance party that followed went late into the night — the revelers giving little thought to AWP’s early start time the next morning.

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Prince has aided
when eye was jaded
eye was a loner
now eye have a boner

My wife and I go to this conference every year. (She's a writer). This year we were unable to go, which sucks because Minneapolis is my hometown. Dammit.

There are multiple readings with Prince themes. My FB feed is full of them.