the phase i once swore i would never have. >> carole connolly the poet laureate of st. paul minnesota. what is a poet laureate of st. paul minnesota? >> guest: at all sort of started when a legislator put a bill in the legislature to make a poet laureate since many states have one. the governor at the time vetoed saying next you'll be asking for a poet dancer and a poet potter and even though making a poet laureate cost no money to the state because it goes through commission. there's absolutely no cost to anyone. a friend of mine had a meeting with chris coleman and she said we should have a poet laureate and he said done. that's how hard i had to work to get appointed. >> host: what is a poet laureate do? >> guest: you can do whatever you want. people do different things with their laureate ship and the thing i do is since i was appointed i think it was in 2007 i orchestrate or organize a reading by writers once a month at the university for writers who have new books for writers who are new writers. we have readings every month and we are getting great audiences of o

paul, minnesota, with help of our cable partner contacts, we talk with carol connolly, poet laureate. the fact that it happens all this doesn't make it easier. i turned a corner and without warning i stand before a mirror and there it is. my mothers face staring back at me in disbelief. the face i once swore that i would never have. >> host: i'm here with carol connolly, the poet laureate of minnesota. what is it to be a poet laureate of minnesota? >> guest: well, there was a bill that passed that was where poet laureate and many states have one. and the governor, even though it cost money because it goes through a commission, and there is definitely not accost anyone. but then a friend of mine said that we should have a poet laureate. and so that is how hard i had to work to get a poet laureate. >> host: what did they do? >> guest: i think you can do all sorts of things with their laureate ship. and the thing that i do this since i was appointed in 2007, i orchestrate or organize a writer's event once a month in st. paul heard some writers with new books and we are getting great big

with the help of our local cable partner we talked to a poet laureate carol connolly . >> the fact thatto all of us does not make it any easier. i turn a corner and suddenly without warning i stand full before a mirror, and there it is, my mother's face staring back at me in disbelief, the face i once swore would never have. >> host: here with carol connolly, a poet laureate of st. paul minnesota. what is a poet laureate of st. paul minnesota? .. >> i orchestrate or organize a reading by writers events once a month at the university club in st. paul. writer to write their own books or writers who are new writers and so on. we have this reading once a month and we're getting great big audiences of over 100 which is a lot for a poetry reading. i do this serious which i consider my sort of gift to the poets in minnesota really. >> can you talk about the literary community in st. paul? what type of community isn't? >> i think wit we have a very vibrant literary community in st. paul and in minneapolis to st. paul, literary is respected and revered and tons of people are writing poetry and m

. >> carol connolly, thank you very much for taking time with us. >> thank you. it was a pleasure. pleasure meeting you. >> for more information on booktv's recent visit to st. paul, minnesota, and the many other cities visited by local content vehicles, joe dear c-span.org/localcontent -- go to c-span.org/localcontent. up next, "after words" with guest host megan mcardle. this week ken silverstein and his latest book "the secret world of oil." and if the former washington editor of harper's magazine takes a behind the scenes look at the key figures and the crunch and international oil industry. this program is about one hour. >> host: here we are with "the secret world of oil," your new book on the underside of the oil business. i'm going to ask you the first question every author gets asked. why? why did you decide to write this book? >> guest: i've worked about, i've written about the oil industry for a long time, for over a decade. and i've written about the crushing of the international oil industry and the way the united states maintains close relationships with various, pret