Diana NollenDiana Nollen is the Arts & Entertainment writer and event critic for SourceMedia Group. She also has worked as a features writer and editor, entertainment editor and news editor for The Gazette and the editor for her hometown weekly newspaper in Mediapolis. In addition, she spent four years at the helm of a children’s theater program, 10 years as a theatrical costume designer and two years as the host and assistant producer for Kidz Korner on local cable TV. Nollen has a degree in Communications and Theatre from Central College in Pella. |
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Head for the Hills: South Dakota travel
North by northwest of Eastern Iowa lies a tourist attraction of monumental proportions. Mount Rushmore is, quite simply, a national treasure. And it’s just an easy day-and-a-half drive away, with several great four-lane routes to zip there: straight across Iowa on Interstate 80 or Highway 20, north on Interstate 29 or 35, then west [...]
Broadway at the Paramount
EMBARGOED UNTIL 2 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 23 The Paramount Theatre will rock and roll with next year’s Broadway series. The fun kicks off with “Under the Streetlamp” on Oct. 5, featuring the music of the American Radio Songbook of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, performed by former members of the Broadway touring production of “Jersey [...]
Blue Man Group bringing theatrical mayhem to the Paramount
‘American Idiot’
Mighty Wurlitzer to sing again
The Mighty Wurlitzer will be whirling through Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 a year from now at the Paramount Theatre in downtown Cedar Rapids. That work is most appropriate, since the majestic pipe organ that’s been thrilling Paramount throngs since 1928 has been resurrected from the Floods of 2008. It will sing again with [...]
Ayana Mathis penned debut novel while at UI workshop
When Oprah talks, people listen. When she chooses books, they read. She chose well when she selected “The Twelve Tribes of Hattie” for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0. “The opening chapter just floored me — absolutely floored me,” Winfrey says in an Oprah.com video announcing her book club selection. “And listen to this: It is [...]
Author Profile: Sir Salman Rushdie
CEDAR RAPIDS — Sir Salman Rushdie never dreamed the book he considered his “least political novel” would touch off a firestorm of violence and incite a death threat that would haunt him for a decade. “That just shows you writers can be wrong about their work,” Rushdie, 65, of New York City, said Tuesday night [...]
Acclaimed novel sheds light on Great Migration
‘The Twelve Tribes of Hattie” is a stunning portrait of a gnarled family tree. Tattered moss hangs off every limb, allowing nothing to nest there. Ayana Mathis has entwined all the branches into a harrowing debut novel that digs deep into the soul of a black family uprooted at every turn by realities too harsh [...]
Rushdie stresses cultural importance of literature in Coe appearance
One of literature’s greatest roles through the ages has been to open the doors to greater global understanding, Sir Salman Rushdie said Tuesday night during the 10th annual Coe College Contemporary Issues Forum. A capacity crowd gathered in Sinclair Auditorium to hear the literary giant who stirred up a firestorm of violence, criticism and controversy [...]
