Time-travel to the past with vintage interviews of Minnesota writers, from Hassler to Krueger

Love Minnesota writers? Then get ready to take a deep online dive.

Many episodes of "Northern Lights: A Look at Minnesota Books and Writers" are now a couple of computer clicks away.

The series, produced for cable access from 1988-2002, features vintage interviews with dozens of writers, many of whom — including Julie Schumacher, whose "The English Experience" hits stores this year, and Alison Bechdel, whose bestselling "Fun Home" became a Tony Award-winning Broadway show — continue to create new work.

The interviews are like a time capsule, with writers clad in boxy-shouldered '80s jackets and statement plaids. The vibe is very low-key — think Molly Shannon and Ana Gasteyer doing "Delicious Dish" sketches on "Saturday Night Live" — and many of the writers are caught early in their careers.

Schumacher, for instance, was interviewed for her 1995 debut, "The Body Is Water." And Bechdel — who was interviewed in 1990 and who launched her "Dykes to Watch Out For" comic strip while working at defunct Twin Cities publication Equal Time — is so young, with a high voice and eager energy, that she practically seems like a different person. They answer questions from a variety of interviewers, many of whom are from Hennepin County Library, which originally produced "Northern Lights."

You can find the interviews — with subjects also including Bill Holm, William Kent Krueger and R.D. Zimmerman — on a searchable database at mndigital.org.