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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where The Thread checks in with booksellers around the country about their favorite books of the moment. Listen to Ask a Bookseller to find your next favorite book.

Big Books and Bold Ideas

Big Books and Bold Ideas is a weekly series hosted by Kerri Miller every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

Sign Up for The Thread® Newsletter

Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Find reviews for new releases, as well as hidden gems you may have missed.

Talking Volumes

Talking Volumes is back for its 25th season. Join us at the Fitzgerald Theater for four special events with renowned authors, celebrating our anniversary with a special $25 ticket price for MPR members and Star Tribune subscribers. Buy tickets here.

Can you create your own luck?

Can you create your own luck?

Social scientist Mark Robert Rank says: not really. You can and should work hard. Talent plays a role. But random chance has far more to do with success than sheer determination.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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2 books offer just the right summer mix of humor and nostalgia

Catherine Newman’s novel “Sandwich” centers on a woman vacationing with her young adult children and her elderly parents. Julie Satow’s “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue” profiles three NYC department stores.
by Maureen Corrigan

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The history of trans misogyny is the history of segregation

As anti-trans legislation has ramped up, historian Jules Gill-Peterson turns the lens to the past in her book, “A Short History of Trans Misogyny.” This week, NPR talks about how panics around trans femininity are shaped by wider forces of colonialism, segregation and class interests.
by Gene Demby, B.A. Parker, Jess Kung, Xavier Lopez, Leah Donnella, Christina Cala, Courtney Stein, Lori Lizarraga and Veralyn Williams

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Samira Ahmed on ‘This Book Won't Burn’

Samira Ahmed on ‘This Book Won't Burn’

After a family tragedy, Noor Khan is forced to finish her senior year of high school in a small town where she discovers — to her horror — that books are disappearing from the school library.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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What’s a book ban anyway? Depends on who you ask

What’s a book ban anyway? Depends on who you ask

The term "book ban" is used a lot in media and elsewhere when addressing the rise in challenges to certain books being allowed in schools and public libraries. But is it more political hyperbole or a censorship alarm bell?
by Elizabeth Blair

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‘Beyond the Light’: Minneapolis artist Layne Kennedy reveals the stories behind photographs in new book

‘Beyond the Light’: Minneapolis artist Layne Kennedy reveals the stories behind photographs in new book

Visual artist Layne Kennedy has spent a career taking photos. Now, he’s collected dozens of his images — and the stories behind them — in a new book.
by Tom Crann, Josh Cobb and Ngoc Bui

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