The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR News

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

'We Run The Tides' pulls you into the rough seas of female adolescence
Vendela Vida's novel centers on four 13-year-old girls who are perched on the edge of adulthood — and the recognition that some things they do or say now will change who they become as adults.
'Under A White Sky' examines what it might take for humans to continue to exist
Elizabeth Kolbert makes clear how far we already are from a world of undisturbed, balanced nature — and how far we must go to find a new balance for the planet's future, one that still includes us.
Powerful 'Removed' walks a path between memory and mourning
Brandon Hobson's new novel crosses back and forth between past and present, mourning and memory to tell the story of a Cherokee family grappling with the death of a son at the hands of the police.
'The Good Girls' aims to uncover the story behind the deaths of two Indian girls
Two young, inseparable teenage girls were found hanging side by side from a mango tree in a small village in India in May 2014. Author Sonia Faleiro investigates their deaths in a new book.
A journalist's eye enlivens 'Land Of Big Numbers'
Journalist Te-Ping Chen's fiction debut puts her reportorial talents to brilliant use, in a collection of short stories about Chinese life that will make readers reconsider their settled notions.
Author interview: ‘Ida B. The Queen’
To kick off Black History Month, we talk to Michelle Duster, the great-granddaughter of journalist and Black activist Ida B. Wells, about her new intimate biography of her great-grandmother’s legacy.