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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.

July 27, 2020 5:13 PM

Norm Eisen says he drafted 10 articles of impeachment a month before inquiry

In a new book, “A Case for the American People,” the Judiciary Committee special counsel during impeachment traces the process. Of Trump, he tells NPR: "He understands what he's doing. It is a pattern."

by Ari Shapiro

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July 27, 2020 12:40 PM

'Reluctant Dad' Mike Birbiglia and poet Jen Stein share 'painful' parenting truths

In the memoir, “The New One,” comic Birbiglia and his wife, Jen Stein, open up about his ambivalence about fatherhood and the strain it had on their marriage.

by Terry Gross

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July 27, 2020 12:11 PM

A daughter unearths and remembers trauma in 'Memorial Drive'

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey explores the relationship between trauma, agency, and voice as she excavates the lingering effects of her mother's murder upon her life.

by Hope Wabuke

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July 27, 2020 9:02 AM

The Thread: ‘Sea Wife’ a dark and thrilling read

Who doesn’t love a sinister, summer-time thriller? Kerri Miller continues her look at books that keep us on the edge of our seats with Amity Gaige’s “Sea Wife.”

by Kerri Miller

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July 27, 2020 4:00 AM

Picture book deals head-on with the loss of a child

There are few harder blows to a family than the loss of a child. Not only can it leave parents and siblings with unbearable grief, but those around them can experience helplessness and feel unable to respond. A new picture book by a St. Paul writer and an illustrator takes on these huge emotions in a way they hope will help everyone.

by Euan Kerr

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July 26, 2020 7:16 AM

'Crooked Hallelujah' sings of beauty and trouble between mothers and daughters

Kelli Jo Ford's novel follows three generations of Cherokee women trying to forge a future in the harsh environment of the 1980s oil boom in Texas — and learning just how difficult that can be.

by Sarah McCammon

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July 25, 2020 4:00 AM

Cartoonist Adrian Tomine's self-deprecating, self-aware humor shines in memoir

In framing Tomine's life trajectory via professional and personal setbacks and moments of mortification, “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist” becomes mesmerizing, funny, and deeply honest.

by Ilana Masad

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July 24, 2020 10:00 AM

Author Elliot Ackerman on 'Red Dress in Black and White'

The latest novel from author and journalist Elliot Ackerman explores both a story of personal and political intrigue in Turkey. We spoke with him about the novel and the relationship between writing fiction and nonfiction.

by Kerri Miller and Breann Schossow

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July 23, 2020 9:00 AM

Think fantasy is kid stuff? Try 'Trouble the Saints'

Alaya Dawn Johnson's new novel is set in New York on the eve of World War II, in a world where a few lucky (well, not that lucky) people are gifted with "saints' hands," that give them strange skills.

by Danny Lore

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July 22, 2020 8:33 AM

Exhausting effect of FOIA requests evident in 'Baseless'

Nicholson Baker's book misses the mark in an aim to take readers on a quest to discover if the U.S. used biological weapons developed in the '50s — and to examine the failings of public records law.

by Tim Mak

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