The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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 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.

In 'Shy,' a troubled teenage boy gets a last chance
Readers made Max Porter’s novel “Grief is the Thing with Feathers” a huge best-seller. His latest book, equally magical, tells the story of one wild night in the life of a disaffected boy who tries to escape from the Last Chance School.
Dive in: 'Do Tell' and 'The Stolen Coast' are perfect summer escapes
Lindsay Lynch's luscious debut, Do Tell, is set in Hollywood's Golden Age. Dwyer Murphy's The Stolen Coast is a moody tale of a lawyer who makes his money ferrying people on the run into new lives.
In 'Silver Nitrate,' a cursed film propels 2 childhood friends to the edges of reality
Set in Mexico City in 1993, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's latest novel is steeped in cinematic history and lore, as well an eerie well of myth that recalls H.P. Lovecraft, albeit in a more progressive form.
75 years ago, Hubert H. Humphrey called for Dems to 'walk into the bright sunshine of human rights'
MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with author Samuel Freedman about his new book, “Into the Bright Sunshine: Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights.”
Thousands of authors urge AI companies to stop using work without permission
Nora Roberts, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Michael Chabon and Margaret Atwood are among those signing an Authors Guild letter asking artificial intelligence companies to get permission or offer compensation.
A Type-A teen and a spontaneous royal outrun chaos in 'The Prince & The Apocalypse'
Nothing goes right for American Wren Wheeler during a trip to London. And that's before the overthinking 18-year-old meets a prince — and they both learn a comet is hurtling toward Earth.
'Fragile Cargo' chronicles the quest to save China's Forbidden City treasures from war
A book recounts how precious works of art thousands of years old were taken to safety as Japan began its invasion of China in the 1930s — a part of China's history largely unknown outside Asia.