The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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.

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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.

This year's National Book Awards — announced in a first-ever virtual streaming ceremony — went mostly to writers of color, as the foundation that gives the prizes vowed to be more inclusive.
Lin Enger's new novel delves into truth, lies and the apocalypse
Lin Enger says his own obsession with the rapture developed over the years, as did a story he first set out to write three decades ago. “American Gospel” is set in the 1970s but has an eerie ring of today.
In 'Fevers, Feuds And Diamonds,' Paul Farmer breaks down assumptions about Ebola
The anthropologist and physician teaches that the world needs not only medicine, but something more — a rejection of global racial inequalities and serious investment in the care of all people.
Obama calls Trump's refusal to concede another 'breach of basic democratic norms'
In an interview with NPR, the former president offers some of his most wide-ranging remarks on the outcome of the election and says Donald Trump will fail in "denying reality."
Light punctures the darkness in 'One Night Two Souls Went Walking'
Ellen Cooney's new novel follows an unnamed hospital chaplain on her rounds, as she ministers to patients and grapples with her own internal questions. It's a quiet, inward-looking but hopeful story.
Ask a Bookseller: 'A heaping helping of joy'
Dionne Sims, owner of the new pop-up store Black Garnet Books in Minneapolis, recommended a book that’s been bringing her joy lately: "#Very Fat #Very Brave” by comedian Nicole Byer.
Former President Obama tells his story his way — and makes his case for history
Former President Barack Obama's ascent thrilled millions but also stirred a countermovement that is still on the march. His new memoir, “A Promised Land,” covers his rise through the second year of his presidency.