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.

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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.

Your bookshelf may be part of the problem
Anti-racist reading lists are making the rounds right now — and they can be useful if people do the work of reading. But critic Juan Vidal suggests you look closer to home, to your own bookshelf.
From Freddie Gray to George Floyd: Wes Moore says it's time to 'change the systems'
In Five Days, Moore chronicles the uprising that occurred in Baltimore following Gray's death. "We're basically reliving history right now," he says of Floyd's death at the hands of police.
This bedtime book helps kids find their place in the 'universe'
Before he became an astrophysicist, Ray Jayawardhana was just a kid, looking up at the night sky with his father. "I remember being awed," he says. He's written a book called “Child of the Universe.”