The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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.

'American Poison' aims to show how race is at the root of U.S. problems
Journalist Eduardo Porter has written a book that cuts to the root of racism, tracing it from slavery, Jim Crow, and segregation — and bringing it to today — with unblinking honesty and facts.
'The Mountains Sing' a song of many voices
Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's new novel is a luminous, complex family saga that stretches across decades of Vietnamese history, from the French colonial period, through war and upheaval to the present day.
Electoral college 'not carved in stone:' Author advocates rethinking how we vote
Jesse Wegman, author of “Let the People Pick the President,” says the Electoral College's winner-take-all rule is not mandated by the Constitution: "There's nothing keeping us from changing it."
'Later' takes us to 1990s Provincetown, as hope for AIDS treatment rises
As we find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic, Paul Lisicky's memoir is deeply affecting; we can recall the terror and frustration when no treatment or prevention was available for AIDS and HIV.
A history book that isn't: Finding a way to teach racism to a new generation
Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi team up to investigate the history of racist ideas through a narrative that's aimed at young adult readers. It's called: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.