The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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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.

'Black Sunday' will destroy you — let it
Tola Rotimi Abraham's wrenching novel follows a four young children in Lagos, Nigeria, whose comfortable life is blown apart when their mother loses her job, and their father abandons them.
Author L.L. McKinney: Barnes & Noble 'Diverse Editions' are 'literary blackface'
Barnes & Noble suspended its campaign to reissue classic books with covers depicting protagonists as people of color after many authors, including McKinney, criticized the initiative.
New coronavirus 'won't be the last' outbreak to move from animal to human
Science writer David Quammen says the new coronavirus is the latest example of the way pathogens are migrating from animals to humans with increasing frequency — and sometimes deadly consequences.
A widow, not a wife: 'Smacked' explores an ex-husband's secret addiction
Eilene Zimmerman didn't learn of her ex-husband's addiction to cocaine and opioids until after his death. "This had happened in front of us, and we hadn't recognized it," she says.
In Ben Passmore's latest, 'Sports Is Hell' and the world is on fire
Passmore's timely new graphic novel is set in an unnamed city whose football team has just won the Super Bowl, setting off fiery riots. It's a biting satire of political action, race and capitalism.