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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.

Big Books and Bold Ideas

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.

Sign Up for The Thread® Newsletter

Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Find reviews for new releases, as well as hidden gems you may have missed.

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.

Unsung Americans with Minnesota‘s own Sharon McMahon

Unsung Americans with Minnesota‘s own Sharon McMahon

Sharon McMahon went viral in 2020 when the former government teacher took to Instagram to battle misinformation. Now the Minnesotan is out with a book that combines her passion for history with her belief that everyday people can influence democracy in “The Small and the Mighty.”
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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A Minnesotan’s story collection is climate fiction but it captures increasingly familiar reality

A Minnesotan’s story collection is climate fiction but it captures increasingly familiar reality

When Ashley Shelby of St. Paul began working on her short story collection back in 2016, she thought she was writing weird fiction about the impacts of climate change.
by Emily Bright

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What if a ‘Blood Test’ predicted you’d commit murder?

What if a ‘Blood Test’ predicted you’d commit murder?

In Charles Baxter’s new novel, a small-town insurance salesman buys a blood test that can predict romantic entanglements, promotions — and more. It’s a screwball satire of all-American zaniness.
by Maureen Corrigan

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American democracy requires that we ’be architects, not arsonists’

American democracy requires that we ’be architects, not arsonists’

Eboo Patel believes learning to value and tolerate diversity is the engine that drives just and equitable societies. Can America learn to do it before the social fabric is irrevocably torn? That’s the discussion on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas, part of our Americans and Democracy series.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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In new collection, Minnesota author portrays lives of Zambian women and girls on two continents

In new collection, Minnesota author portrays lives of Zambian women and girls on two continents

The short stories in Mubanga Kalimamukwento’s new collection “Obligations to the Wounded” move back and forth between the U.S. and her native Zambia.
by Emily Bright

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‘My losses started the day I was born’: A poet on what it’s like to call Gaza home

‘My losses started the day I was born’: A poet on what it’s like to call Gaza home

Mosab Abu Toha was able to escape Gaza, along with his wife and three young children. The award-winning poet talks about parenting in war and the devastation of leaving his family and friends behind.
by Terry Gross

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Bob Woodward takes NPR behind the headline-grabbing moments in his new book

Bob Woodward takes NPR behind the headline-grabbing moments in his new book

Bob Woodward speaks to NPR about the revelations in his new book, and recounts how key moments and meetings in recent years played out behind closed doors.
by Scott Detrow, Courtney Dorning and Avery Keatley

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