The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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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.

February 2, 2018 12:00 AM

A Syrian teen, forced to flee 'A Land of Permanent Goodbyes'

After her first book, journalist Atia Abawi was inspired to write a young adult novel about the Syrian refugee crisis. "It seems very dark, but it's a situation that happens all the time," she says.

by Rachel Martin

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January 31, 2018 12:00 AM

National Book Awards add category honoring works in translation

The new prize will consider both fiction and nonfiction translated into English and published in the U.S. It's the first addition to the National Book Foundation's annual slate in over two decades.

by Colin Dwyer

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January 30, 2018 12:00 AM

'The Hazel Wood' explores the dangerous side of fairy tales

In Melissa Albert's dark take on fairy tales, 17-year-old Alice has spent her entire life on the run from her family legacy: a terrifying mythical world created by her grandmother, a famous author.

by Caitlyn Paxson

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January 30, 2018 12:00 AM

3 Harlem Renaissance novels deliver an ingenious take on race

Novelists Nella Larsen, Wallace Thurman and George S. Schuyler forged their art in what W.E.B. Du Bois famously called the "double-consciousness" of African-Americans.

by Maureen Corrigan

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January 29, 2018 10:58 AM

Minnesota Book Award finalists announced

The Minnesota Book Awards have announced four finalists each for nine categories, including children's literature, poetry and Minnesota-focused nonfiction.

by Tracy Mumford

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January 28, 2018 12:00 AM

The personal is always political: A 2018 poetry preview

Many of the books of poems coming out this year are sad, but also powerful; full of poets processing their lives, looking into pains both personal and political through the cracked glass of poetry.

by Craig Morgan Teicher

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January 27, 2018 6:00 AM

A perfect example of 'if these walls could talk'

Bookseller Lori Fazio recommends a novel where a family moves into a house, only to discover strong connections to its previous owner.

by Tracy Mumford

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January 27, 2018 12:00 AM

Labeled a 'terrorist,' a Black Lives Matter founder writes her record

Patrisse Khan-Cullors' new memoir recalls the female origins of the movement and the "deep contradiction" of being labeled the enemy.

by Michel Martin

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January 27, 2018 12:00 AM

A puzzled teen seeks answers and finds crosswords in 'Down and Across'

Author Arvin Ahmadi's debut novel follows Scott Ferdowsi, a disenchanted Iranian-American high school student who runs away to Washington, D.C. to find an expert on the psychology of success.

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January 25, 2018 12:00 AM

Regency romance crashes into dragon-filled dystopia in 'The Sky is Yours'

Chandler Klang Smith's novel, set in a crumbling far-future metropolis menaced by dragons, is a dizzying, delirious crash of wonders and grotesqueries, spiked with crackling dialogue and detail.

by Jason Heller

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