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.

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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.

Book ban attempts on the rise in Minnesota schools
Occasional parent concerns about a book have morphed into confrontations with groups and parents coming in with long lists of titles they see as inappropriate. It’s happening across the nation and in Minnesota, where Bloomington schools face pressure to remove dozens of titles.
Minnesota Native reading project teaches 'present tense' of Indigenous lives
A book that tells the stories of the Upper Sioux Community may help students across the state learn more about Indigenous communities in Minnesota. Another tribal nation, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, is providing the books for free.
Talking Volumes: Ann Patchett on 'Tom Lake'
Ann Patchett and Kate DiCamillo joined host Kerri Miller on stage Sept. 28 for Talking Volumes. They discussed why women are always the ones making dinner, what Ann really thinks of books tours, how she choses to live without regret, and — oh yes — her new novel, "Tom Lake."
Jon Fosse, a Norwegian master of spare Nordic writing, wins the Nobel Prize in literature
Jon Fosse, a master of spare Nordic writing in a sprawling body of work ranging from plays to novels and children’s books, won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for works that “give voice to the unsayable.”
For Alix E. Harrow, writing 'Starling House' meant telling a new story of Kentucky
Alix E. Harrow's Starling House depicts a dying, fictional coal town's horrors and dark past. Harrow joins a long tradition of authors writing Gothic fiction as a way to process the ills of society.
Michael Connelly, Nikki Grimes, Judy Blume and other authors unite against book bans
During what the ALA is calling Banned Books week, more than a dozen high-profile authors are taking a stand against censorship. Author Michael Connelly alone has donated $1 million to the cause.
'Eve' author says medicine often ignores female bodies. 'We've been guinea pigs'
Author Cat Bohannon says there's a "male norm" in science that prioritizes male bodies. Female bodies have been left out of countless clinical studies, and research is only just starting to catch up.
Ask a Bookseller: 'The Blue Bear'
Tori Weaver of Rainy Retreat Books in Juneau, AK, recommends the memoir "The Blue Bear: A True Story of Friendship and Discovery in the Alaskan Wild," by Lynn Schooler.