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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.

After years of restraint, a linguist says 'yes!' to the exclamation point

After years of restraint, a linguist says 'yes!' to the exclamation point

F. Scott Fitzgerald once declared that using an exclamation point was like laughing at your own joke, but linguist Geoff Nunberg begs to differ. He has begun embracing the mark in his own writing.
by Geoff Nunberg

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Tracy K. Smith named new U.S. poet laureate

Tracy K. Smith named new U.S. poet laureate

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet says she plans to use her new role to meet people who don't read poetry ... yet, anyway. She believes poetry can be a resource for people in fraught or isolating times.

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Southern cooking: 'People of color didn't get the respect they earned'

Southern cooking: 'People of color didn't get the respect they earned'

In his new book, John T. Edge writes that food plays a central role in Southern identity, but African-American and immigrant cooks have often been left out of the stories the South tells about itself.
by Maria Godoy

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For one Saudi woman, 'Daring To Drive' was an act of civil disobedience

For one Saudi woman, 'Daring To Drive' was an act of civil disobedience

In 2011, Manal al-Sharif filming herself driving in a country where women are banned from getting behind the wheel. Driving, she says, is "a way to emancipate women. It gives them so much liberty."
by Terry Gross

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'Stephen Florida' goes to the mat -- and wins

'Stephen Florida' goes to the mat -- and wins

Gabe Habash's audacious coming-of-age novel follows a charismatic, troubled, sometimes repellent college wrestler who comes close to the edge of madness after an injury derails his final season.
by Michael Schaub

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