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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.

There once was a poet named Calvin...

There once was a poet named Calvin...

Calvin Trillin fancies himself one of the few "deadline poets." He says one of the hardest things about writing satiric, topical poetry for the Nation every week is finding words to rhyme with names like Bush and Clinton.

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Finding enlightenment in daily life

Finding enlightenment in daily life

Minnesota author Mary Rose O'Reilly writes about her rebellion against canned spirituality in the wake of national and personal disasters, 9-11 and the death of her mother.

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Jackpine Bob dies

Jackpine Bob dies

A giant figure is gone from Ely. Bob Cary lost his battle with cancer on Saturday. To some, Cary was better known as Jackpine Bob - editor, author, columnist and storyteller.

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For the love of books

For the love of books

America's favorite librarian talks with Midmorning about her love of books, and what's on her summer reading list.

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Story time at the Walker

Story time at the Walker

F. Scott Fitzgerald fans now have not one, but two, opportunities to enjoy staged versions of "The Great Gatsby" in coming months. The Guthrie Theater will open its new complex with an adaptation of the novel in late June. Then in September, the Walker Art Center will stage "Gatz," a six-hour show which is essentially a reading of the entire book.
by Tom Crann

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A little poetry on your bus ride home

A little poetry on your bus ride home

A group of local poets is hoping that some commuters will be moved by more than the Metro Transit bus they are riding on. Eighteen poets will attempt to inspire riders during the third annual Poets on Buses, by performing on buses during the evening rush hour.
by Perry Finelli

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The call of the farm

The call of the farm

A technical writer turned sheep farmer describes the challenges of starting a new agrarian life, a life that was not completely her choice.

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Melissa Bank hits "The Wonder Spot"

Melissa Bank hits "The Wonder Spot"

Author Melissa Bank blasted onto the literary scene with her book "The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing." Yet it took Bank five years to publish her next novel "The Wonder Spot."
by Euan Kerr

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Fifty years of "The Singing Wilderness"

Fifty years of "The Singing Wilderness"

There's a piece of paradise in northeastern Minnesota, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the BWCA. Admirers credit a book published 50 years as part of the inspiration for creating the wilderness area. And they credit the author, the late Sigurd Olson, for putting into words the reasons humans need wilderness.
by Dan Olson

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