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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.

Paul Theroux's travels across Africa

A rebrodacast of Katherine Lanpher's conversation with author Paul Theroux. His new book is an account of his journey across Africa, where he talks with people struggling with drought, corruption and poverty.

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Haunted Ground

Two Irish brothers are out in a bog cutting turf for a fire. One of the brothers swings his shovel and makes a grisly discovery: the perfectly preserved head of a red-haired woman. Because peat bogs prevent decay, the head could have been buried for centuries, or she could be a new homicide. That is the opening scene of Minneapolis writer Erin Hart's new book "Haunted Ground."

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Calvin Trillin

Writer Calvin Trillin searched the world for the most authentic and least fussy regional food. He visits Midmorning to talk about his new book and what it takes to eat the way the locals do.

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Christopher Paul Curtis on Talking Volumes

On Saturday, award-winning author Christopher Paul Curtis will be the guest at the Saint Paul Reads One Book event. His book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 is the 2003 selection. In January, Curtis talked with Katherine Lanpher about Bud, Not Buddy at the Fitzgerald Theater. A rebroadcast of Talking Volumes.

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Talking Volumes, Margaret Atwood

Rebroadcast of Thursday night's Talking Volumes event. Katherine Lanpher talks with best-selling author Margaret Atwood about "The Handmaid's Tale".

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Inspiring boys to read

Boys read differently than girls, says children's author John Scieszka, and the difference can mean lower scores on writing and reading tests.

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Past departures

A journey to find ancestors leads to an inventive novel. Jonathan Safran Foer writes of a search for family truths amid destruction in the Ukraine.

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A tale of Sacajawea on Talking Volumes

Rebroadcast of the April 8th Talking Volumes event with author Diane Glancy. Her new novel "Stone Heart" retells the story of American legend Sacajawea, the Shoshoni woman who traveled with Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the West.

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Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale"

It's been 18 years since Margaret Atwood's novel "The Handmaid's Tale" first hit book stands, but its powerful story of a society that trades liberty for security—in part by controlling the rights of women—has lost none of its hold.

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Margaret Atwood

Best-selling author Margaret Atwood is the next Talking Volumes guest. As a preview to the May 8th event, she'll talk about "The Handmaid's Tale" and about her new novel, "Oryx and Crake", another dark look at the future.

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