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.

William Moyers shares his journey to sobriety in new memoir
William Moyers overcame his addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine in the 1980s and became a star of the recovery world, working as the vice president of public affairs at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and publishing a memoir about his sobriety called “Broken.” But that’s not the full story.
Danzy Senna’s new novel is an exhilarating yet poignant riff on the struggling artist as a wannabe middle-aged sellout. The writing is endlessly quotable and meaningfully provocative.
Margaret Renkl on ‘The Comfort of Crows’
To celebrate the upcoming 25th anniversary of Talking Volumes, we are revisiting a favorite from last year. New York Times columnist and nature writer Margaret Renkl closed out the 2023 Talking Volumes season with meditations on the joys of a backyard oasis, the inevitable losses of a warming climate and how to live while holding both of those truths in tandem.
Author of ‘The Parrot and the Igloo’ examines the history of climate change deniers
David Lipsky, author of “The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial,” talks about the history of climate change and those who deny the science behind human-caused climate change. 
Anishinaabe author Ashley Fairbanks invites children to honor ancestral Native land in her new book
Minnesota-born Anishinaabe author Ashley Fairbanks had her first book published on Aug. 27. The book is for children and is titled “This Land.” It invites kids to trace the history of their home and honor the Native people who lived on the land.
These Alaska moms couldn’t find a Yup’ik children’s book. So they made one themselves
Yup’ik is the most spoken Native language in Alaska, but finding Yup’ik books for young children can be almost impossible. These moms created their own — and now they’re fielding nearly 1,000 orders.