The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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. Sam Stroozas rounds up local events and Minnesota book news you may have missed.

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where host Emily Bright 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 and produced by Kelly Gordon every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

Talking Volumes

Talking Volumes is an annual event series featuring notable authors in conversation about their new books. Presented by MPR News and The Minnesota Star Tribune.

Misty Copeland is one of the most well-known ballerinas in the world. She officially retires from the stage this fall, but she’s excited for what comes next, as she told Kerri Miller last month at Talking Volumes.
‘She just got things done:’ Ojibwe author shares memories of her grandmother in new book
In “Sugar Bush Babies: Stories of My Ojibwe Grandmother,” author Janis Fairbanks shares lessons she learned while spending summers with her grandmother on the Fond du Lac reservation.
Kate DiCamillo marvels at 25 years of 'Because of Winn-Dixie'
Kate DiCamillo’s beloved children’s book, “Because of Winn Dixie,” turns 25 this fall. The Minneapolis author looked back and looked inward with her favorite sparring partner, MPR News host Kerri Miller.
New novel shows destruction of Rondo neighborhood through the eyes of a young girl
Decades after Interstate 94 construction destroyed her grandparents’ house in the 1960s, writer Debra J. Stone wrote about a young girl who grapples with the displacement and destruction of her historically Black neighborhood.
New books this week: Thomas Pynchon’s first novel in 12 years, and much more
In addition to Pynchon’s “Shadow Ticket,” this week's releases include a new memoir from “Dopesick” author Beth Macy, and a coming-of-age story from former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo.
Here are the finalists for the 2025 National Book Awards
This year's short list features novelists Rabih Alameddine and Megha Majumdar as well as five first-time nominees for nonfiction, including journalists Omar El Akkad and Julia Ioffe.
When the sea went strange: A Minnesota connection to the National Book Awards
Ethan Rutherford, a Minnesota-connected author, earned a National Book Award longlist spot for his surreal, environmentally charged debut novel “North Sun,” a lyrical whaling tale that blends history with myth.
Patricia Lockwood’s new book, “Will There Ever Be Another You,” is a loosely sane account of a woman losing her mind, her body and herself after contracting COVID-19. She joined Kerri Miller in St. Paul on Sept. 25 for Talking Volumes.