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.

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

Tickets are now available for our 26th season. Join award-winning journalist and MPR News host Kerri Miller (and special guest host Catharine Richart) as they talk with authors including Stacey Abrams, Patricia Lockwood, Misty Copeland, John Grisham, and Kate Baer. 

After his mother’s death, Ocean Vuong wrote his way through grief
Vuong’s new novel, “The Emperor of Gladness,” is the first he’s written, from start to finish, since his mother died in 2019. He says writing it was a way to honor her memory.
St. Francis Area Schools to reverse book ban policy
As part of a lawsuit settlement, the northern Twin Cities district said Tuesday it will return dozens of books to its library shelves and revise its library acquisitions policy to seek input from parents, qualified library media specialists and state law.
Many of White’s books chronicled his own experiences as a gay man, making an indelible impression on gay culture and how LGBTQ experiences were understood more broadly at the dawning of the AIDS health crisis.