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. 

The age of automation is now: Here's how to 'Futureproof' yourself
New York Times tech columnist Kevin Roose says we've been approaching automation all wrong. "We should be teaching people ... to be more like humans, to do the things that machines can't do," he says.
An author replies to the unspeakable in her 'Elegy' for lynching victim Mary Turner
Using original illustrations, archival documents and handwritten text, Rachel Marie-Crane Williams memorializes one black woman, and 10 men, who were killed by white residents in Georgia in 1918.
'Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue' offers look at Ruth Bader Ginsburg's early work
One of the justice's former clerks, Amanda Tyler, worked with her on the collection that includes historic opinions and arguments from earlier years when she appeared as a lawyer before the top court.
Racial diversity in children's books grows, but slowly
Data suggests books about people of color stayed largely the same and there were only slight increases in books written by people of color. Experts say the true effect of 2020 on the children's book industry may be seen in the years to come.
'The Jigsaw Man' presents a compelling puzzle
The debut novel from British criminal lawyer Nadine Matheson stars a Black homicide detective dealing with not only PTSD from a serial killer's attack, but also mistrust from her family and community.
Read more romance by Black authors
A new report on race and romance novels finds that although many publishers have promised to publish more romance from writers of color that feature diverse characters, very little progress has been made.