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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

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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.

CRISPR scientist's biography explores ethics of rewriting the code of life

CRISPR scientist's biography explores ethics of rewriting the code of life

“The Code Breaker” profiles Jennifer Doudna, a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist key to the development of CRISPR, and examines the technology's exciting possibilities and need for oversight.
by Terry Gross

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Author explores preacher father's silence on racial injustice in 1960s Alabama

Author explores preacher father's silence on racial injustice in 1960s Alabama

After Pulitzer Prize-winner John Archibald read sermons from his father's time as a Methodist preacher, he went on a quest to find out why his dad, a devout man, didn't speak out publicly on racism.
by Michel Martin

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'Once Upon A Quinceañera' has fairy tale charm

'Once Upon A Quinceañera' has fairy tale charm

Monica Gomez-Hira's debut novel follows a Miami teen whose job as a party princess brings her into contact with the ex who ruined her chance to have her own quinceañera — and of course, sparks fly.
by Alethea Kontis

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Reclaiming family and memory in 'Sparks Like Stars'

Reclaiming family and memory in 'Sparks Like Stars'

Nadia Hashimi's new novel follows an Afghan woman who escaped the murder of her family during a coup. Her comfortable life in New York City is turned upside down when a figure from the past reappears.
by Marcela Davison Avilés

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The movie 'Fargo' marks its 25th anniversary

The movie 'Fargo' marks its 25th anniversary

Host Angela Davis talks with Todd Melby about his new book on the making of the movie “Fargo.” Was the 1996 crime drama by the Coen Brothers based on a true story and were those Minnesota accents for real?
by Angela Davis

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'Home is Not a Country' imagines the lives we could have led

'Home is Not a Country' imagines the lives we could have led

Safia Elhillo's novel follows a first-generation Muslim American girl who, bullied at school, longs for the homeland she's never really known and the alter ego who represents a more confident self.
by Nayantara Dutta

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There are so many flavors of potato chips; 'Hooked' looks at why

There are so many flavors of potato chips; 'Hooked' looks at why

Investigative reporter Michael Moss explores how some food companies tweak their products to take advantage of evolved biology, creating room for novelty that triggers the brain to make us want more.
by Barbara J. King

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Britain's MI5 spy agency proves more comic than tragic in 'Slough House'

Britain's MI5 spy agency proves more comic than tragic in 'Slough House'

Mick Herron's brilliantly plotted series follows a group of maladroit MI5 agents who've somehow blown it with the agency. The latest installment is a timely novel set in a post-Brexit U.K.
by John Powers

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