The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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.

Ask a bookseller, Halloween edition: An apocalyptic read keeps you asking 'what else could happen?'
This Halloween, Gretchen West of Valley Bookseller in Stillwater, Minn., recommends the novel “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam, which came out earlier this month. 
Talking Volumes: A conversation with Isabel Wilkerson
Kerri Miller hosts a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Isabel Wilkerson about her new book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.”
Former DHS official says he wrote 'Anonymous' Trump critique
 A former Trump administration official who penned a scathing anti-Trump op-ed and book under the pen name “Anonymous” revealed himself Wednesday as a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security.
Echoes of today's unrest run through 'The Cold Millions'
Jess Walter's new novel an adventure tale based on actual events in the early days of the last century's labor movement — which was much wilder and bloodier than most people remember.
Biography traces political mistakes and personal scars that shaped Joe Biden
The New Yorker's Evan Osnos writes about the candidate's enduring quest to become president. He says Joe Biden has a different mindset today than he once had: "He's a man who is at peace."
Diane di Prima, beat poet and activist, dead at 86
Di Prima wrote over 40 books of poetry and memoir, including her collection the radical and political “Revolutionary Letters.”
'Kindred' dismantles simplistic views of Neanderthals
Rebecca Wragg Sykes describes evidence showing that as innovative tool- and fire-makers, Neanderthals adapted to changing climates, adopted symbolic cultural practices and expressed profound emotions.
Washington Post critic says 'Trump has unwittingly enabled' discussions of race
Carlos Lozada tells NPR: "It's ironic that a president with such a negative force for race relations" and women's rights has presided over a period where both groups feel more empowered to speak out.