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.

'Inheritors' maps a complicated family tree through the centuries
Asako Serizawa's new novel is a tangle of interlocking stories about several generations of a Japanese family, beginning in 1868 and going all the way through to an imagined future in the 2030s.
Judge frees Mary Trump from gag order on new family tell-all
The president's niece is now free to speak publicly on her book, due to be released Tuesday, about the Trump family and how it shaped Trump's worldview.
The Thread: A return to a classic crime series
How are you doing on your summer reading list? Kerri Miller wants you to make space for a classic crime writer who was on the bestseller list 65 years ago.
Take 'The Unadoptables' home for a rollicking adventure
Hana Tooke creates a memorable villain, Matron Gassbeek, who menaces the feisty orphans of The Unadoptables in the grand tradition of awful authority figures like Miss Trunchbull and Viola Swamp.
'Utopia Avenue,' the greatest sixties band that never was
David Mitchell's new novel chronicles the rise and fall of fictional 1960s psychedelic rock band. He says he was drawn to both the music and the "dark magic that was in the air" in that era.
You know how 'Survivor Song' will end. It's still horrifying.
Paul Tremblay's new novel, about a viral outbreak that locks down New England, hits close to home. Taking place over just a few hours, it's both a zombie horror tale and a focused, personal drama.
Asian American girls saw pivotal icon in 'Baby-Sitters Club'
Claudia Kishi happened to be everything the "model minority" stereotype wasn't. She got bad grades. She thrived in art and fashion. She wasn't struggling to belong. For those reasons and more, Asian American girls in the '80s and '90s idolized Claudia and felt seen in teen fiction.
Dana Canedy is 1st Black person to head major publishing imprint
Simon & Schuster has named Dana Canedy executive vice president and publisher of its namesake imprint. She is the first Black person and the third woman to hold that position.