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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.

November 13, 2019 12:17 PM

In memoir, Nikki Haley hammers White House team but pledges allegiance to Trump

In “With All Due Respect,” the former U.N. ambassador says Trump's ex-Chief of Staff John Kelly and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked her to help them "save the country" from the president.

by Ron Elving

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November 13, 2019 8:00 AM

Novelist doctor skewers corporate medicine in 'Man's 4th Best Hospital'

Samuel Shem's 1978 novel, “The House of God,” was a sardonic look at U.S. medicine through a young doctor's eyes. Shem's new fiction checks in with the same crew in the age of medicine by smartphone.

by Mara Gordon

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November 13, 2019 7:42 AM

What happens to your used stuff? 'Secondhand' tells of a billion-dollar industry

As "traditional bonds disintegrate in the face of industrialization, urbanization, and secularization, brands and objects become a means to curate and project who we are," writes reporter Adam Minter.

by Gabino Iglesias

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November 13, 2019 6:00 AM

'Mama Hissa's Mice' creep through a dystopian future Kuwait

Saud Alsanousi's novel follows a group of Kuwaiti kids growing up in the 1980s — then jumps to a near future torn by sectarian violence. It's a resonant book that asks more questions than it answers.

by Ilana Masad

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November 12, 2019 9:01 AM

In 'Some Of Us Are Very Hungry Now,' revelations morph into mirrors

Andre Perry's debut essay collection reads like a slightly fragmented memoir focused on the search for identity, the desire to write, and his constant sense of unease as a black man in Iowa City.

by Gabino Iglesias

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November 11, 2019 1:34 PM

After comic Garry Shandling's death, Judd Apatow found Zen in his diaries

"He completely changed my life," Apatow says of his mentor. “It's Garry Shandling's Book,” which Apatow edited, explores the insecurities and personal trauma that Shandling turned into comedy.

by Terry Gross

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November 11, 2019 6:56 AM

Lindy West: 'The Witches are Coming' — and they are rightfully angry

"For a long time, a certain set of men have called women like me 'witches' to silence and discredit us," West says. Her book explores misogyny, the #MeToo movement and growing up female in America.

by Noel King

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November 11, 2019 6:00 AM

'Space Invaders' maps pixelated battles onto real-life conflict

The characters in Nona Fernández' new book are coming of age during Chile's brutal military dictatorship — and for them, video games are a useful framework for understanding the dangers all around.

by Lily Meyer

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November 11, 2019 4:00 AM

Face-to-face with a grizzly

Duluth author Alex Messenger's new book recounts how his encounter with a grizzly bear during a 600-mile canoe trip changed his life.

by Euan Kerr

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November 10, 2019 10:12 AM

'The Movie Musical!' is a symphony in praise of the 'razzmatazz' of the genre

Jeanine Basinger argues, authoritatively and passionately, that the musical has never really left us, that there's relevance and inspiration to be gleaned from the golden age of Hollywood musicals.

by Jason Heller

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