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.

Trove of recipes dating back to Inquisition reveals a family's secret Jewish roots
Many Jews were forced to convert during the Inquisition, a history often lost to their descendants. Finding recipes adhering to Jewish food customs helped one woman unearth her family's hidden past.
Poet Louis Jenkins found beauty in the Midwestern mundane
Louis Jenkins died Saturday. When his poems provided fodder for the actor and playwright Mark Rylance, fame followed.
A surprising and satisfying historical novel
Téa Obreht returns after nearly a decade with a new novel that weaves American history together with some truly strange happenings in the desert.
The Code Switch holiday book guide
A book is still a perfect gift. So, because we're betting that some people have a bit of the procrastinator in them, here's a Code Switch gift to you: Our list of books that stuck with us this year.
Talking Volumes: Tim O’Brien on ‘Dad’s Maybe Book’
Minnesota native Tim O’Brien joined MPR’s Brandt Williams on stage for Talking Volumes to discuss his first book in 10 years.
'Impeachment: A Handbook': How a Watergate-era essay can guide us today
Originally published in 1974, the barely 60-page essay by Charles L. Black Jr. is considered one of the reference works on the subject — and it's getting renewed attention.
When mom is Mary Poppins: Julie Andrews writes memoir with her daughter
"It was sometimes difficult to share her," Emma Walton Hamilton says of life with her famous mom. Hamilton and Andrews have written 32 books together; their latest is “Home Work.”
Kids' books to read again, and again, and again, and again...
Kids almost never want to read a book just once. So we asked children's author (and dad) Matt de la Peña to share recommendations for books that stand up — even on their 10,000th reading.
The Thread: Books for dog lovers
On this week’s Thread, Kerri Miller recommends three books that would make great gifts for the dog lover in your life.