The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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. 

10 books NPR is looking forward to this spring
A famed graphic novelist returns! A Southern-gothic crime-thriller inspired by “The Godfather!” An extremely in depth biography of Mark Twain! And more!
Parting Thoughts: Educator turned entrepreneur ‘wore his success quietly’
Richard Fontaine went from small-town kid to big-city educator and stocking shelves at a bookstore for extra money before he helped build a large videogame retailer. But one thing never changed: his love of books.
Bemidji novelist Dennis E. Staples aims to make the North Woods scary with new book
Red Lake Band member Dennis E. Staples won national acclaim for his first book “This Town Sleeps.” Now he’s back with a second novel “Passing Through A Prairie Country.” It’s a tale that mixes horror and dark fantasy with Ojibwe culture.
Ask a Bookseller: ‘We Will Be Jaguars’ by Nemonte Nenquimo 
Laynee Wessel with Bliss Books & Bindery in Stillwater, Okla., recommends “We Will be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People” by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson. 
New books this week: Yoko, Elphaba and lost connections
This week’s new releases include a biography of Yoko Ono, new fiction from Column McCann and the latest “Wicked” book “Elphie.”
Karen Russell’s ‘The Antidote’ is an American epic — and well worth the wait
Russell has published excellent short story collections since her 2011 debut novel “Swamplandia!,” but this is her first novel in nearly 15 years. It follows a “Prairie Witch” in Dust Bowl-era Nebraska.