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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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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.

'Lithium' is a homage to a drug — and to the renegade side of science

'Lithium' is a homage to a drug — and to the renegade side of science

By celebrating those who applied the substance as a drug, Walter A. Brown aims to raise awareness — and to demolish what remains of the myth that scientific progress is driven by rigorous dispassion.
by Etelka Lehoczky

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In 'An American Sunrise,' Joy Harjo speaks with a timeless compassion

In 'An American Sunrise,' Joy Harjo speaks with a timeless compassion

The poet laureate's collection tells a tale of a fierce and ongoing fight for sovereignty, integrity, and basic humanity. It's a plea that Americans take responsibility for what's done in our names.
by Craig Morgan Teicher

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'The Yellow House' connects place, memory and self-knowledge

'The Yellow House' connects place, memory and self-knowledge

Sarah Broom's childhood house is the fulcrum for her memoir about her large and complex family. But perhaps more important, it stands in for the countless ways America has failed African Americans.
by Martha Anne Toll

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'Kochland' explores how the famous brother duo made their money

'Kochland' explores how the famous brother duo made their money

The Koch brothers' wide-ranging influence is no secret. But rather than focusing on how they spend their money, Christopher Leonard presents a richly reported tale of how they got it.
by Scott Horsley

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In 'The Mosquito,' Humans Face A Predator More Deadly Than The Rest

In 'The Mosquito,' Humans Face A Predator More Deadly Than The Rest

Timothy C. Winegard has written a well-researched work of narrative nonfiction that tells a history of the world through the role mosquitoes — and mosquito-borne illnesses — have played in it.
by Gabino Iglesias

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Former Charlottesville mayor shares painful lessons from fight against hate

Former Charlottesville mayor shares painful lessons from fight against hate

In 2017, Mike Signer faced a small-town leader's nightmare: a racist rally that spiraled out of control and ended in bloodshed. Two years later, Signer is on a mission of education — and atonement.
by Hannah Allam

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'Mitz' the marmoset was definitely not afraid of Virginia Woolf

'Mitz' the marmoset was definitely not afraid of Virginia Woolf

The success of Sigrid Nunez' The Friend sparked the reissue of this early work, also about a beloved pet — but Mitz the marmoset was real, and she belonged to Leonard and Virginia Woolf in the 1930s.
by Heller McAlpin

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The Pinkneys are a picture-book perfect, author-illustrator couple

The Pinkneys are a picture-book perfect, author-illustrator couple

Author Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrator Brian Pinkney have been together for 30 years and collaborated on nearly 20 books. "It's fun to work with the one you love," Andrea says.
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro, Beth Novey and Samantha Balaban

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