The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR News

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

Ask a Bookseller

Ask a Bookseller is a weekly series where The Thread 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 every Friday at 11 a.m., featuring conversations about books and other literary ideas. Listen to Big Books and Bold Ideas here.

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Sign up for The Thread newsletter to get reading recommendations from Kerri Miller and other bookworms around the MPR newsroom. Find reviews for new releases, as well as hidden gems you may have missed.

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. 

In climate change, stories have a role to play
The editors of this new anthology -- drawn from a story contest run by Arizona State University -- argue that stories are as necessary as policy and technology in the fight against climate change.
Classic books are full of problems. Why can't we put them down?
A recent study found that Dr. Seuss books can be pretty racist. It's highlighted a growing debate: Should schools teach classic books that may be problematic or trade them for socially conscious ones?
Boris Fishman's 'Savage Feast' is part memoir, part cookbook
Fishman's family came to the United States from Belarus in 1988; he writes that the hunger, terror and loss of World War II still shapes their attitudes towards food even after seven decades.
'Separate' is an eye-opening journey through some of America's darkest passages
Author Steve Luxenberg repeatedly manages to tell us stories around Plessy v. Ferguson that capture both the hope and the hopelessness that has been central to America's long argument about race.