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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.

New book explores Minnesota's vast peatland ecosystem and climate change

New book explores Minnesota's vast peatland ecosystem and climate change

Peatlands cover 10 percent of Minnesota, more than 7 million acres, making the state home to the most peatlands in the contiguous United States. Peatlands are a type of wetland that prevents plant material from fully decomposing and could help researchers learn about global warming.
by Nina Moini and Ngoc Bui

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How to build a career, start a business and succeed in a changing economy

How to build a career, start a business and succeed in a changing economy

MPR News host Angela Davis talks with journalist Lee Hawkins about how entrepreneurs turn ideas into businesses, find their way into new careers and make financial decisions along the way.
by Angela Davis and Cari Dwyer

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New novel set in Minneapolis imagines compassion during climate disaster

New novel set in Minneapolis imagines compassion during climate disaster

Kawai Strong Washburn's propulsive new novel “The Names of the New World” brings tornadoes to Minneapolis. That storm throws together three strangers whose lives will become entangled over the next 25 years.
by Emily Bright

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‘There is No Place for Us’ tests America's promise that hard work brings security

‘There is No Place for Us’ tests America's promise that hard work brings security

The Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction narrative “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America” follows five families around Atlanta as they seek to keep a roof over their heads and their families together.
by Jon Collins

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Talking Volumes: Lucy Foley talks ‘Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel’

British author Lucy Foley revives Agatha Christie’s beloved Miss Marple in her new novel, “Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel.” Foley joined Kerri Miller in St. Paul on Sept. 25 for Talking Volumes.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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A violent 1934 strike helped launch Minneapolis' middle class. A new book tells its story

A violent 1934 strike helped launch Minneapolis' middle class. A new book tells its story

In “Fight & Win,” author John Hanson tells the story of how the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike, which his father was a part of, helped make Minneapolis known as a union town.
by Nina Moini and Ellen Finn

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Voting rights expert Carol Anderson in conversation with Kerri Miller in Red Wing

Voting rights expert Carol Anderson in conversation with Kerri Miller in Red Wing

Carol Anderson, one of the country’s leading experts on voting access, worries the Jim Crow-era is beginning anew with persistent attempts to deny communities of color their right to vote. She spoke about the urgent need to protect voting rights.
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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Ask a Bookseller: ‘The Great Wherever’ by Shannon Sanders

Ask a Bookseller: ‘The Great Wherever’ by Shannon Sanders

Victoria Ford of Comma, a bookshop in Minneapolis recommends Shannon Sanders’ debut novel, “The Great Wherever.”
by Emily Bright

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Louise Erdrich wins the Gish Prize, a top arts honor

Louise Erdrich wins the Gish Prize, a top arts honor

Louise Erdrich has received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, recognizing her outstanding contributions to the arts. A Pulitzer and National Book Award winner, Erdrich also co-founded Birchbark Books, a Minneapolis bookstore that supports Native culture and literature. The Gish selection committee praised her impactful writing and the bookstore's mission to celebrate diverse voices.
by The Associated Press

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Author Sarah Longwell says political character counts in ‘How to Eat an Elephant’

Author Sarah Longwell says political character counts in ‘How to Eat an Elephant’

Is the idea of political virtue outdated? What do voters say when asked if character counts? That’s just one of the complicated topics Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark and host of The Focus Group Podcast, tackles in her new book, “How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time.”
by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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