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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. 

Indie bookstores provide readers with information, relief amid ICE surge 
Twin Cities bookstores are responding to heightened fear around ICE activity by transforming their shops into hubs for community support, political understanding and emotional refuge, as readers turn to books, children’s resources and author fundraisers to navigate a climate of anxiety and resistance.
Ask a Bookseller: A few books for understanding how language gets weaponized 
With the surge of ICE operations in Minnesota now in its third month, indie bookstore owners in the Twin Cities and beyond say that customers are coming in looking for three things: community, books to help them understand what's happening, and books to help them escape.  
How Rupert Murdoch created a media empire — and ‘broke’ his own family
Journalist Gabriel Sherman has covered the Murdoch family for nearly two decades. In his new book, “Bonfire of the Murdochs,” he chronicles the protracted public battle for control the family business.
Ask a Bookseller: ‘Begin Again’ by Oliver Jeffers
Timothy Otte of Wild Rumpus Books in Minneapolis recommends “Begin Again” by Oliver Jeffers.
Yes, romance & fantasy novels are political.
Romantasies combine supernatural characters and plotlines with the rush of a whirlwind romance novel, and, in this episode, NPR explores how the politics of some of these books have an effect on politics in the real world.
Former NBC producer tells her own story about Matt Lauer in ‘Unspeakable Things’
Brooke Nevils was working for NBC at the Sochi Olympics when, she says, she was sexually assaulted by Today Show host Matt Lauer — a claim he denies. Nevils’ new memoir is “Unspeakable Things.”