The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread from MPR News

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

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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.

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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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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. 

Literature Nobel in doubt amid harassment claims
The Swedish Academy was already reeling from sexual assault allegations against a man close to the group, which has been weighing whether to postpone this year's prize. Now, new claims have surfaced.
John McCain makes an appeal for civility and humility
The Arizona senator and former prisoner of war, dealing with the effects of brain cancer, writes in a forthcoming book about what contributes to toxicity in U.S. politics, predating the Trump era.
Questlove aims to save your brain: 'Creativity might be in jeopardy'
The Roots bandleader and Renaissance man has a new book called "Creative Quest," in which he advises readers on how to consider creativity, how to pursue it and how to channel it.
A weird-but-true story takes flight in 'The Feather Thief'
Kirk Wallace Johnson's new book chronicles the real-life heist of 299 rare bird skins from Britain's Tring Museum in 2009. Maureen Corrigan says "The Feather Thief" reads like a "classic thriller."
A bill to make every American bear arms, in the novel 'Big Guns'
Steve Israel's new satire imagines a world where the gun lobby holds enough sway to pass such legislation through Congress. As a former Democratic congressman, he knows the subject intimately.