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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.

Thread Book Hour: U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith

Thread Book Hour: U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith

Since getting the job in 2017, Smith has been on a mission to take her poetry on the road, visiting rural areas where most writers aren't expected to go.
by MPR News Staff

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A.M. Homes: Short stories are 'food for the soul and for the mind'

A.M. Homes: Short stories are 'food for the soul and for the mind'

Her first story collection in 15 years is called "Days of Awe," and it covers everything from a chat room for bird lovers, to a summit on genocide, to a superstore where someone's abandoned a baby.
by Audie Cornish

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'Vera Kelly' finds the connections between deep cover and the closet

'Vera Kelly' finds the connections between deep cover and the closet

The personal is most definitely political in Rosalie Knecht's crisp, lively and subversive novel about a queer woman who discovers her early life in the closet makes her well-suited for espionage.
by Jean Zimmerman

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The stress of a shepherd's life, and other Somali stories

The stress of a shepherd's life, and other Somali stories

The Minnesota writer Ahmed Ismail Yusuf hopes the tales in his book, "The Lion's Binding Oath," will promote understanding about his Somali homeland.
by Euan Kerr

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Somali refugee Abdi Nor Iftin: 'I am here to make America great'

Somali refugee Abdi Nor Iftin: 'I am here to make America great'

Back in Somalia, Abdi Nor Iftin was nicknamed "Abdi the American," and his love of this country put him in danger -- but then he got a visa to come here. Iftin has a new memoir out: "Call Me American."
by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

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Poetry is making a big comeback in the U.S., survey results reveal

Poetry is making a big comeback in the U.S., survey results reveal

The National Endowment for the Arts announced that "as a share of the total U.S. adult population, this poetry readership is the highest on record over a 15-year period."
by Colin Dwyer

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How a black detective infiltrated the KKK

How a black detective infiltrated the KKK

In "Black Klansman," Ron Stallworth writes about an undercover investigation in which he -- an African-American police detective -- convinced the Ku Klux Klan that he was one of them.

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Native American author Tommy Orange feels a 'burden to set the record straight'

Native American author Tommy Orange feels a 'burden to set the record straight'

In his debut novel, "There There," Tommy Orange explores what it means to be an urban Indian. He says, "Native people look like a lot of different things. ... And we just need a new story to build from."
by Lynn Neary

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