Stay Curious. Stay Connected.
MailNewsletters♡Donate Now

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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

Sign Up for The Thread® Newsletter

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.

Bemidji novelist Dennis E. Staples aims to make the North Woods scary with new book

Bemidji novelist Dennis E. Staples aims to make the North Woods scary with new book

Red Lake Band member Dennis E. Staples won national acclaim for his first book “This Town Sleeps.” Now he’s back with a second novel “Passing Through A Prairie Country.” It’s a tale that mixes horror and dark fantasy with Ojibwe culture.
by Mathew Holding Eagle III

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Ask a Bookseller: ‘We Will Be Jaguars’ by Nemonte Nenquimo 

Ask a Bookseller: ‘We Will Be Jaguars’ by Nemonte Nenquimo 

Laynee Wessel with Bliss Books & Bindery in Stillwater, Okla., recommends “We Will be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People” by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson. 
by Emily Bright

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
New books this week: Yoko, Elphaba and lost connections

New books this week: Yoko, Elphaba and lost connections

This week’s new releases include a biography of Yoko Ono, new fiction from Column McCann and the latest “Wicked” book “Elphie.”
by Colin Dwyer

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Karen Russell’s ‘The Antidote’ is an American epic — and well worth the wait

Karen Russell’s ‘The Antidote’ is an American epic — and well worth the wait

Russell has published excellent short story collections since her 2011 debut novel “Swamplandia!,” but this is her first novel in nearly 15 years. It follows a “Prairie Witch” in Dust Bowl-era Nebraska.
by Maureen Corrigan

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
Why Amanda Knox returns to Italy — and how she talks with her daughter about injustice

Why Amanda Knox returns to Italy — and how she talks with her daughter about injustice

Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in an Italian prison for a murder she didn’t commit. After her exoneration, she reached out to the man who prosecuted her case. Knox’s new memoir is “Free.”
by Tonya Mosley

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!
New book traces 75-year history of U.S. military climate research

New book traces 75-year history of U.S. military climate research

The U.S. military unearthed data about rising sea levels in the early 1950s — and has been closely watching this threat to national security ever since. MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner and geoscientist Paul Bierman talk about climate research by the U.S. Military Forces.
by Paul Huttner and Matthew Alvarez

Go Deeper.

Create an account or log in to save stories.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.

Show me!