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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.

DNR mulls fate of celebrated author's Minnesota prairie home

DNR mulls fate of celebrated author's Minnesota prairie home

Novelist Frederick Manfred found inspiration in the landscape around the home he built within southwestern Minnesota's Blue Mounds State Park. But the house, now the park's visitor center, is crumbling and may face demolition.
by Mark Steil

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'House of Names' is a violent page-turner, and a surprising departure

'House of Names' is a violent page-turner, and a surprising departure

Colm Toibin ventures far afield -- in time and place -- for this heart-stopping take on the tragedy of Clytemnestra and her family, reanimated with suffering the ancient Greeks never imagined.
by Heller McAlpin

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Thread Book Hour: Kao Kalia Yang

Thread Book Hour: Kao Kalia Yang

Award-winning author Kao Kalia Yang speaks about her books and the Hmong experience in Minnesota. Her book, "The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father" won a 2017 Minnesota Book Award and was a 2017 National Book Award finalist.
by MPR News Staff

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'Pantsuit Nation' serves up nostalgia, uplift, heartbreak. But why?

'Pantsuit Nation' serves up nostalgia, uplift, heartbreak. But why?

For Hillary Clinton's staunchest supporters, reading "Pantsuit Nation" may be like reading an ex's love letters just after a breakup: a flood of memories, a little too soon, and with no clear purpose.
by Danielle Kurtzleben

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Condoleezza Rice: Institutions aren't perfect, but they're the bedrock of democracy

Condoleezza Rice: Institutions aren't perfect, but they're the bedrock of democracy

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tells NPR that America is still a 'bright, shining city on the hill, not because we're perfect but because we struggle in our imperfections every day.'
by Rachel Martin

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Her violin stolen, a prodigy's world became 'Unstrung'

Her violin stolen, a prodigy's world became 'Unstrung'

Min Kym had found her perfect partner in a 1696 Stradivarius -- until it was snatched in a London cafe. She comes to terms with the loss in her new memoir, 'Gone: A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung.'
by Liz Baker and Lakshmi Singh

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An old soldier is back in action in 'City of Miracles'

An old soldier is back in action in 'City of Miracles'

As Robert Jackson Bennett's Divine Cities series draws to a close, grizzled old enforcer Sigrud --- in hiding, in a remote forest -- returns to the city to avenge the murder of his friend and partner.
by Jason Sheehan

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