The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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. 

‘We’re still here’: A new book explores how a small-town murder led to the restoration of Indigenous land
Cherokee author Rebecca Nagle stops in Minneapolis along her book tour for her newly released “By the Fire We Carry: The Generations Long Fight for Justice on Native Land.”
‘Intermezzo’ is Sally Rooney’s most moving novel yet
Rooney’s fourth novel is a story about learning to accept loss. And though it has its share of grief and strife, it’s happier and less disturbing than “Normal People” and “Beautiful World, Where Are You.”
A light-hearted murder mystery weekend turns deadly in Kate Atkinson’s cozy thriller
“Death at the Sign of the Rook” is an expansive novel that pokes fun of baroque, classic murder mysteries — but also delivers a fully satisfying, all-the-pieces-click-together ending.
Talking Volumes: Edwidge Danticat on ‘We’re Alone’
The 25th season of Talking Volumes kicked off with Haitian-born writer Edwidge Danticat, who joined host Kerri Miller on the stage of the Fitzgerald Theater to talk about her new book of essays, “We’re Alone.”
Minnesota Now and Then: A Minnesotan Broadway performer’s stardom was limited by the Red Scare
If you were a devoted theater fan in 1940s Minneapolis, you would have come across a rising star named Hilda Simms. Simms went on to lead on Broadway and in Hollywood. But like many performers of her generation, the Red Scare limited her rising stardom.
Voicing Sherlock Holmes in Minnesota: A collaboration between author Larry Millett and actor Steve Hendrickson
Actor Steve Hendrickson brings Larry Millett’s Minnesota Mystery series to life through audiobook narration, enhancing the stories' reach and character depth.
William Moyers shares his journey to sobriety in new memoir
William Moyers overcame his addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine in the 1980s and became a star of the recovery world, working as the vice president of public affairs at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and publishing a memoir about his sobriety called “Broken.” But that’s not the full story.
Rachel Kushner’s new espionage thriller may be her coolest book yet
In “Creation Lake,” a hard-drinking American spy infiltrates a radical farming collective in a remote region of France. Kushner challenges readers to keep up with her and not to flinch.