The Thread® - Books and 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.

Kate McKinnon’s new middle-grade mystery is for all her fellow misfits
The SNL star says her new book is part of what she calls her “private mission to give a wink and a nod” to young people who might feel “different” — like she did — growing up.
Ask a Bookseller: 'Penance' by Eliza Clark
Kate Stern of Antigone Books in Tucson, Ariz., recommends "Penance" by Eliza Clark.
Talking Volumes: Alice Hoffman on ’When We Flew Away’
Novelist Alice Hoffman’s new middle grade book, “When We Flew Away,” imagines Anne Frank’s life before her family was forced into hiding. She joined MPR News host Kerri Miller on stage for Talking Volumes to talk about the emotional arc of re-creating Frank’s too-short life.
New cookbook from Minnesota support group merges grief and food
“Good Grief! What’s for Dinner?” is a collection of more than 200 recipes curated by the Grief Club of Minnesota. Annie Sperling helped put together the cookbook with her widow group at the Grief Club. She talked with MPR News host Cathy Wurzer about it.
‘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.