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.

Through the looking glass: How children's books have grown up

Through the looking glass: How children's books have grown up

Literature for kids hasn't always been focused on the magical and whimsical. We take a three-century journey tour through the history of children's books in the classroom.
by Byrd Pinkerton

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!
The best books of 2016 (so far)

The best books of 2016 (so far)

Before the summer beach reads and big fall releases start piling up, catch up on the best books 2016 has given us.
by MPR News Staff and Tracy Mumford

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!
'Little Mosque' creator Zarqa Nawaz on mixing comedy and religion

'Little Mosque' creator Zarqa Nawaz on mixing comedy and religion

The writer/filmmaker uses humor to help people understand Islam, but it took years for some mosque members to come around to her jokes. Nawaz's new memoir is called "Laughing All The Way to the Mosque."

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!
Viet Thanh Nguyen on hiding in plain sight

Viet Thanh Nguyen on hiding in plain sight

Viet Thanh Nguyen, who just won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel "The Sympathizer," shares how Ralph Ellison inspired him to become a writer.
by MPR News Staff

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!
'Lord Grizzly': Celebrating a Minnesota literary classic

'Lord Grizzly': Celebrating a Minnesota literary classic

In 1954 Minnesota writer Frederick Manfred published "Lord Grizzly," a novel based on the epic, true tale of frontier scout Hugh Glass.
by Euan Kerr

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!
Barnes & Noble founder retires, leaving his imprint on bookstore's history

Barnes & Noble founder retires, leaving his imprint on bookstore's history

As founder and chairman of Barnes & Noble, Leonard Riggio steered it through the proliferation of free information in the Internet age.

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!
Minnesota poet Gretchen Marquette finds beauty in trying times

Minnesota poet Gretchen Marquette finds beauty in trying times

Her new collection "May Day" plumbs stories of lost love and anxiety, but each reveals glimpses of life's wonder. Marquette wrote many of the poems sitting at Minneapolis' May Day Café.
by Euan Kerr

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!
Novelist Richard Russo: 'I find myself now ... having lived the American dream'

Novelist Richard Russo: 'I find myself now ... having lived the American dream'

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author says his blue-collar grandfather would have been astonished by the life Russo leads. His new book, "Everybody's Fool," is a sequel to 1993's "Nobody's Fool."

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!