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.

Anishinaabe author Ashley Fairbanks invites children to honor ancestral Native land in her new book
Minnesota-born Anishinaabe author Ashley Fairbanks had her first book published on Aug. 27. The book is for children and is titled “This Land.” It invites kids to trace the history of their home and honor the Native people who lived on the land.
These Alaska moms couldn’t find a Yup’ik children’s book. So they made one themselves
Yup’ik is the most spoken Native language in Alaska, but finding Yup’ik books for young children can be almost impossible. These moms created their own — and now they’re fielding nearly 1,000 orders.
Bad news: Summer’s over. Good news: Fall books are here! We’ve got a list of 16 titles — fiction and nonfiction — you’ll want to look out for.
Jo Hamya ambushes everyone in ‘The Hypocrite’
Jo Hamya’s new novel centers on a young woman who writes a searing play about father, a once-celebrated author who was also an absent and self-absorbed parent.
Ask a Bookseller: ‘Bitch: On the Female of the Species’ by Lucy Cooke
On The Thread’s Ask a Bookseller series, we talk to independent booksellers all over the country to find out what books they’re most excited about right now. Carolyn Chin of Books on First recommends “Bitch: On the Female of the Species” by Lucy Cooke
How to defeat 'The Age of Grievance'
In his new book, columnist Frank Bruni argues that a culture of grievance in America is splintering our personal lives, sabotaging our culture and swamping our politics. But there is a way out.