The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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.

November 4, 2015 5:07 PM

Inside Winnie-the-Pooh's real Hundred Acre Wood

The tales of "Winnie-the-Pooh" have more truth in them than you may know. Ashdown Forest in southeastern England is the inspiration behind the magical forest in A.A. Milne's classic "Pooh" tales.

by Tracy Mumford

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November 4, 2015 2:04 PM

The revolution will be typewritten: Old machines get a new life

Typewriters "are definitely coming back," said Richard Polt. "But with a new meaning."

by Tracy Mumford

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November 4, 2015 1:34 PM

Six bestsellers that were written in only a month

In honor of National Novel Writing Month, we run down the list of the speediest writers around.

by Tracy Mumford

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November 4, 2015 9:00 AM

The history of American white bread is anything but bland

White bread has been a social lightning rod time and again.

by Ted Burnham

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November 4, 2015 8:27 AM

'City Of Clowns' is a dreamlike tale of family and tragedy

Author Daniel Alarcón's new graphic novel is adapted from a short story about a young Peruvian journalist who discovers strange links between his father and the impoverished street clowns of Lima.

by Jason Heller

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November 3, 2015 4:49 PM

A new 'Wonder': Magic objects and Antarctica

Minnesota author Nicole Helget's new book for young readers follows a magic quest from Kansas to Antarctica, just before the Civil War.

by MPR News Staff

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November 3, 2015 12:16 PM

Five bestselling authors you may not have heard of

Many extremely popular women writers of the 19th century are now pretty much forgotten — and gone with the wind.

by Linton Weeks

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November 3, 2015 7:10 AM

John Irving always knows where he's going

Irving says he thinks about each book for a long time -- and he doesn't start writing until he knows what the ending will be. His latest novel is 'Avenue of Mysteries.'

by Lynn Neary

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November 3, 2015 4:20 AM

A fictional twist on a national scandal

Karen Olsson's novel follows a woman who returns home to care for her ailing father, but also in the hopes that she can get him to open up about how the Iran-Contra scandal ended his career.

by Michael Schaub