The Thread® - Books and Literary News

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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. 

Quan Barry mixes Vietnam with magical realism
Poet Quan Barry makes the leap to fiction with her debut novel "She Weeps Each Time You're Born."
Jill Leovy on 'Ghettoside,' world of homicide reporting
In "Ghettoside," reporter Jill Leovy highlighs the disparities in who gets killed, and whose deaths get coverage in the media.
Is 'Princess' a bad word?
Are princesses harmless fairy tale characters? Or do stories about them paint women as weak and superficial?
'A Replacement Life:' Curating suffering
Boris Fishman's debut novel features a failed journalist who takes up a very different writing task: Forging Holocaust restitution claims.
Long-lost Seuss to be let loose
A recently-discovered manuscript from the beloved author and illustrator will be published in July.
Scandinavians: An 'Almost Nearly Perfect People?'
Scandinavian countries routinely rank high in happiness studies. What's going on up there?
Lynsey Addario on photographing war zones
Her new memoir, "It's What I Do," talks about making it as a woman in a male-dominated field and the importance of remembering the humans in front of the camera.
God, grits and American dreams: It's presidential candidate book season
It's that time again. Every four years, politicians fan out to Iowa and New Hampshire and other early primary states in search of ... book sales.
'Section 60': Where war comes home
Robert M. Poole explores the lives and deaths of veterans buried in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery.