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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.

Epic novel blends puppetry, race and particle physics

Epic novel blends puppetry, race and particle physics

In "I Am Radar," Reif Larsen explores what happens when a black child is born to a white couple, and how wars are based on a variety of conflicts.
by Euan Kerr

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Straight to audiobook: Authors write original works meant to be heard

Straight to audiobook: Authors write original works meant to be heard

Writer Philip Pullman says it's all part of the oral tradition: "Long before writing, people were telling each other stories," he says. Audiobook technology has come a long way since the early days.
by Lynn Neary

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5 Underground Railroad myths, debunked

5 Underground Railroad myths, debunked

It's a nice legend, but slaves probably didn't use maps sewn in quilts to safely navigate north.
by Emily Kaiser and Tracy Mumford

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Reimagining theater in prisons, homeless shelters

Reimagining theater in prisons, homeless shelters

For 20 years, Michelle Hensley has taken theater out of the theater, staging shows in prisons, homeless shelters and other non-traditional venues.
by Tracy Mumford

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Exclusive First Read: Erik Larson's 'Dead Wake'

Exclusive First Read: Erik Larson's 'Dead Wake'

"The Devil in the White City" author Erik Larson turns his attention to the sinking of the liner Lusitania almost 100 years ago -- a turning point that helped bring the United States into World War I.

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Harry Potter's new book of secrets

Harry Potter's new book of secrets

A new bibliography digs into J.K. Rowling's writing process.
by Tracy Mumford

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'Dead Wake' is Kerri's book pick

'Dead Wake' is Kerri's book pick

Erik Larson's latest follows the final days of the passengers and crew on the Lusitania, before a German submarine sunk the ship off the coast of Ireland in 1915.

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Ever cheat at Monopoly? So did its creator: He stole the idea from a woman

Ever cheat at Monopoly? So did its creator: He stole the idea from a woman

The game Charles Darrow sold in the 1930s bore a striking resemblance to a game Lizzie Magie patented in 1904. In "The Monopolists," Mary Pilon tells Monopoly's origin story.

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Literary classics go graphic

Literary classics go graphic

How do Shakespeare and Dostoevksy look as graphic novels?
by Tracy Mumford

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