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The Thread® - Books and Literary News

The Thread® is your source for book recommendations and other literary news.

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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.

The Current Fakebook with Amy Sedaris

The Current Fakebook with Amy Sedaris

On Nov. 15, Mary Lucia hosted The Current Fakebook with special guest Amy Sedaris. Sedaris is best known as an actress and television writer, but she also enjoys making crafts, cooking and entertaining. Those are the passions that lead to her new book, "I Like You." But during the evening, Amy confessed that she hasn't been entertaining much lately which makes it awkward to stay at someone else's home.

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Talking Volumes: Isabel Allende

Talking Volumes: Isabel Allende

Broadcast of Talking Volumes with author Isabel Allende. Her book is "Ines of My Soul." Allende's latest work is based on the life of Spanish warrior Ines Suarez. The conversation was recorded at the Fitzgerald Theater on November 17.

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The legacy of "Howl"

The legacy of "Howl"

Fifty years ago, Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" changed the popular notion of poetry with its apocalyptic imagery, and sparked an obscenity trial with its explicit language. Midmorning examines the legacy of Ginsberg's epic poem.

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Rich Cohen tells it "Sweet and Low"

Rich Cohen tells it "Sweet and Low"

Writer Rich Cohen's grandfather Ben invented two things that changed US eating habits. First he invented the machine that makes those little sugar packets you find in restaurants. Then he invented "Sweet and Low" the sugar substitute. The family made millions. But the story went sour, and Cohen's branch of the family got cut out of the will. He chronicles what happens in his new book "Sweet and Low."
by Euan Kerr

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Accidental encounter with Matisse inspires Hampl's new book

Accidental encounter with Matisse inspires Hampl's new book

A Matisse painting of a woman gazing at a bowl of goldfish is the center of St. Paul author Patricia Hampl's new book, "Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime."
by Greta Cunningham

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Of microbes, patterns and the urban condition

Of microbes, patterns and the urban condition

"The Ghost Map" is a chronicle of the 1854 cholera outbreak that ravaged London's Soho neighborhood, the two men who determined its source, and how it all changed epidemiology, mapping and the way cities work.
by Andrew Haeg

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Meg Tilly's promise to "Gemma"

Meg Tilly's promise to "Gemma"

Meg Tilly won fans in the 1980s with her acting in "The Big Chill" and an Oscar nomination for the title role in "Agnes of God." Then she turned her back on Hollywood and moved to Canada to write.
by Euan Kerr

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Duluth's poet

Duluth's poet

Duluth's poet laureate, Bart Sutter, begins a year of events to bring poetry to people this weekend. The city is hosting an inaugural reading for Sutter.
by Stephanie Hemphill

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Finding literature in lost letters and lists

Finding literature in lost letters and lists

Davy Rothbart is a writer and storyteller who started Found magazine, a publication made up of notes, photos, grocery lists and other stray pieces of paper found where forgotten things drift.
by Alisa Roth

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She's back!

She's back!

Former "Midmorning" Host Katherine Lanpher, who left Minnesota for New York City, makes her triumphant return to the MPR airwaves, if just for a day. Lanpher is out with a book about her move to the big city.

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