Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Few writers get to experience the rush of one of their novels topping the charts and becoming a best seller. But that’s just what happened to today’s guests.

” soared up the charts when it was released in 2014, inspiring 

 and becoming a finalist for the National Book Award. Its much-anticipated sequel, “

,” published in 2022, to equally-delighted acclaim.

, “Sea of Tranquility” is about a writer on a book tour in parallel worlds. Their conversation included talk about time travel, life’s hinge moments and the “what if this and not that” question that inspires so much of science fiction. 

Leila Mottley began writing her best seller when she was just 19. That novel, “Nightcrawling,” introduces us to a teenage girl living with her older brother after their parents have vanished into prison and addiction. Kiara goes to school, holds down a job and tries to keep her brother on the straight and narrow, even as he chases an elusive dream to be a rap star. 

, she told her she was deeply influenced by the burdens Black women in America have to shoulder. 

Brendan Slocumb is a writer and a professional musician, and his experience of playing classical music as a Black man enriches his debut novel, “

In the book, his central character mysteriously inherits a Stradivarius, which comes with a complex history. That inspired 

a delightful conversation between Slocumb and Miller

, where the musician and writer shared his beliefs about how musical instruments carry history within them. 

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on 

for the latest book and author news and must-read recommendations.

Arts and Culture

The Thread® - Books and Literary News

Shows

Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

Host

Author

This week on Big Books and Bold Ideas, we revisit three conversations MPR News host Kerri Miller had with young authors who hit the big time with their novels. 

Best-selling authors on Big Books and Bold Ideas

Go Deeper.

Like this?