Editor’s note: This program was originally preempted by breaking news coverage. The post has been updated to reflect the new broadcast date. Jeannette Wells’ 2009 memoir “ The Glass Castle ” has been a New York Times bestseller for more than eight years. The movie adaptation starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts also won awards. Her much-anticipated new book, “ Hang the Moon ,” is worth the wait. Set in 1920s rural Virginia, it centers on young Sallie Kincaid whose daddy runs the...
Jun 23, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joe Milan Jr.’s debut novel, “The All-American,” is about immigration — but it’s not a story about what it means to leave a foreign land and start over in America. Instead, it’s about what it means to leave America, unwillingly, and start over in a foreign land. Milan’s protagonist, 17-year-old Bucky Yi, knows nothing about his birth country of South Korea. Raised in rural Washington, he has only one goal — to become a college football player. But when he tangles with local law enforcement, and ...
Jun 09, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Minnesota author William Kent Krueger has written 19 books that star his primary protagonist, private investigator Cork O’Connor. But just as central to his writing is the landscape of Northern Minnesota. It’s more than a setting. It’s a character. “I write profoundly out of a sense of place,” Krueger told MPR News host Kerri Miller at a special spring Talking Volumes earlier this month. “When I used to teach writing, I taught place as character. Place is one of the most important and versatile ...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Minnesota writer William Kent Krueger is a fan favorite, thanks largely to his series of crime novels featuring private investigator Cork O'Connor. Krueger joined host Kerri Miller in Duluth earlier this week for a special spring edition of Talking Volumes. You’ll hear that conversation on Friday. So it’s only fitting that this week’s archive is Krueger’s last appearance on the Talking Volumes stage. He was at the Fitzgerald Theater in 2021 to discuss his book, “Lightning Strike.” Guest: Wil...
May 30, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene proposed the United States would benefit from a “ national divorce ,” many scoffed and labeled her statements as incendiary pot-stirring. Journalist Jeff Sharlet was not one of them. After traveling the country for more than a dozen years, reporting on the intersection between religion and far-right politics, he believes remarks like Rep. Greene’s should be taken seriously and at face value. His latest book, “ The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War ,” details...
May 26, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Cats … in space? It’s not a crazy notion for fans of Drew Brockington’s “CatStronauts,” who’ve devoured his graphic novels the way pilot Waffles eats a tuna fish sandwich. After six books detailing the adventures of Waffles, Blanket, Pom-Pom and Major Meowser, Brockington recently launched a prequel series detailing the kittenhood adventures of siblings Waffles and Pancakes. How did they end up wanting to be catstronauts? At a special Talking Volumes in Rochester, Minn., earlier this month, Broc...
May 19, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Cats are known to like their space. But outer space? That we didn’t learn until Minneapolis author and illustrator Drew Brockington’s put a crew of feline scientists on a rocket in his 2017 book, “CatStronauts: Mission Moon.” Turns out, Waffles, Blanket, Pom-Pom and Major Meowser are capable and witty astronauts, adapt at both saving the universe and delighting kids with their antics. Brockington’s graphic novels have won acclaim and fans across the galaxy. Last week, Brockington (and Waffles) j...
May 16, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast In his new novel, “ Symphony of Secrets ,” Brendan Slocumb once again tucks a mystery inside a musical thriller. But underscoring the plot are some big questions about our culture. Whose music gets heard and honored? Who gets to claim the ownership and rewards of a song? And who gets to tell the story of how that music came to be? Slocumb’s protagonist is Bern Hendricks, a musicologist thrilled to be given the chance to authenticate a just discovered opera, attributed to his musical hero, Freder...
May 12, 2023•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you want to know canine psychologist Alexandra Horowitz’ best advice for training a puppy, it can be summed up in one sentence: “Expect that your puppy will not be who you think, nor act as you hope.” That truth — which can both delight and confound new puppy caretakers — is at the center of her 2021 book, “ The Year of the Puppy .” A longtime researcher of canine behavior, Horowitz realized she had never examined those critical first months of a dog’s life. So in 2020, she started to observe...
May 05, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast April is Animal Month on Big Books and Bold Ideas. But this time, we’re not talking about dogs , monkeys or bats — but bees, beetles and butterflies. It might not seem like it on a summer night in Minnesota — when mosquitos are swarming your campfire — but Earth’s kingdom of insects is diminishing so rapidly, scientists have declared it a crisis. In 2019, a report in published in Biological Conservation found that 40 percent of all insect species are declining globally and a third of them are en...
Apr 28, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Insects — or the lack thereof — are the focus of this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. On Friday, host Kerri Miller will talk with environmental journalist Oliver Milman about how the silent collapse in global insect populations is disrupting many of our most important ecosystems. Here in Minnesota, bees are the insects whose absence is most keenly felt. Back in 2013 , University of Minnesota entomologist Marla Spivak talked with Miller about what she was seeing. But she also gave advice about h...
Apr 25, 2023•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast All animals use their senses to perceive the world, humans included. But not every animal senses the same thing. In Pulitzer prize-winning science journalist Ed Yong’s 2022 book, “ An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us ,” he explores the way each species sees the world through its own sensory lens and explains why those differences should both delight and humble us. “Senses always come at a cost,” Yong writes. “No animal can sense everything well.” MPR News host ...
Apr 21, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast It helps for a veterinarian to be an animal lover. It doesn’t help for her to be allergic to cats. But Karen Fine didn’t let that stop her. Nor was she cowered by the fact that, in the 1980s, when she went to vet school, almost all the students were male. She followed in her physician grandfather’s path and became a veterinarian who made house calls, “laid hands” on her patients and always took time to listen — both to the pets and the caretakers. Fine’s new book, “ The Other Family Doctor ” is ...
Apr 14, 2023•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Renown underwater photographer David Doubilet has been donning a mask and flippers and descending into what he calls “the secret garden of the sea” since he was 12. What he saw there captivated him and eventually fueled his career. He’s photographed powerful sharks, brightly colored fish, the splendor of the coral reefs and the destruction caused by warming oceans. He’s published 12 books chronicling his work and he regularly contributes to National Geographic. In 2006, Doubilet visited Minneapo...
Apr 11, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Once you start looking, wolves are everywhere. A wolf plays the the villain in “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Three Little Pigs.” The boy who cried wolf is ultimately destroyed by his lie. A person who isolates from society is called a “lone wolf.” A dangerous mob is named a “wolfpack.” And of course, the animals themselves are both feared and admired. Wolves have intrigued writer Erica Berry since she was a child growing up in Oregon, where the animals enjoyed an uneasy truce with ranchers. ...
Apr 07, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Diana Abu-Jaber’s family has deep roots in Jordan. Her father came to America after a failed marriage proposal — an act of “revenge immigration,” she laughs. And while he lived in the U.S., married here and raised a family here, his never truly left his homeland behind. Growing up in a thoroughly Jordanian household within an American context shaped Abu-Jaber’s life. She traveled to Jordan with her family and was often startled to discover hidden aspects to her father during her visits. It was t...
Mar 31, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Diana Abu-Jaber returns to MPR News this week. Friday’s Big Books and Bold Ideas will feature a conversation between host Kerri Miller and Abu-Jaber about her latest novel, “Fencing with the King,” a book set in Jordan that explores family dynamics and inheritance. It’s not the first time Abu-Jaber and Miller have talked. For this week’s blast from the past, enjoy their 2011 discussion about “ Birds of Paradise ,” which NPR named one of the top books of that year and won a 2012 Arab-Ameri...
Mar 28, 2023•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Paul Harding says it’s no accident that the residents of the small interracial community he imagined for his new book are uprooted from their island home at the same time as the first International Eugenics Congress was being held in London. In fact, learning about the conference inspired him to write his book. The seeds of “ This Other Eden ” are planted in the true story of Malaga Island , an isolated island off the coast of Maine that was one of the first racially integrated towns in the nort...
Mar 24, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast When was the last time you felt awe? For many of us, awe is the result of an experience in nature. Or maybe it’s due to a sudden chill up the spine as you listen to music or read a poem. It might be what happens when you witness selflessness or uncommon kindness in another human being, or something as simple as listening to a child laugh as they lose themselves in play. Whatever the source, and no matter the culture, Dacher Keltner says the feeling is the same across humankind. Awe produces a hu...
Mar 17, 2023•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Poet Ross Gay believes in joy. But he pays careful attention to how one defines that word. It is not simply happiness or delight, he says in his new book “ Inciting Joy .” Rather, it is what grows from the fertile soil of breaking and belonging. It is the light that emanates from us when we help each other carry our sorrows. Gay was in St. Paul in November of 2022 to talk with MPR News host Kerri Miller for the finale of the 2022 Talking Volumes season . The evening also featured music from Minn...
Mar 14, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Many Americans are unaware that all-Black enclaves popped up and even flourished during the early 20th century. They did so by following the conviction that “separate but equal” was the only way for Black Americans to stay safe and thrive. But as Jamila Minnicks points out in her gorgeous debut novel, “ Moonrise Over New Jessup ,” that belief was challenged by the Civil Rights movement, which championed equality more than separation. It’s a fictionalized account of one such town, set in Minnicks...
Mar 10, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Historian Natalia Mehlman Petrzela was a self-proclaimed bookish kid growing up in the 1990s. She didn’t exercise, she didn’t play sports and she loathed physical education at school. But that changed when she first stepped into a group exercise class. “When I walked in there, I discovered there was something called fitness ,” she tells host Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas. “Pretty quickly I realized this is not only better than PE, I love this. I don’t just tolerate it.” So...
Mar 03, 2023•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s being compared to “The Godfather” and “Gatsby” — high praise for a young writer. But MPR News host Kerri Miller says Deepti Kapoor’s new novel is worth the accolades. “ Age of Vice ” is set in modern day India, a country changing so quickly, few can stay balanced. It follows a young man who grew up destitute, sold into a life of servitude to pay family debts. His life changes forever when he meets Sunny Wadia, the conflicted, playboy heir of a well-known crime family. The story swerves from...
Feb 24, 2023•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Each year, there are a few new books that reduce readers to a frenzy before the words even arrive at the printing press. Such is the case for the “ Age of Vice ” by author Deepti Kapoor, one of the most anticipated books of 2023. This Friday, on Big Books and Bold Ideas, MPR News host Kerri Miller will talk with Kapoor about her crime novel that has been described as “ dazzling ,” with “ echoes of ‘The Godfather’ .” In the meantime, enjoy this conversation between Miller and an author who wrote ...
Feb 22, 2023•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast Minneapolis author Shannon Gibney made waves in 2015 when she published her novel, “ See No Color. ” The experiences of main character Alex Kirtridge — a Black girl adopted by a white family — were partially informed by Gibney’s own life as a transracial adoptee. From the archives: Shannon Gibney on 'Dream Country' Gibney returns to her own story with her new memoir, “ The Girl I Am, Was and Never Will Be .” But this time, she mines different timelines — that of her own life, growing up as a mix...
Feb 17, 2023•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast Minneapolis author Shannon Gibney made a splash with her first novel, " See No Color ," drawn from her life as a transracial adoptee. It won the 2016 Minnesota Book Award for Young People's Literature. She returns to writing about her own life in her just released memoir, “ The Girl I Am, Was and Never Will Be .” But this a memoir unlike most. Gibney calls it speculative fiction. It explores both her life as it was — and as it might have been, had she not been adopted by a white fa...
Feb 14, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Modern English loves an idiom. We use them all the time. “Take the cake.” “Eat crow.” “Deader than a doornail.” “By hook or by crook.” “Cut the mustard.” “Left in the lurch.” But do we really know what they mean? That was University of Minnesota linguistics professor Anatoly Liberman’s question when he set out to write a dictionary of common English language idioms. His new book, “Take My Word For It,” is the first truly all-encompassing etymological guide to both meanings and origins of idioms ...
Feb 03, 2023•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is there a word or phrase that you grew up with, something you felt was unique to your family? Maybe it was an expression your parents or grandparents used to show affection or describe frustration, only to eventually discover it had foreign origins? Or perhaps you still wonder where it came from? Borrowed words have flooded most languages, including English. In August 2021 , Anatoly Liberman, beloved etymologist and professor of languages at the University of Minnesota, joined MPR News host Ker...
Jan 31, 2023•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast What does it mean to stand on the soil where enslaved people lived, worked and died — and to see, surrounding it, monuments to the people who did the enslaving? That’s the question at the heart of Clint Smith’s book, “ How the Word Is Passed .” After a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee came down in his hometown of New Orleans, Smith began a quest to understand America’s historic and contemporary relationship to slavery. He did that by visiting sites like Monticello Plantation, where Th...
Jan 27, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast When a racially segregated community is suddenly forced to integrate high schools, it inextricably intertwines families on opposite sides of the divide. How two of those families navigate the chaos — and its ripple effects for years to come — is at the heart of Naima Coster's novel, “ What's Mine and Yours .” Coster joined MPR News host Kerri Miller for the season finale of the 2021 Talking Volumes series, Talking Race . We hope it will whet your appetite for Miller’s conversation with C...
Jan 24, 2023•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
