Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

The best and most surprising Big Book shows of 2025, part one

26 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Big Books and Bold Ideas host Kerri Miller interviews a lot of authors over the course of a year. But some conversations stand out for being especiall...

The delight — and potential downfall — of the modern dictionary

19 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dictionary.com’s word of the year isn’t really a word — it’s a number that went viral on TikTok. The selection caused a ruckus among lexicogra...

Looking for a chill? 'The Unveiling' is spooky, discomforting literary horror

12 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bad omens abound. But it’s not enough to dissuade 13 tourists on a luxury cruise to Antarctica — including protagonist Striker, a Black film scout...

Catherine Newman’s witty, warm and wary Rocky returns in ‘Wreck’

05 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Catherine Newman’s bestselling novel, “Sandwich,” main character Rachel (nicknamed Rocky), her unflappable husband and newly adult kids decam...

Mary Lucia shares it all in 'What Doesn’t Kill Me Makes Me Weirder and Harder to Relate To'

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For 17 years, Mary Lucia was the voice of The Current, MPR’s music-first radio station. Her afternoon drive shifts were beloved for their rock-and-r...

Talking Volumes: Kate Baer asks 'How About Now'

21 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kate Baer wore sequins to Talking Volumes.It was a fitting close to the 2025 season — and not-so-subtle reminder that today is all we are promised. ...

Oyinkan Braithwaite talks curses, karma and the power to change fate in 'Cursed Daughters'

14 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Curses have long animated literature. Cassandra labors under a curse in “The Iliad.” Although her prophecies are true, she is never believed. Shak...

The Minnesota author whose book inspired the movie 'Nuremberg'

07 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“Nuremberg” opens in the spring of 1945. Hitler is dead. Many of his henchmen have died by suicide, have been arrested or have fled. The world is ...

John Grisham talks justice, his new book and why he doesn't write sex

31 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul was packed with John Grisham fans on Thursday, Oct. 23, when the prolific author made his debut at Talking Volumes....

Anna North's new novel sees an ancient body as sacred treasure in 'Bog Queen'

24 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The two women at the center of Anna North’s new novel, “Bog Queen,” are separated by time but inexorably bound. One is a druid who lived during ...

Talking Volumes: Misty Copeland on ballet, ‘Bunheads’ and what comes next

17 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Even before Misty Copeland became the first Black woman to be named a principal dancer at the illustrious American Ballet Theatre, she electrified the...

Kate DiCamillo marvels at 25 years of 'Because of Winn-Dixie'

10 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty-five years ago this fall, a generation of readers met 10-year-old India Opal Buloni and her loveable, scruffy dog, Winn-Dixie — so named beca...

Talking Volumes: Patricia Lockwood's new novel is a COVID-induced fever dream

03 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Patricia Lockwood contracted COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, she lost touch with reality. For months, she floated through her days, dealing with ...

Patrick Ryan's 'Buckeye' is a sweeping drama set in a small town in Ohio

26 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The fictional Bonhomie, Ohio, where Patrick Ryan’s new novel, “Buckeye,” is set, will be familiar to anyone who grew up in a small town. Childre...

Kerri Miller talks with David French about politics, democracy and 'the exhausted majority'

25 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The final ballots were still being counted in the presidential election last fall when David French recorded a podcast with fellow opinion writer Patr...

Journalist Brian Goldstone talks about America's homeless problem in his new book

19 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When the Wilder Foundation set out on a cool night in October of 2023 to count how many people in Minnesota were without shelter, the number came in a...

Talking Volumes: Stacey Abrams talks about democracy, the power of of reading and her new novel, 'Coded Justice'

12 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Fitzgerald Theater was filled to the rafters Wednesday night for the season launch of Talking Volumes. Activist and novelist Stacey Abrams joined ...

Mike Osterholm reflects on lessons from the pandemic in 'The Big One'

06 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When the next pandemic hits, will we be ready?That’s the question at the center of University of Minnesota epidemiologist Mike Osterholm’s new boo...

What being a mailman taught Stephen Grant about work, belonging and going the extra mile

29 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Grant was laid off from his job at a boutique marketing agency in March 2020, right when COVID took the world hostage. Newly diagnosed with ca...

Be there pirates? The true story of Capt. Kidd

22 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the seas off Madagascar, Nova Scotia and even Connecticut, the siren call of buried riches has lured treasure hunters and adventurers over many a c...

‘A Marriage at Sea’ by Sophie Elmhirst

15 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Maralyn and Maurice Bailey were always a little unconventional. Maurice was a loner, precise. Maralyn was extroverted and energetic. But when they mar...

Vampires and a happy ending: Three Minnesota romance buffs discuss how the genre is changing

08 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re a romance reader, you won’t be surprised to hear that romance is the biggest genre in publishing. Nearly 40 million romance novels were ...

Lonely people find connection in ‘The Satisfaction Café’

01 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is loneliness something that happens when you’re not looking? And if so, could meaningful connection be found in a simple but purposeful café, wher...

New England noir chills and thrills in 'The House on Buzzards Bay'

25 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The setting for Dwyer Murphy’s new book, “The House on Buzzards Bay,” is classic New England noir: A large and ancient house along the coast is ...

Joy Harjo bends time with her poetry to honor her mother's death

18 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Honoring the dead by washing the body is a ritual nearly as old as humankind. Jews observe taharah, rooting the practice in Ecclesiastes: “As we com...

A new cross-county memoir: ‘The Last American Road Trip’

11 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When Sarah Kendzior packs up her family for a road trip across America, she makes sure her kids keep their eyes wide open. She wants them to see this ...

The shadow fighters of the Civil War

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To mark Independence Day, Big Books and Bold Ideas is airing an encore presentation of Kerri Miller’s conversation with historian Patrick O’Donnel...

'Behind the Red Velvet Curtain'

27 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Joy Womack made history when she became the first American to join Russia’s famed Bolshoi Ballet Theater. But getting there was a journey that took ...

In ‘Sleep,’ Honor Jones examines the paradox of parenthood

20 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Honor Jones’ debut novel, “Sleep,” begins in the damp undergrowth of a blackberry bush, where main character Margaret is playing a game. It’s ...

Neuroscientist Emily Falk links choice to change in ‘What We Value’

13 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve spent time this week doomscrolling on your phone — even though you know it’s not good for you, that it ramps up anxiety and you’d be...

Amanda Nguyen shares how her sexual assault propelled her to activism in new book

06 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Amanda Nguyen was aiming for the stars when she was accepted as a student at Harvard. She dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But in her senior year of ...

‘Walk Softly on This Heart of Mine’ talks about bars, the blues and belonging

30 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A neighborhood bar is a peculiar thing. The people who frequent it develop a rapport, a kind of familiarity that makes them feel ownership. But time r...

Karen Russell blends history and fantasy in her new novel

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How do you carry someone else’s memory — both in body and in mind? The prairie witch in Karen Russell’s fantastical new novel, “The Antidote,”...

Shigehiro Oishi says a ‘psychologically rich life’ is important to consider in his new book

16 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For many people, a good life is a stable life — a life that’s predictable and filled with purpose. For others, happiness the point. They embrace m...

Talking Volumes: Peter Geye on ‘A Lesser Light’

08 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“A Lesser Light” is Minnesota writer Peter Geye’s sixth novel, and he says he couldn’t have written it earlier in life. The story revolves aro...

What our 'good boys' can teach us about living a good life

02 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We could learn a lot from the good boys (and girls) in our life. That’s the main thesis of philosopher Mark Rowlands new book, “The Word of Dog.”...

‘Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion’

25 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rules are good. Discretion is better. So argues philosophy professor Barry Lam in his new book, “Fewer Rules, Better People.” While Lam acknowledg...

Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein’s new book looks at ‘failed liberal policies‘

18 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

“The story of America in the 21st century is the story of chosen scarcities.” So begins “Abundance,” the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thom...

Eric Puchner’s new novel circles around a love triangle that spans a lifetime

11 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Can one decision be the fulcrum of a life?Or is destiny really millions of tiny choices swirled with events out of our control? That’s one of the ma...

Chris Bohjalian's new novel about the Civil War sees the humanity in our enemies

04 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For more than 20 years, author Chris Bohjalian carried the seed of a Civil War story in his imagination. It was inspired by the true story of a Southe...

When the world is underwater, what will we save? A new dystopian novel explores the answer

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc on Eiren Caffall’s childhood home of New York City, her first thought was: What about the museums? That distress...

This author witnessed South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation hearings. Years later, she wrote about it

21 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lauren Francis-Sharma was a young law student interning in Johannesburg in 1996 when she was given the opportunity to observe portions of the Truth an...

'The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir'

14 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When historian Martha Jones began excavating the history of her own family, she found a remarkable story of what she calls the trouble with color. But...

Health psychologist explains how to change your mindset and embrace winter in new book

07 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why do some people view winter as a magical season when others see it as something to dread? The secret is in the mindset, according to health psychol...

Novelist Geraldine Brooks reflects on the abrupt loss of her husband in her new memoir

28 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Grief didn’t come easily to novelist Geraldine Brooks. When her husband, journalist and author Tony Horowitz, died of a cardiac event on a Washingto...

Lindsay Chervinsky’s new book ‘Making the Presidency’ teaches us about the past and present

21 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lindsay Chervinsky knew other historians had written extensively about America’s second president, John Adams. But none of those books were written ...

Valentine’s Day special: Unpacking all kinds of love in literature

14 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It’s Valentine’s Day! To mark the occasion, Big Books and Bold Ideas is dipping into the archives to focus on love — and not just romantic love....

Fabienne Josaphat’s ‘Kingdom of No Tomorrow’ explores gender equality in the Black Panthers

07 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At what cost revolution? In Fabienne Josaphat’s new novel, “Kingdom of No Tomorrow,” 20-year-old Nettie Boileau trades the turmoil of Duvalier’...

In her new memoir, Sarah Hoover offers an unflinching take on the first year of motherhood

31 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Hoover knows her new memoir, “The Motherload,” isn’t flattering. She’s made peace with the fact that “people will judge me on the inte...

Histories collide at the dawning of a new age in ’The New Internationals’

24 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David Wright Faladé didn’t learn the truth about his lineage until he was 16. That’s when his mother told him that his biological father was a W...

On the brink of the inauguration, historians reflect on America's trajectory

17 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated for a second term on Monday, Jan. 20. So this week, Big Books and Bold Ideas asked two historians who...

Naturalist Robin Wall Kimmerer on her new book, ‘The Serviceberry’

10 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Robin Wall Kimmerer embodies an abundance mindset. The naturalist and author sees the world through the lens of her Anishinaabe ancestors, where inter...

Why some college students aren’t reading books

03 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In Nov. 2024, The Atlantic’s cover article rang alarm bells among readers, writers, college professors and parents alike. The article was headlined:...

Christopher Bollen unleashes ‘Havoc’ with his new thriller

27 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Maggie Burkhardt is 81, a deceptively sweet former Wisconsinite who now resides in Egypt at a once-fashionable hotel. She’s landed there somewhat m...

A bereaved single father navigates a new path forward in ‘I Will Do Better’

20 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Charles Bock is honest from the beginning of his new memoir, “I Will Do Better”: He never wanted to be a dad. He was much more interested in pursu...

In her new book, journalist Brigid Schulte asks what if work wasn’t such a grind?

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic shook up the way many of us work. It accelerated change in a system often slow to adapt. But more change is needed, argues journalist Bri...

The gut's curious history

06 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The gut is all the rage these days. Many an influencer has built a platform on how to keep our digestive systems happy, healthy and moving. But humans...

Dr. Marty Makary on medicine's blind spots

22 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you stopped eating eggs for fear it could raise your cholesterol, or you avoided giving peanuts to your toddler to prevent allergies, or you stayed...

Helen Scales advocates for the ocean in ‘What the Wild Sea Can Be’

15 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When faced with the realities of climate change, marine biologists must hold two competing thoughts simultaneously: The seas are warming, the fish are...

Richard Powers brings to life the death of the world’s oceans in ‘Playground’

08 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In his 2019 Pulitzer-Prize winning novel, “The Overstory,” Richard Powers imagines a world where only a few acres of virgin forest remain on the c...

Talking Volumes: Kate DiCamillo

01 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Beloved children’s author Kate DiCamillo published three new books this year: “Ferris,” “Orris and Timble: The Beginning,” and “The Hotel ...

Unsung Americans with Minnesota‘s own Sharon McMahon

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

You might know Katharine Lee Bates wrote the poem that eventually became the song, “America the Beautiful,” after she visited the top of Pike’s ...

American democracy requires that we ’be architects, not arsonists’

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As we approach Election Day, Big Books and Bold Ideas returns to our Americans and Democracy series. Here are some of the question we’re confronting...

Novelist Kevin Barry writes an Irish western with ‘The Heart in Winter’

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a winter night when we first meet Tom Rourke. He’s penning love letters, preening in mirrors, pushing dope, partaking of booze, singing and f...

Talking Volumes: Louise Erdrich on ‘The Mighty Red’

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Louise Erdrich is, without a doubt, a beloved writer. The Minnesota Native American author has won nearly every literary award out there — including...

Talking Volumes: Alice Hoffman on ’When We Flew Away’

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Novelist Alice Hoffman’s new middle grade book, “When We Flew Away,” imagines Anne Frank’s life before her family was forced into hiding. She ...

Rural Voice: How rural communities thrive as immigrants put down roots

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Immigration is a hot topic this election year, and many Minnesota communities are asking questions about how to face the challenges and opportunities ...

Talking Volumes: Edwidge Danticat on ‘We’re Alone’

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It was a celebration at St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater Tuesday night, as the 25th season of Talking Volumes launched with Haitian-born writer Edwidge...

Rural Voice: How to sustainably grow regenerative agriculture in rural Minnesota

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Farming is a bedrock industry in Minnesota. While the number of farms has been falling for decades, partly due to consolidation and partly due to crop...

William Moyers shares his journey to sobriety in new memoir

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

William Moyers was one of the lucky ones. Sober for decades after years of addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine, he became a model of success and re...

Rural Voice: How to build more civic-minded communities

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How do we restore trust in civic institutions and nurture a renewed sense of possibility in a shared future? That was the central question animating t...

Margaret Renkl on ‘The Comfort of Crows’

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The 25th season of Talking Volumes launches later this month. To celebrate, we thought we’d bring you one of our favorite conversations from last ye...

Rural Voice at the Minnesota State Fair

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The third season of Rural Voice kicked off at the Minnesota State Fair on Monday, Aug. 26. It was a steamy day, but it didn’t discourage rural chang...

Jo Hamya ambushes everyone in ‘The Hypocrite’

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jo Hamya’s new novel, “The Hypocrite,” opens as the trap is being laid. Sophia, a 20-something playwright, has invited her father, a famous and ...

How to defeat 'The Age of Grievance'

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The first sentence of Frank Bruni’s new book says it all. It reads, “Let me tell you how I’ve been wronged.”More and more Americans are living...

Author A.J. Jacobs attempts a year of living constitutionally

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When A.J. Jacobs decided to immerse himself in early Americana, he didn’t think about the fact that the required wool stockings wouldn’t have elas...

‘Grown Women’ tackles the complicated wounds in mother-daughter relationships

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Debut novelist Sarai Johnson created four generations of Black mothers and daughters to tackle the questions that came up in her own life: What does f...

Claire Messud’s new novel in inspired by her own family’s history

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Claire Messud has long wanted to write a novel inspired by her family’s history in Algeria, thanks to a handwritten memoir, more than 1,500 pages lo...

‘Get Out’ meets ‘The Stepford Wives’ in Nicola Yoon’s new thriller

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

New York Times bestselling author Nicola Yoon’s new novel, “One of our Kind,” is one of the most talked about books of the summer. On this week’...

Rachel Khong’s ‘Real Americans’

12 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Lily Chen is not endowed with good fortune — despite the fact that her scientist mother managed to grow a backyard of four-leaf clovers. She doesn’...

The shadow fighters of the Civil War

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Civil War is remembered for its sweeping battles: Gettysburg, Atlanta, Antietam. Less known are the small troops of men, enlisted by both sides, t...

Minnesota author Tai Coleman on families, hope and surviving America while Black

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Taiyon Coleman has been writing since she was a child. At age 8, she announced to her family that a novel was in the works. Today, she’s a published...

Can you create your own luck?

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

America is steeped in the notion of rugged individualism. It’s comforting to think success is based on our own hard work and self determination.But ...

Samira Ahmed on ‘This Book Won't Burn’

14 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Noor Khan is still reeling from the disintegration of her family when she stumbles across a library cart stacked with books in her new small-town high...

Talking Volumes: Leif Enger on ‘I Cheerfully Refuse’

07 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dystopian novels aren’t known for being hopeful.But that’s exactly what Leif Enger brings to the genre with his new book, “I Cheerfully Refuse.”...

Alua Arthur says facing death is the key to living well

31 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do you imagine your death will look like? It’s not a morbid or depressing question to Alua Arthur. She’s a death doula, and she firmly believ...

Lea Carpenter explores what happens when the business of spying gets personal

24 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Who knew boring could be an asset? In Lea Carpenter’s new spy novel, “Ilium,” we meet our young and restless unnamed narrator on a day when she’...

Lydia Millet writes a devotion to the species disappearing from our planet

17 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Birds, bats, freshwater mussels and a small catfish. They all slipped away in 2023, among the 21 species declared extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlif...

Minnesota’s best writers on Big Books and Bold Ideas

10 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Big Book and Bold Ideas talks with authors from around the globe. But our favorite moments come when host Kerri Miller sits down with Minnesota writer...

Author Jamie Figueroa on reclaiming an identity her mother tried to shed

03 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jamie Figueroa’s new memoir, “Mother Island” is stylistically unique. She combines prose and creative nonfiction, myth and short stories to expl...

Alexandra Fuller on ‘the braid, the spiral, the knot of grief’

26 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alexandra Fuller’s new memoir begins with the death of her 21-year-old son, Fi, and chronicles her attempts to grieve well in the searing aftermath ...

Don Winslow’s final chapter as a novelist

19 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Danny Ryan doesn’t see himself as ambitious — which is surprising, seeing as he’s both stolen and made millions. But in his mind, he’s just an...

The feminists who built America

12 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Americans overwhelmingly support gender equality. But not as many see themselves as feminists. Elizabeth Cobbs says that’s because we don’t know o...

Can the fabric of a friendship be rewoven?

05 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Myriam J. A. Chancy spent her childhood in Haiti and then moved with her family to Winnipeg. But those island roots shaped who she became and inspired...

Kao Kalia Yang channels her mother in the memoir ‘Where Rivers Part’

29 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When Kao Kalia Yang’s mother was a child growing up in Laos, she lived a comfortable life. Her father was a prosperous merchant. She was the only Hm...

What the deepest ocean reveals and how to save it

22 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do you see, hear and experience when you drop miles into the deepest parts of the ocean?For journalist Susan Casey, it was transformative — eve...

How memory works

15 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve ever struggled to remember where you set down your phone, or how you know the person you just ran into at the grocery store, you’re not ...

Tommy Orange’s new ‘Wandering Stars’ traces a long trail of trauma and belonging

08 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At the center of Tommy Orange’s new novel sits a family nearly destroyed. It’s suffering the long-term effects of government-ordered separation, f...

A prescription to modernize public health

01 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic was public health’s finest hour. Millions of lives were saved, thanks to isolation measures. Vaccines were devel...

Heather Cox Richardson on 'Democracy Awakening'

23 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week, Big Books and Bold Ideas is launching an election year series that asks: What is American democracy in 2024? Americans come to that questio...