Author News

Mark Twain quotes: 10 favorites on his birthday – A recipe for contentment

William Faulkner called him “…the first truly American writer.” Ernest Hemingway declared that all American writing comes from “Huckleberry Finn,” and “there has been nothing as good since.” And Norman Mailer said “Huck Finn” stands up “page for page” to the “best modern American novels.” Wednesday marks the 176th anniversary of the birth of the […]

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Monday Miscellany

The fiction of literary friendship Writing in the Guardian, Wayne Gooderham concludes: “Judging by the stories that have been written about it, writers do not make the best of friends.” 10 Most Reclusive Literary Geniuses in History The world’s greatest writers use their literary genius to illustrate and comment on the human condition. And yet,

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Lauren Myracle withdraws from National Book Award finalists – latimes.com

Lauren Myracle withdraws from National Book Award finalists – latimes.com. This story is all over Twitter this morning. Here’s just one newspaper’s account of why this mess occurred. Apparently, the National Book Foundation doesn’t like the subject matter of Lauren Myracle’s novel Shine, which deals with a hate crime. In requesting the withdrawal of the

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Monday Miscellany

Vashon Great Books club one of oldest in U.S. The Seattle Times spotlights 92-year-old Grace Crecelius: For 61 years, Grace Crecelius has cracked the books. Not just any books, mind you, but the works of Plato, Descartes and Kant, Shakespeare, Marx and Freud. At 92, Crecelius is the oldest member of what may be one

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National Book Foundation Announces This Year’s 5 Under 35 Honorees – GalleyCat

National Book Foundation Announces This Year’s 5 Under 35 Honorees – GalleyCat And the winners are: The People of Forever Are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu (selected by Nicole Krauss) Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans (selected by Robert Stone) The Walking People by Mary Beth Keane (selected by Julia Glass)

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Swedish Poet Wins Nobel Prize for Literature – NYTimes.com

Swedish Poet Wins Nobel Prize for Literature – NYTimes.com Tomas Transtromer, the Swedish poet whose sometimes bleak but powerful work explores themes of nature, isolation and identity, won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday.  

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Monday Miscellany

2012 Stamp Preview: A Stamp a Day The United States Postal Service will be issuing some new literature-related stamps in 2012. Click on the numbers to see more information about these: #2 Edgar Rice Burroughs #11 O. Henry #31 Twentieth-Century Poets: Elizabeth Bishop, Joseph Brodsky, Gwendolyn Brooks, E. E. Cummings, Robert Hayden, Denise Levertov, Sylvia

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Harlan Coben in St. Louis: Part II

Part I (in case you missed it) The first question people always ask an author is “Where do you get your ideas?” Coben said that anything, such as a tabloid headline, can stimulate an idea. Then he just keeps asking “What if?” For example, the idea for Promise Me came when he overheard a couple

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Harlan Coben in St. Louis: Part I

If you ever get a chance to see Harlan Coben in person, go for it. He was in St. Louis last weekend for Boucheron 2011.  As part of the book tour promoting his new book, Shelter, the introductory volume for his YA series featuring Mickey Bolitar, Coben spoke at St. Louis County Library. He began

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