January 21, 2014
Former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins sold his papers to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The archive contains notebooks, doodles, clippings, and drafts of published and unpublished poems, as well as correspondence, recordings, and diaries. Mr. Collins decided to sell his papers after realizing how much material he had, […]
January 21, 2014
Hooray! Downton Abbey is back! As Americans relish the continuing story of the upstairs and downstairs lives of this grand estate in season 4, a current display of books and films at EPL features stories from the servants’ points of view. In the wonderful universe of coincidence, NPR this weekend re-ran Dave Davies’ Fresh Air […]
January 14, 2014
Acclaimed author Elizabeth Berg will be discussing her latest work, “Fried Walleye and Cherry Pie,” a collection of essays by several authors inspired by Midwestern food. Editor Peggy Wolff will share in the talk at the Michigan Shores Club starting at 6:30. Berg was a registered nurse for ten years before turning to writing, her life-long […]
January 14, 2014
Judges for a debut mystery-writing contest sponsored by Minotaur Books and the Private Eye Writers of America chose Alaric Hunt as the winner, unaware that he had been in a South Carolina prison for the past 25 years serving a life sentence for murder. The award comes with a $10,000 advance and a guaranteed publishing […]
January 9, 2014
As a way of highlighting women writers, these bookmarks feature well-known writers and suggestions for many others on the back. The writer Joanna Walsh created these as traditional French New Year’s cards. They’re simple, different, and fun. I can imagine her coming out with a long line of dozens of different bookmarks. See what you think- Shira […]
January 9, 2014
Unpublished letters by author Mary Shelley were found by professor of English Literature at Anglia Ruskin University Nora Crook. While researching an obscure 19th-century novelist, she saw a “listing for 13 documents at Essex Record Office, catalogued under the tantalising words: “Letter from Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley” – and knew they had never been published before. […]
January 7, 2014
Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies are being adapted for the stage by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Adapting the 500 page books into two-and-a-half-hour plays has been challenging but the producers are determined to retain as much of Ms. Mantel’s prose as possible, as well as to prove […]
January 2, 2014
In 2002 American author Danielle Steel was named an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters, France’s top cultural honor. Now she can add the Legion of Honor, France’s highest award, to her accolades. Other Americans who have won the Legion of Honor include Douglas MacArthur, Julia Child, Walt Disney, Alan Greenspan and Bob Dylan. In an earlier […]
January 2, 2014
There are self help guides for all types, and now we have a dating guide for geeks! Of course, one must decide for oneself if he or she falls into this category and would actually benefit from such advice. The author instructs the reader to identify his area of geekiness before attempting to date whether […]
December 31, 2013
Right now we have a display of titles at EPL that I’ve dubbed “Retold and Revisited: Classic Tales from Another Point of View.” The re-telling device has always been a popular way to look at a well known story and give it a fresh treatment as in Longbourn, the Pride and Prejudice story told by […]
