‘Professional Crocodile’: A Sincere Endorsement
If you’re looking for a charming picture book for children — or for adults — try the wonderful Professional Crocodile by author Giovanna Zoboli and illustrator Mariachiara di Giorgio. The wordless …..
Posts tagged: Authors
Look at This Spot-On Portrait of Kurt Vonnegut
Just because we like it, we’re re-upping this portrait of author Kurt Vonnegut by our own Mr. Paul Hehn. This sketch was originally done for a post about Kurt Vonnegut’s marital contract …..
Book Review: The Enthusiast
Book review: The Enthusiast By Josh Fruhlinger 312 pages If Jane Austen sat down to write a Philip K. Dick novel, the result might look a little like The Enthusiast, the …..
P.D. James is Dead at Age 94
The celebrated mystery author has died “peacefully at her home in Oxford.”
Gillian Flynn Biography — New!
If you haven’t heard of her yet, you will. Her novel Gone Girl is being filmed by David Fincher and stars Ben Affleck.
Great Fun for Book Lovers
Do you like looking at book collections? At creative gifs of old photos and miniature oddities?
P.L. Travers Biography — New!
She wrote Mary Poppins and hated the movie version. Now she’s the central character in a big new Disney movie starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.
On the Thomas Pynchon Trail
Vulture.com catches up (sort of) with mysterious author Thomas Pynchon, whose new novel is Bleeding Edge.
Happy Birthday, Charles Bukowski
Writer Charles Bukowski was born in Germany on 16 August 1920. He was drunk by 17 August 1920.
Sheryl Sandberg Biography: New!
The powerful Silicon Valley businesswoman is in the news with her new book, Lean In.
How is Dave Barry Looking These Days?
The popular writer has a new book and an old haircut.
Gore Vidal, Ladies’ Man
There’s a good feature in Vanity Fair about writer and high society gossipmonger Gore Vidal.
George Sand Biography: New!
Outside of France, not so many people know about George Sand, a woman whose 19th century celebrity sounds like something right out of this year’s gossip pages.
China Miéville Turns 40
Author China Miéville’s was born 6 September 1972. Happy birthday, China!
No Orwell Statue for the BBC
There will be no statue of George Orwell at the headquarters of the BBC. Because he was too far left?
Philip K. Dick Books You’ve Never Heard Of: A Photo Gallery
A photo gallery of books by Philip K. Dick, most of which most people aren’t familiar with. In other words, books that aren’t Blade Runner.
Is Gabriel García Márquez Demented?
Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez is suffering from advanced dementia, says his brother. But the director of the Márquez Foundation says, naw…Gabo’s just old and has a bad memory.
E.L. James is Earning a Cool Million Bucks a Week
The author of 50 Shades of Grey is making money handcuffs over fist.
Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012
Author Ray Bradbury has died at the age of 91.
Common Bonds: Publish and Perish
Six authors who made a bundle — after they were buried.
Philip K. Dick: ‘Garage Philosopher’ or Madman?
Professor Simon Critchley thinks the sci-fi author was a self-taught genius.
Remembering Maurice Sendak and Little Bear
The beloved illustrator and author of Where The Wild Things Are has died at age 83. But Wild Things wasn’t his only great work.
Neil Gaiman Interviews Stephen King
Comic book writer Neil Gaiman has a long conversation with tons-of-books writer Stephen King.
How Raymond Chandler Wrote ‘The Long Goodbye’
Hard-boiled author Raymond Chandler used some idiosyncratic methods to write his “most ambitious” mystery novel.
Harper Lee and ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’
American Masters from PBS presents ‘Harper Lee: Hey, Boo’ on April 2nd.
Literal Titles for Dr. Seuss Books
Good old Dr. Seuss did tend to write “message” books in his later years. What if he’d put the messages right on the cover?
The Charles Dickens – Amy Winehouse Connection
What do they have in common? Crazy old Camden Town.
Chuck Palahniuk Looks Like Jack Kerouac
I recently saw this photo by Ted Palumbo of writer Jack Kerouac. It reminded me of another writer.
How Sherlock Holmes Came Alive
What tricks did Arthur Conan Doyle use to bring blood to the veins of his famous detective?
Happy Birthday, Anne Rice!
Author Anne Rice is 70 years old today. She’s the one who gave us the vampire Lestat, introduced in her 1976 novel Interview with a Vampire. If you don’t know that book, uh… it’s like Twilight for grown-ups. Grown-ups who like to read pages and pages of flowery prose.
Mark Twain Didn’t Exactly Love Jane Austen
“Every time I read ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.”Mark Twain on Jane Austen, from The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History.
Kenyon Grads Remember David Foster Wallace
The Millions has a good little feature they call “He Was Water: Kenyon Grads Remember David Foster Wallace’s Commencement Speech”.
Here’s a video/audio excerpt:
Happy 82nd Birthday Simon Raven, You Naughty Boy
The death of Simon Raven, at the age of 73 after suffering a stroke, is proof that the devil looks after his own. He ought, by rights, to have died of shame at 30, or of drink at 50.British author Simon Raven was born on this day in 1927 and died in 2001, prompting one of the more colorful obituaries of the decade.