Category: Uncategorized

Shock as Man Booker prize plans to consider works by American writers – News – Books – The Independent

The British literary world has been stunned by news that the Man Booker prize is set to allow American writers to enter from next year, with authors questioning whether it would lose its “character” and even prevent the emergence of domestic talent.

The Man Booker, which currently allows entries from British, Irish and Commonwealth authors, is the most prestigious prize in British literature; past winners include Salman Rushdie, Iris Murdoch and JM Coetzee.

via Shock as Man Booker prize plans to consider works by American writers – News – Books – The Independent.

Ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates shares his war stories in memoir ‘DUTY’ – NY Daily News

Robert Gates will dish on his tenure at the Defense Department in a new book, as the sole defense secretary to serve under both a Republican and Democrat.

In “DUTY: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” Gates will discuss his time at the Pentagon as he dealt with the heartache of war and the political realities of the conflict.

via Ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates shares his war stories in memoir ‘DUTY’ – NY Daily News.

HR Magazine – Neil Morrison on the Penguin Random House merger, and sexing up HR

HR Magazine – Neil Morrison on the Penguin Random House merger, and sexing up HR.

Neil Morrison played a major role in the merger of Penguin Random House, which saw him promoted to group HRD. He talks about the biggest challenge of his career to date, and why he’s on a mission to make HR sexier A lawyer once called Neil Morrison the “most dangerous man in HR”. It’s a description that still pleases him, although the reason for the condemnation – speaking out against social media policies – amuses and grates in equal measure. “Being a dangerous HR person because you don’t have a policy goes to show how poor our profession is,” he says. “If that’s dangerous, God help us.” – See more at: http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hr/features/1078348/neil-morrison-penguin-random-house-merger-sexing-hr#sthash.9RmywzwA.dpuf

Top 10 Revelations from the New Roman Polanski Book | TIME.com

Thirteen-year-old Samantha Geimer was underwhelmed with famed film director Roman Polanski when she met him in February of 1977. “Mostly I was thinking: Ew, there’s this guy who’s like my size and sort of looks like a ferret. But he’s super-powerful and he wants to photograph me. Me!”  Her mother, an aspiring actress and model, had agreed to allow the filmmaker to take photos of her young daughter—he said it was for the French edition of Vogue.

via Top 10 Revelations from the New Roman Polanski Book | TIME.com.

Judge rules in Armstrong’s favor on suit over books – VeloNews.com

 

Judge rules in Armstrong’s favor on suit over books – VeloNews.com.

A federal judge sided with Lance Armstrong on Tuesday, ruling that the accounts in his books, even though some of their elements were later revealed as untrue, were protected as free speech and did not amount to false advertising or fraud.

Some readers of the books It’s Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts had filed a suit in Sacramento federal court asking for more than $5 million, claiming they were fooled by the books, presented as inspirational, true accounts. The books, they said, should have been labeled as fictitious accounts.

Chief Judge Morrison England, Jr. begged to differ, ruling that the books were protected speech.

What We Really Know about J.D. Salinger – The Daily Beast

What We Really Know about J.D. Salinger – The Daily Beast.

Forget the so called revelations about his war experience, his letters to young women, or his testicles, and go back to the Glass family stories. There, says Andrew Romano, is all we ever need to know and understand about Salinger. That’s as close as we’ll ever get—and we should be satisfied with that.

Rowling’s law firm admits to ‘Cuckoo’s Calling’ authorship leak – UPI.com

Rowling’s law firm admits to ‘Cuckoo’s Calling’ authorship leak – UPI.com. LONDON, July 19 (UPI) — British author J.K. Rowling says she is “angry” the law firm that represents her inadvertently leaked to the media the fact she wrote a book under a pen name.

The detective novel “The Cuckoo’s Calling” had been attributed to Robert Galbraith, however, Rowling confirmed this week a report saying she was its true scribe.

“A tiny number of people knew my pseudonym and it has not been pleasant to wonder for days how a woman whom I had never heard of prior to Sunday night could have found out something that many of my oldest friends did not know,” Rowling said in a statement issued through her publicist Thursday to People.com. “I had assumed that I could expect total confidentiality from Russells, a reputable professional firm and I feel very angry that my trust turned out to be misplaced.”

J. K. Rowling’s Hardboiled Hoax – The Daily Beast

J. K. Rowling’s Hardboiled Hoax – The Daily Beast.

It must have been fun while it lasted, but now J.K. Rowling is back to square one. In a new statement on her website, she comes clean as the perpetrator of one of the best literary hoaxes in recent memory: in April, in collusion with her English editor, she published a detective story titled The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. The novel was enthusiastically endorsed by such high-profile crime writers as Val McDermid, even though they had no idea who the real author was. It also got excellent reviews. Then last weekend the Sunday Times broke the story of her authorship, and Rowling quickly fessed up.