“He’s courted controversy for more than a decade with his bestselling tales of underage sex and teenage heroin addicts, but Melvin Burgess has finally found a story too controversial for his publishers to handle: his own. The Carnegie medal-winning author, whose new novel, Nicholas Dane, tackles the subject of sexual abuse in children’s homes, has found a recently-completed teenage memoir dropped by his publisher over fears that it could provoke costly legal action.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Typist Recalls His Try At A Comeback
“All these years later, Frances Kroll Ring can still see it, the afternoon she filled out an application at Rusty’s Employment Agency on Hollywood Boulevard and drove to Encino to meet a writer who was looking for a secretary.” The writer was F. Scott Fitzgerald, and he needed her help in the last 20 months of his life as he worked on his Hollywood epic, “The Love of the Last Tycoon.”
L.A. Recession Casualties: Eight Major Museum Shows
“As the recession continues to inflict damage in the well-appointed halls of the museum world, one of the most noteworthy side effects — on top of layoffs, ticket hikes and reduced hours of operation — is the cancellation and postponement of major exhibitions. In Los Angeles, some of the biggest (and richest) museums have had to take an ax to their upcoming schedules in an effort to save money as their funding and endowments continue to shrink.”
Surprise! Perennially Awful Tony Ratings Rise 17 Percent.
“In a time of lowered ratings nearly everywhere else, Sunday’s 63rd Annual Tony Awards — capped by 10 wins for the Elton John musical ‘Billy Elliot’ — actually delivered improved numbers. An average of 7.4 million total viewers tuned in to the three-hour Tony telecast, up 17% compared with last year and the best figure since 2006, according to early data from Nielsen Media Research.”
Orwell Swiped Plot Of 1984 — From A Book He’d Reviewed
“Orwell’s novel is consistently acclaimed as one of the finest of the last 100 years … and it remains a consistent bestseller. Should it alter our respect for it that Orwell borrowed much of his plot, the outlines of three of his central figures, and the progress of the book’s dramatic arc from an earlier work?”
Renoir, Stolen In 1984, Seized By Police Near Venice
“Police in Venice have recovered a canvas by the celebrated French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir that was stolen 25 years ago in Rome. A police spokesman told AFP on Wednesday that a resident of Treviso city, north of Venice, had doubts about the origin of the painting after consulting a list of stolen artworks.”
A Dozen Philadelphia Artists Awarded Pew Fellowships
Twelve Philadelphia-area artists have won $60,000 Pew Fellowships in the Arts, “the largest unrestricted grants of their kind for which artists may apply. Pew received nearly 400 applications for this year’s awards in media arts, works on paper, and fiction and creative nonfiction.”
Canadian, American Poets Win $50,000 Griffin Prize
“A Rhode Island academic described as ‘America’s most original daring and scary poet’ won the 2009 Griffin Prize for international poetry at a ceremony in Toronto Wednesday night.” C.D. Wright snagged the award for her “Rising, Falling, Hovering.” “Toronto poet A.F. Moritz won the prize awarded annually to a Canadian poet for his work The Sentinel.”
Foundations Adjust Giving To Help Better In Hard Times
“Some foundations have decided to increase the amount they dispense each year, even though that may trigger a higher excise tax. Others are allocating their grants to support nonprofit groups’ operating costs, when they have traditionally supported only program expenses.” A significant minority, including the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, are renegotiating grant agreements.
How The Venice Biennale Is Like Kafka International Airport
“There’s a very funny video ‘news clip’ online produced by the folks at The Onion, called ‘Prague’s Kafka International Named Most Alienating Airport’. In the report, travelers describe an airport where corridors lead nowhere, shuttle trains deposit people back where they started and gate B2 can be found in the F terminal. This is a little what trying to get your press pass feels like at the Venice Biennale.”