“Hortense Calisher, the novelist and short-story writer whose unpredictable turns of phrase, intellectually challenging fictional situations and complex plots captivated and puzzled readers for a half-century, died on Tuesday in Manhattan.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Madoff Kosher Cookbook Wasn’t What It Seemed, Either
“Karen MacNeil, a food and wine expert who was given the title of editor of the project, beneath the two executive editors — Mrs. Madoff and her friend Idee Schoenheimer — disclosed in an interview with The New York Times that she was paid to write the cookbook in its entirety. She said Mrs. Madoff ‘was interested in having her name on something that would allow for some sort of fun.'”
In Australia, New Legal Protection For Aboriginal Artists
“Australia has launched a draft code regulating the sale of Aboriginal art, worth as much as A$500 million ($330 million) per year. It aims to outlaw so-called carpetbagging, when dealers exploit artists and buy their work cheaply for alcohol or drugs.”
Triumphant Slumdog Millionaire Faces Hurdles In India
“The film won every award for which it was nominated at last night’s Golden Globes – best film, best director, best adapted screenplay and best original score. The clean sweep confirmed it as this year’s Oscar front-runner. But its biggest challenge might just be reaching Indian audiences. Slumdog is due to be released in India on Jan 23, but has yet to make it past the country’s notoriously prickly censors.”
Prado Paintings In Stunning Close-Up On Google Earth
“Armchair tourists who are used to travelling the globe with Google Earth can now use the same technology to crawl all over the masterpieces in one of the world’s most famous galleries: the Prado. The Madrid museum and the internet search giant today unveil the first use of Google’s mapping programme to allow art lovers to get so close to their favourite paintings that even the brush strokes are visible.” Fourteen paintings, including “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” are on view.
Artists: Art Schools Unfairly Raise Students’ Expectations
“Art colleges are behaving irresponsibly, [some artists] say, by raising students’ expectations that they will ‘hit the big time’. This is particularly unfair as the country enters a recession and the art market shrinks, they argue.”
Scottish Artists In An Uproar Over New Funding Body
“[Y]ou can tell things have reached a pretty sticky stage when no fewer than 440 artists band together to protest about what’s going on – or rather, what isn’t – at the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) and Scottish Screen, as they endure an amalgamation process designed to produce a new body called Creative Scotland. The artists’ beef is with the uncertainty, delay and cost of the transition – and with being kept in the dark about it.”
Poet Jen Hadfield Wins TS Eliot Prize
“A relative newcomer to poetry who has been widely praised for her passion and awareness of the natural world has tonight won one of the genre’s grandest awards – the TS Eliot prize for poetry. Shetland-based Jen Hadfield was given a cheque for £15,000 but she will doubtless be just as grateful for the sales and profile boost that winning the prize will bring about.”
Shouts & Murmurs Takes On The Crisis In Memoirs
A letter to Oprah: “I was born in Chicago in 1969. Shortly afterward, in 1941, my entire family was rounded up by the authorities and sent to the Theresienstadt camp, along with tens of thousands of other Jews…. The first few days there, separated from my family, denied even the most basic creature comforts, I was in a state of shock. I could hardly eat or sleep, and, to make matters worse, I had misplaced my cell-phone charger.”
Sarkozy Promises Free Museum Admission To Under-25s
“French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the country’s national museums and monuments will soon stop charging admission to visitors under 25. Sarkozy says the measure will go into effect April 4.”