“Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publisher of authors including Philip Roth, Jonathan Safran Foer, Günter Grass and J. R. R. Tolkien, has temporarily suspended acquisitions of new manuscripts, a company spokesman said Monday.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
Brits To Design Libya’s Museum Of Conflict
“A Museum of Conflict in Libya? Not before time you might say. The London-based Metropolitan Workshop … has won a closed competition to design this very building close to the Hall of the People in Tripoli’s west end.”
What Are You Reading, Mr. President? (It’s An Old Question)
The rush to books about FDR that Barack Obama set off follows a tradition among American presidents. JFK turned Ian Fleming into an overnight best seller, and Bill Clinton changed Walter Mosley’s career.
This Day In Theatre Lighting History
“1816: Gaslight illuminates Philadelphia’s Chestnut Street Theatre. Theater patrons are living in an age of wonders: lights that burn ‘without wick or oil.'”
Dance On TV Is No Danger To Live Performance
“So You Think You Can Dance Canada has to be rated one of the most successful shows ever produced in this country. … Dancers and choreographers struggling to bring audiences into theatres must be a little peeved, or at least a touch envious. But they shouldn’t fume because watching this show, even witnessing a taping of it, has little to compare with the experience of attending a live dance performance.”
Looted Matisse Painting To Be Given To British Charity
“Finally, justice for Henri Matisse’s ‘Le Mur Rose.’ The oil painting, which was stolen from a rich German Jewish family sometime after 1937 and kept by a Nazi officer responsible for delivering poison gas to Auschwitz, is to be given Thursday to a British charity that supports medical rescue in Israel.”
Canada Council: No Logrolling In Poetry Prize
“The Canada Council, which administers the Governor General’s Literary Awards, is standing by the decision of its jury to award this year’s poetry prize to Jacob Scheier in the face of complaints by some critics that the decision is tainted by conflict of interest. Scheier, a 28-year-old Toronto poet living in Brooklyn, N.Y., won for his debut, More to Keep Us Warm. In the acknowledgements, Scheier thanks two of the three jury members….”
Tough Guys Don’t Lay Off Dead Guys: Manso Vs. Mailer
Norman Mailer’s death a year ago is no reason for author and former housemate Peter Manso to drop their feud. “With Mailer snugly in the grave, Manso is firing back. His new afterword to the oral biography ‘Alas, Poor Norman’ is a masterpiece of invective, innuendo, and character assassination. Manso sustains the tension and the tone for a good seven pages. Unfortunately the essay is 44 pages long.”
So You Think You Can Scan? Public To Help Pick Laureate.
“The search to find the next poet laureate has been launched, with the British public to have their say for the first time. The reign of Andrew Motion, the first laureate to be appointed for a fixed 10-year term, runs out next year. The government will seek advice on a replacement from academics, poetry specialists and the public.”
A Rash Of New Arts Venues: Vitality Or Overkill?
“In the space of six months, five new arts venues are opening in and around Leicester, Derby and Nottingham – a £90m splurge, largely lottery-funded, that now seems at odds with these frugal times. To build one looks sensible; to build five looks indulgent. After all, how much art does the country need?”