Senator Ted Kennedy died at his home in Hyannis Port last night after a battle with brain cancer. He was 77 years old. “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” his family said in a statement. Kennedy’s memoir True Compass, co-written with Ron Powers, will be published by Twelve on September 14, with a limited, leather-bound edition to come later in the month. “We are deeply saddened by today’s news,” Twelve publisher Jonathan Karp said in a […]
Authors
Book Tour Experimentation: Margaret Atwood's Road Show, Twitter Book Tours
Margaret Atwood may have promoted previous books remotely via the LongPen, but for her upcoming novel THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD she’ll be a little more ever-present. The Toronto Star reports Atwood will tour the U.S., Europe and Canada “using a live performance with original music, local actors and the author herself as narrator.” Toronto Star Atwood is also starting a tour blog and using Twitter, as is Joseph Finder, who launches a Twitter Book Tour today for his new thriller VANISHED, running for the next three days. Finder website And Simon & Schuster’s worldwide publication of Philippa Gregory’s THE […]
Summer Reading Picks from Michelle Obama, Stephenie Meyer
O Magazine collates a list of books Michelle Obama has mentioned reading: The Life of Pi by Yann MartelAlexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss Olivia by Ian Falconer Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak While Stephenie Meyer shares her summer reading list: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and Dreamhunter & Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox (a ” really wonderful” two-book series “like nothing else I’ve ever read”)
Doubleday Calls Plagiarism Charges By Early Facebook Participant Against Mezrich "Mystifying"
Aaron Greenspan dispatched a letter to Ben Mezrich’s publishers asserting approximately 25 alleged similarities between Mezrich’s new book THE ACCIDENTAL BILLIONAIRES and Greenspan’s self-published AUTHORITAS: One Student’s Harvard Admissions and the Founding of the Facebook Era. Greenspan says “he may seek a court injunction,” but at the least he wants attention–“not only to what he called copyright infringement, but also to what Greenspan says is mischaracterization and embellishment of the story behind the founding of Facebook,” the Boston Globe writes. Doubleday says in a statement, “Greenspan’s chief complaint seems to be that Ben Mezrich does not endorse his view that […]
Obscure Teen Author Says She'll Sue Meyer for Plagiarism In Breaking Dawn
California attorney J. Craig Williams says he will file a copyright infringement suit on behalf of his client Jordan Scott against Hachette Book Group and Stephenie Meyer, alleging that her bestselling BREAKING DAWN copies from Scott’s 2006 book THE NOCTURNE. Williams sent HBG a “cease and desist” letter on July 13 that just happened to land on TMZ.com. In the letter, which says it is responding correspondence from HBG general counsel Carol Fein Ross from last December, asks the publisher to “compensate my client for her damages.” Yes Williams “said Scott does not plan to seek monetary damages,” to the […]
People: McMurtry's Novel Might Be His Last; Sharma-Jensen Takes Buyout; Blessing Joins Inkwell
Larry McMurtry, 73, tells the Dallas Morning News in advance of the release of his new novel RHINO RANCH later this month: “I don’t think I can write fiction any more. I think I’ve used it up over 30 novels. That’s a lot of novels.” He adds, “Most great novels are written by people between 40 and 60, or 35 and 60,” he says. “Not too many great novels are written by people over 75. Hardly any. Maybe Tolstoy.”DMN Another longtime newspaper books editor (and also NBCC board member) Geeta Sharma-Jensen at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is taking a buyout and […]