Colum McCann, Dave Eggers Win Big at 60th Annual National Book Awards
Last night, at a black-tie ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City, the National Book Awards winners were announced for seven different literary categories. Satirist Andy Borowitz, who runs fake news website The Borowitz Report, emceed the event.... read more
Bruce Springsteen's Autobiography Worth as Much as $10 Million
Most 60-something men can barely get their own grandchildren to listen to their stories. But Bruce Springsteen isn’t your average old dude. For his life story, which he’s currently turning into an autobiography, he could get up to $10 million, reports the New York Post’s Keith Kelly.... read more
New Leonard Cohen Biography Coming in December
You know you’ve made it big when there are two official biographies written about you. So congrats, Leonard Cohen, welcome to the big boy’s club. The second Cohen biography, called Hallelujah: A New Biography and to be released on Dec. 1, will chronicle both Cohen’s origins as a singer-songwriter and his recent resurgence as a sort-of indie godfather.... read more
Berenstain Bears Movie on the Way
In Jan and Stan Berenstain’s beloved children-book series, The Berenstain Bears led simple lives. They learned not to be afraid of the dark, eat too much junk food and talk to strangers. But now, years after its PBS television adaptation, their biggest adventure may be heading to the big screen.... read more
Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis Have Written a Children's Book and it's Coming out Sometime
Decemberists lead singer Colin Meloy and his wife Carson Ellis are certainly no strangers to intra-marital artistic alliance—she’s responsible for the art for all of his band’s albums and of his solo CDs, plus most of The Decemberists’ merchandise and a couple of live show backdrops, too. And, according to Ellis’ blog, sometime soon you’ll be able to add a children’s book to their collective CV.... read more
Broken Social Scene Member Releases Children's Book, Learn to Speak Music
While Rockabye Baby aims to develop a child’s taste for music, Broken Social Scene’s John Crossingham wants to teach them precisely what to do with it.... read more
R. Crumb Illustrates the Bible
Interpretations of the Bible come in every medium—from art to music to film, and are made for any variety of audiences, from blood and guts readings to those of the more family-friendly variety. But this new one, well, this one’s got us thinking…... read more
Finalists for 2009 National Book Awards are Announced
The 60th annual National Book Award Finalists have been announced for 2009. The prize is awarded to one work out of five nominees in each of four genres (fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people’s literature). This year, 193 publishers submitted a total of 1,129 books for consideration.... read more
Tennessee Williams Festival Kicks Off in Mississippi Today
Festival attractions include porch plays, panel discussions and a "Stella" shouting contest... read more
A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh Book Sees Sequel After Eight Decades
Before Winnie the Pooh was produced as an icon in a plethora of Disney movies, cartoons and colorful picture books, he was drawn in the illustrations of E.H. Shepard as a rather English, rural and naked bear who lived in the Hundred Acre Wood, the setting of the children's tales penned by A.A. Milne in his 1928 book, The House at Pooh Corner.... read more
Writer Walker Lamond is Ready to Share Rules for My Unborn Son
As the past few years have taught us, there's serious money to be made in turning a much-hyped blog into a book (see: Stuff White People Like). Or, you know, at least a shot at converting internet fame into real-life notoriety. And writer/documentarian/renaissance man Walker Lamond aims to do just that by cribbing the choicest morsels from his Rules for My Unborn Son blog and compiling them into a book bearing the same name, due out Oct. 27.... read more
Neil Gaiman Crowdsourcing a Short Story Via Twitter
Coraline author Neil Gaiman wants to make a writer out of you.... read more
Andy Kaufman's Wrestling Career Put to the Printed Page in Dear Andy Kaufman, I Hate Your Guts!
In 1979, Andy Kaufman issued a direct challenge to the women of America. Kaufman was a longtime follower of the ridiculous machismo and overblown personas of professional wrestlers, and began to wrestle women as part of his stage act, declaring himself the "inter-gender wrestling champion of the world." The perennial oddball offered a $1,000 prize to any woman who could pin him in a grappling match, with the added guarantee that he would shave his head and also marry the woman who could beat him.... read more
Authorized, Illustrated Stooges Book Hits Shelves
The music of The Stooges has long inspired fans to engage in many a destructive act: throw a fit, break things, crush beer cans, send your pretty face to hell. You know, general rock 'n' rollisms. But how about sitting down with a book? Iggy and company sure hope so—the band's most comprehensive biography, The Stooges: The Authorized and Illustrated Story, has just hit shelves.... read more
David Byrne, Sarah Silverman, Billy Corgan, More Tap into the Unconscious at Carl Jung Red Book Discussion
When psychoanalyst Carl Jung found himself face-to-face with haunting visions and inner voices, he did not bow down. Instead, he proceeded to document and decipher his battles for 16 years. The end result is his Red Book, and now, more than 25 music, film and cultural personalities are set to debate each of its 205 pages.... read more
Joss Whedon Unveils Astonishing X-Men Motion Comics
To call Joss Whedon a god of nerd-dom probably understates the influence of one of this generation's most beloved writer/directors. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog: Just about everything he's applied his alchemy to has transformed into geek gold. And since he's already penned a comic or two in his time, it's only natural that he would be turning his talents to write a motion comic for Marvel, titled Astonishing X-Men: Gifted.... read more
Backspacer Cover Artist Releasing a Children's Book
Liberally-minded readers of alt-weeklies have probably seen the work of Tom Tomorrow, the nom-de-plume of political cartoonist Dan Perkins. Perkins pens This Modern World, a series that riffs on ripped-from-the-headlines topics, usually offering laughs and insight in the same serving.... read more
Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard Announce Kerouac Live Dates
Jay Farrar and Benjamin Gibbard have lately been devoting their artistry to converting Jack Kerouac's spirited prose into song and verse, a collaboration album known as One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur. To support their project, which is slated for an Oct. 20 debut, they'll be hosting a special series of four concerts around the U.S. where they'll perform songs from the record along with other surprise material.... read more
Race Heats Up for Booker Prize as J.M. Coetzee Vies for Third Award
The shortlist for the prestigious Man Booker literary prize is now down to six authors. And several of them are Booker Prize royalty, including J.M. Coetzee, who has won the award twice before and A.S. Byatt who has won once.... read more
Led Zeppelin and Coffee Table Picture Book: A Match Made in Valhalla
They say that writing about music is a lot like dancing about architecture. They also say a picture is worth a thousand words. Harnessing the almighty power of those little gems, Jerry Prochnicky and Ralph Hulett will release Led Zeppelin: Good Times, Bad Times, A Visual Biography of the Ultimate Band.... read more
Top 10 Best Debut Novels of the…
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
The 50 Best Movies of the Decade…
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
