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Kurt Vonnegut, one of the best selling satirical novelists died after suffering brain injuries due to a fall at his Manhattan house some weeks ago. Kurt as an author was basically a social critic and he enjoyed his role. He had authored almost nineteen novels and a lot of short stories, plays and essays. He described himself as a religious skeptic and freethinking humanist. His novels carried his point of views through his protagonists. He is known for his satirical commentary in his novels.

However, Kurt’s life had not been easy despite his commercial success. He battled depression most of his life. In 1984 he attempted suicide. Vonnegut was born on Nov. 11, 1922, in Indianapolis and studied chemistry at Cornell University before joining the Army. His mother killed herself just before he left for Germany during World War Two. He was taken a prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge. He was held in Dresden, where he witnessed the bombing and its aftermaths. The bombing reduced the city to ashes. Vonnegut was one of just seven prisoners of war in Dresden to survive. He survived the bombing in an underground meatpacking cellar known as Slaughterhouse Five. This experience of his forms the core of one of his best and highly acclaimed work Slaughterhouse-Five. War and destruction remains the theme of most of his novels. Slaughterhouse-Five was also turned into a movie in 1972.

He wrote his first novel, “Player Piano,” in 1951 which was followed by “The Sirens of Titan,” “Canary in a Cat House” and “Mother Night’. His stories were first termed as bizarre by critics. But his novels, especially “Cat’s Cradle” in 1963, were on the way to become classics. However, his novels also faced charges and bans for suspected obscenity. Vonnegut was also the honorary president of The American Humanist Association. From the last few years he took to short articles instead of novels. His collection of non fiction, “A Man Without a Country,” in 2005 was a best seller. Vonnegut was working as a senior editor and columnist at “In These Times’ from some years. Vonnegut is survived by his sister’s three young children, whom he adopted after she died, three children from his first wife, Ann Cox, and an adopted daughter, Lily, with his second wife, the noted photographer Jill Krementz.

Source: CBC and Chron

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The PEN/Borders Literary Service Award is out with the name of their first winner and its no other than the legendary American author Gore Vidal. In a statement, Borders Group CEO George Jones said, ‘a truly distinguished American writer whose critically acclaimed work helps us to understand the human condition in original and powerful ways. The breadth and depth of Gore Vidal’s brilliant work, his courage in speaking out, even at times when free speech has been at risk in our country, and his lifelong commitment to democracy, justice, reason, and common sense make him the ideal recipient of the inaugural PEN/Borders Literary Service Award.’

Vidal, now 81 has authored a number of novels, stage plays, screenplays, and essays. He is well known for his bitter criticism of American politics. His novels such as Burr, Lincoln and Myra Breckenridge highly acclaimed. His novel, The City and the Pillar, created a good deal of controversy as it was the first novel to feature clear cut homosexuality. Being from a political family background, Vidal takes genuine interest in politics. His literature also reflects the same. Vidal has even acted in some movies and usually returns to scriptwriting. Multi-talented is the word I have for this genius.

Source: USAtoday

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Cartoonist Johnny Hart, whose award-winning “B.C.” comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, died Saturday while working at his home in Endicott. He was 76.

“He had a stroke,” Hart’s wife, Bobby, said Sunday. “He died at his storyboard.”

Cartoonist Johnny Hart has died at the age of 76 due to a stroke. His B.C. comic strip appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide and won him many awards. Hart is survived by his wife, Bobby and two daughters, Patti and Perri.

B.C. was launched in 1958. According to the Creators Syndicate Inc., it had a wide readership of 100 million people. Hart graduated from Union-Endicott High School. He was also one of the creators of Wizard of Id comic strip. Hart also got enlisted in the Air force. He produced cartoons for Pacific Stars and Stripes in his careers initial years. He was discharged from the military in 1954. He sold his first freelance cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post.

Hart won numerous awards, including the National Cartoonist Society’s prestigious Reuben Award twice for Cartoonist of the Year. However, hart was also got involved in controversies. In 2001, a strip published on the occasion of Easter, drew mass protests from Jewish groups. However, the B.C. and Wizard of Id would continue with the help of an extensive computer archive of Hart’s drawings.

Source: USAtoday

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If only Shakespeare would wake up and show the way. The literary world, it seems, is in a tizzy, trying to find out the Bard’s real works amidst all the versions floating around. Now, the latest revision of Shakespeare’s editions - the elaborately-named ‘RSC Shakespeare Complete Works’ claims that there are significant changes made to Shakespeare’s actors as well as major themes of his plays.

Among the more interesting changes in the ‘Works,’ is the premise that Lady Macbeth, for so long reviled in the literary world, may not be so vindictive, after all. According to The Peninsula, Lady Macbeth loses her title in the new edition, and is simply known as the wife of Macbeth. Readers might well wonder at the confusion. Surely, isn’t there one text that could solve Shakespeare’s mysteries once and for all? Sadly, there isn’t. Most of the recent editions to the Bard’s plays stake their claim from two versions - known in literature as the Quarto and the Folio. The Quarto, it is believed, is not so reliable, consisting as it did of a number of pirated versions of Shakespeare’s works.

The new Works claims that they use Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623, which is the version that was used by the famed writer’s actors: John Hemings and Henry Condell. Newer interpretations in the Works present a more brutalized and harsher tone in ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ and old King Lear was not worried about the loss of his kingdom but his own old age. Othello, often portrayed as a narcissist, is shown to have a more tender side when he expresses horror at killing his wife. In the end, with this new edition Shakespeare scholars will find that they might have to reconsider centuries-old theories and theses on the writer’s greatest works.

Via: The Peninsula, Playfuls

The renowned crime novelist Michael Dibdin passed away last Friday after a short illness. Michael was 60. Dibdin was best known, for his series of novel set in Italy. They featured a jaundiced detective, Aurelio Zen. Born on March 21, 1947, in Wolver Hampton, he read at Sussex University. Then he moved to Canada, where he studied MA at the University of Alberta. He is survived by his wife, novelist KK (Kathrine Kristine) Beck, two daughters from his first two marriages, and three stepchildren.

Dibdin was a passionate crime writer. His first novel was a parody of the Sherlock Holmes stories but the Zen series of his gave him a real kickstart as a crime writer. His books have been translated into many languages across the globe. Dibdin also bagged many awards for his work like the Gold Dagger crime novel of the year award, in 1988, for Ratking. He was also awarded the French Grand Prix du Roman Policier, for Cabal, third of the series of novels starring the Venetian sleuth. The final novel, in the same series will be published posthumously. Dibdin was also a regular reviewer for the Independent and the Guardian. He also edited two collections of crime fiction in the 1990s.

Source: Guardian

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With the final nine episodes only days away, the sopranos is in everybody’s mind. Nevertheless, why to waste your time, thinking over, how the drama will end. Until then, take to reading and that too, the Sopranos. Yes! The official book of the best mob TV series ever created is out. The sopranos; the book is available for $22. The book will help you quench your thirst for more information on the sopranos. The book includes original interviews of the main actors, more then 200 images, access to the set, behind the making, behind the scene story, and a complete episode guide and food glossary too. The book actually reveals the character development of the characters in Tony’s two families over the six seasons of the show. A must have in the library of all the Sopranos fans!

Source: Uncrate

At the Galaxy British Book Awards, held on Saturday in London, the top three positions were bagged by ‘The Interpretation of Murder’ by Jed Rubenfeld , A.M. Homes’s ‘This Book Will Save Your Life’ and Lansens’s ‘The Girls’.

The Interpretation of Murder, which came out as the winner is about a fictional murder involving Sigmund Freud on his visit to America. A.M. Homes’s novel grabbed the vote for second best read. The book is about the improbable chain of events that follows a man’s decision to become altruistic. Lansens’s The Girls was also one of the eight books that were featured on the popular book club show; The Richard & Judy Show.

Source: CBC

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Literary awards are nothing new for Philip Roth, but the latest in his bag is extremely special. Yes, he has been honored with the first ever PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction, a $40,000 prize. The prize is named after the late Nobel laureate, Saul Bellow, who was also one of Roth’s closest friends.

The 74-year-old Roth is well known for novels such as Portnoy’s Complaint and American Pastoral. He has also won the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle prize. He recently became the first three-time winner of the PEN/Faulkner prize, chosen for Everyman.

The new PEN award, established with collaboration from the Bellow estate, will be given every two years. It is made possible by a grant from the author and philanthropist Evelyn Stefansson Nef.“The initial selection of Philip Roth sets a very high standard and bodes well for the establishment of this prize as one of the pre-eminent awards of American literature,” Ron Chernow, historian and recent PEN American president said in a statement. Bellow’s widow, Janis Bellow, who was also one of this year’s judges and said in a statement, “My husband would have been greatly pleased to learn that Philip Roth is the recipient of the first Saul Bellow Award. I am, of course, delighted that PEN has seen fit to honor my husband by establishing this prize.”

Source: USAtoday

Image Credit: Amazon

The final chapter ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ is soon to be out on July 21. The chapter’s cover is designed by illustrator Mary GrandPre, U.S. publisher Scholastic, Inc.

The cover shows a lot about the final story, with picture depicting an exaggerated gold and orange sky and a teenage boy in glasses reaching towards sky.
According to Scholastic’s art director
David Saylor:

The structures around Harry show evident destruction and in the shadows behind him, we see outlines of other people. For the first time, the cover is a wraparound. On the back cover spidery hands are outstretched toward Harry. Only when the book is opened does one see a powerful image of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, his glowing red eyes peering out from his hood.

Deathly Hallows has a proclaimed first printing of 12 million in the United States alone as for worldwide J.K. Rowling’s fantasy series has sold more than 325 million copies. I am sure this final cope will be a super sale.

Via: Yahoo!