Another Award for Oprah

This year’s PEN/Faulkner Literary Champion is Oprah Winfrey. Board Vice President Mary Haft speaks of Winfrey in glowing words: “Oprah Winfrey is a literary force field. She has been like a lighthouse standing sentry and shining a beacon of light onto literature and into the lives of writers and readers.” The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is an independent non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting writing. It supports

Thornton Wilder

This post is a tribute to Thornton Wilder. April 17 was his birthday. He would have been 125 years old. Wilder was the only person to win a Pulitzer Prize for both literature and drama. He recieved the Pulitzer for his novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1927) and the plays Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942). Do you remember

Just in from Linda Malcolm

I recently received an e-mail from Linda Malcolm telling me about a Mt. Pleasant author, Lindy Carter, whose new book The Rice Birds was published by Evening Post Books In Charleston. Below is a description of the book from the publisher: In 1849, twin sisters fleeing Ireland’s famine arrive at New York’s seaport. Only Nora is allowed to get on the boat to South Carolina

Spoiler Alert

Did you ever really love a book and want to read every book by that same author? What about the Nancy Drew series? I can’t imagine how many young girls were turned on to reading because of Nancy Drew. Notice the author’s name is Carolyn Keene. Well, that was NOT the real author of the Nancy Drew Books. In fact, there was no Carolyn Keene.

Parton and Patterson

This cover image released by Butterfly Records shows “Run Rose Run” by Dolly Parton. The iconic singer also has a book co-authored by James Patterson releasing this week with the same title. (Butterfly Records via AP)Stacie Huckeba/AP Yes, as unlikely as it may seem, Dolly Parton and James Patterson have co-authored a book!! An article in the Parade magazine, Sunday, March 6, 2022, focused on

Just in from Peg Michel

SAVE THE DATE FOR THE CHARLESTON LITERARY FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 4 – 13, 2022 SOUTH CAROLINA, USAWATCH ALL RECORDED CHARLESTON LITERARY FESTIVAL 2021 SESSIONS 22 sessions from Charleston Literary Festival 2021 are now available to watch online and they are free to view! WATCH NOWWhat does it take to write a Booker-nominated novel? Watch three of the four US nominees for the 2021 Booker Prize – Maggie Shipstead, Patricia Lockwood and Nathan Harris – in

Goodnight Moon

An article in The New Yorker, written by Anna Holmes and dated January 31, 2022, discussed Margaret Wise Brown, the author of a beloved children’s book Goodnight Moon. I read the article with great interest because, of course, I remember reading Goodnight Moon to my children and grandchildren. Many a child memorized the book and many a parent almost went to sleep themselves while reading

Special Podcast TONIGHT

Late notice about an important event for those interested in Marie Benedict, author of The Personal Librarian . Benedict will discuss her new book Her Hidden Genius, which tells the story of Rosalind Franklin, the British scientist who discovered the double helix DNA structure. Guess what? Two men took credit for her work in order to win the Nobel Prize!! To listen to the podcast,

Words Matter

I know you have heard the phrase ‘words matter.’ And yes, indeed, they do. Words can harm or charm, encourage or outrage, inspire or deflate. OK, enought of that!! Some words are simply overused, misused or useless, and the folks at Lake Superior State University have, since 1976, vented about the most tiresome examples of such. Each year they publish a list for The Banished