Entertainment Sep 23, 2013

Harper Lee tries to stop museum over use of title

“To Kill a Mockingbird” author Harper Lee is at odds with a museum in her Alabama hometown over use of the words in the title of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Lee is seeking a trademark for the words when they are used on clothing. ...

National Sep 21, 2013

Museum honoring Japan scholar Keene to open doors

A new museum built in honor of Donald Keene, a prominent U.S.-born scholar of Japanese literature, was opened to reporters Friday in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, prior to its public unveiling Saturday. At a news conference at the Donald Keene Center Kashiwazaki, Keene, 91, said: ...

Entertainment Sep 19, 2013

Man Booker Prize admits American literary works in global expansion

Britain’s Man Booker Prize announced on Wednesday that it was expanding to cover all novels written in the English language, meaning American authors will be eligible for the first time. The £50,000 ($80,000) Booker prize has until now been awarded annually for the best ...

Science & Health Sep 6, 2013

Big asteroid named after Chilean cult filmmaker

Paris AFP-JIJI A large asteroid has been named after Alejandro Jodorowsky, the cult Franco-Chilean filmmaker and science-fiction comic book writer who later became a spiritual guru. The Minor Planets Center, a branch of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), has listed asteroid 261690 Jodorowsky at ...

Entertainment Sep 4, 2013

Acclaimed sci-fi author Frederik Pohl dies at 93

Frederik Pohl, who helped shape and popularize science fiction as an influential agent, editor and award-winning author, died Sept. 2 at a hospital near his home in Palatine, Illinois. He was 93. His death was confirmed by a granddaughter, author Emily Pohl-Weary. An entry ...

World Aug 31, 2013

Irish poet, 'Beowulf' translator Seamus Heaney dies

Seamus Heaney, the Irish poet whose verse captured the transcendent power, darkness and humanity of his conflicted homeland, died Friday at a hospital in Dublin. He was 74. In accepting the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, Heaney acknowledged another Irish Nobel laureate, William ...

World Aug 24, 2013

Copenhagen's Little Mermaid statue turns 100

Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid statue celebrated her 100th birthday Friday with parties for children as well as grown-ups, illustrating the universal appeal of Hans Christian Andersen’s poignant fairy tale. Perched on a rock in the water just off the star-shaped Kastellet fortress near the city’s ...

Entertainment Aug 21, 2013

Influential crime novelist Leonard dies at 87

Elmore Leonard, a masterful crime novelist whose razor-sharp dialogue and indelibly realized lowlifes earned him an unusual mix of mass-market appeal and highbrow acclaim, dies at his home in Michigan.

World Jun 11, 2013

Banks, literary master of dark humor, dies

Scottish author Iain Banks, best known for his novels “The Wasp Factory” and “The Crow Road,” has died at age 59, two months after revealing that he had terminal cancer, his publisher said. Banks died less than a fortnight before the scheduled publication of ...

World Apr 24, 2013

E.L. Konigsburg, author of 'From the Mixed-up Files,' dies

E.L. Konigsburg, the author of “From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler” and other classics of children’s literature that have provided escape and companionship to generations of young readers, died Friday at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia. She was 83. ...

National Apr 10, 2013

Cultural institute chief hopes to introduce Italy to Japan

by Tetsuro Koyama

Giorgio Amitrano, 55, the new director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo, is an eminent Italian scholar of Japanese literature who has translated a number of popular Japanese works, including Banana Yoshimoto’s “Kitchen.” ” ‘Kitchen’ became a best-selling book in Italy, selling around ...