2009 Locus Award Winners

Winners are:
Science Fiction Novel: Anathem by Neal Stephenson
Fantasy Novel: Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
First Novel: Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko
Young Adult Book: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Novella: Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link
Novelette: Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi
Short Story: Exhalation by Ted Chiang
Anthology: The Year's Best Science Fiction ed. by Gardner Dozois
Collection: Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi
Non Fiction/Art Book: Coraline: The Graphic Novel, Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell

Chicago Author Patrick Somerville's Debut Novel

Patrick Somerville, who teaches literature and creative writing at Northwestern University, recently published his first novel, The Cradle. The Chicago Public Library has named him the winner of the 21st Century Award, and the novel has been optioned for film rights. Somerville also has published a volume of short stories, Trouble, in 2006. In a recent interview with Mary Houlihan of the Chicago Sun Times, Somerville said "I'm definitely of a school of writers that believes imagination can take you to a lot of places. Fiction is a way to explore questions about life, a workshop to think through the issues ahead of time."

"Our Histories, Our Stories" Program at the Harold Washington Library Center 6/29/2009

The program "Our Histories, Our Stories" with Henry Louis Gates Jr. in conversation with Rick Kogan will be held on Monday, June 29 at the Harold Washington Library Center from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Aphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director at the W.E.B. Dubois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University. His most recent book is Lincoln on Race and Slavery. Rick Kogan is the host of WGN's Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan and a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Kogan is the author of several books, including Sidewalks: Portraits of Chicago. The program is sponsored by the Illinois Humanities Council and the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. For more information, call 312-747-4050.

Masterpiece Mystery Presents 6 Agatha Christie Mysteries

Masterpiece Mystery! presents 6 Agatha Christie mysteries this summer. David Suchet is Christie's Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot. Julia McKenzie is Christie's Miss Marple. The schedule:
June 21, 2009: Cat Among the Pigeons (Hercule Poirot).
June 28, 2009: Mrs. McGinty's Dead (Hercule Poirot).
July 05, 2009: A Pocket Full of Rye (Miss Marple).
July 12, 2009: Murder is Easy (Miss Marple).
July 19, 2009: They Do It With Mirrors (Miss Marple).
July 26, 2009: Why Didn't They Ask Evens? (Miss Marple).

U. S. Author David Eddings Dead

Eddings was the author of more than 25 books, many of them written with his wife Leigh Eddings, who died in 2007. He started writing fantasy after he noticed a copy of The Lord of the Rings in a bookshop, and saw that it was in its 73rd printing. The Eddings' work includes The Belgariad series (5 books, 1982-1984) and The Malloreon series (5 books, 1987-1991), with three related books in the 1990s; The Elenium and The Tamuli (two trilogies, 1989-1994); and The Dreamers series (4 books, 2003-2006) He never using a typewriter or computer, writing out his novels in long-hand.
Although Eddings was a fantasy writer, he once admitted “I don’t read in the field. I can’t. I have an unconscious burglar living in my mind: If I read something, it’s mine. I can read Middle English stories, Geoffrey Chaucer or Sir Thomas Malory, but once I start moving in the direction of contemporary fantasy, my mind begins to take over.”
Fantasy author Stephen Hunt eulogized Eddings on his blog: "I was in my early teens when I discovered (Edddings') books, and they opened my eyes to the fact that not all fantasy had to be the 'Ye Olde Speake' variety favoured by Tolkien – they were fantasy, but they carried a modern feel to the dialogue and characterisation, while still being firmly placed in a deeply believable fantasy world.... David is one of the reasons I became a writer, so I guess you can partially blame my Jackelian series on him. He's probably pottering around Garion's farm right now with a smile on his face, wondering what all the fuss is about. Goodbye David, you will be missed."

Orange Prizes

Home by Marilynne Robinson was the judges' unanimous choice for this year's Orange Prize for best novel written by a woman. The shortlist included Samantha Hunt's The Invention of Everything Else, Samantha Harvey's The Wilderness, Deirdre Madden's Molly Fox's Birthday, Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows and Ellen Feldman's Scottsboro. Francesca Kay won the Orange Award for New Writers for her novel An Equal Stillness.
The Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction is one of the Great Britain's most prestigious literary prizes, awarded annually for the best original full-length novel by a female author of any nationality. The winner receives a cash prize and a bronze sculpture "Bessie" created by artist Grizel Niven. Past winners include: Carol Shields, Ann Patchett, Lionel Shriver, and Zadie Smith.

Alice Munro Wins Booker International Prize

Canadian short story writer Alice Munro has won the third Booker International Prize. The prize is awarded every two years for an entire body of work and is open to writers from around the world. The first International Prize was awarded to Albanian writer Ismail Kadare in 2005. Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe won it in 2007. Munro has a new collection of stories, Too Much Happiness, coming out in November.

Northwestern Graduate Henriquez's Debut Novel

Cristina Henriquez's novel The World in Half reflects her life as the American-born child of Panamanians. The novel is set in Panama City and Hyde Park. The main character is a young student who abandons her studies at the University of Chicago to search for the Panamanian father who left her pregnant mother years before. Both the author and her character question where they belong. Henriquez has felt connected to both Panama and the United States, appreciating the cultures and customs of both countries. Holding a dual citizenship, Henriquez navigates comfortably in the 2 worlds. Henriquez wrote most of the novel at her Hinsdale home and the local library.

Lincoln Biographer Donald Dead

David Herbert Donald, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of the Civil War and American South, died this past Sunday. A professor emeritus at Harvard University, Donald won Pulitzers for biographies of abolitionist Charles Sumner and novelist Thomas Wolfe. His latest book is Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War. He was best known for his books on Lincoln. An award was named after him, the David Herbert Donald Prize for “excellence in Lincoln studies.”

Dan Brown's Angels and Demons Film

Angels & Demons, based on the novel by Dan Brown opens this Friday, May 15. The story takes place before the events recorded in his best selling novel Da Vinci Code. Ron Howard directs this story of a Harvard symbologist (Tom Hanks) who must stop a secret society's attack on the Vatican. The film runs 138 minutes and is rated PG-13.

Public Enemies Film Based on Burrough's Book of Same Name

Bryon Burrough's book Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 is the basis of Johnny Depp's upcoming film Public Enemies. The film was shot in Chicago and will open on the July 4th weekend. Depp plays the infamous gangster John Dillinger. Burrough, an extra in the film, goes to Depp's (Dillinger's)side after he has been shot. Depp (Dillinger)falls on the same slab of Chicago where Dillinger was shot 75 years ago.

Pen/Beard Awards

Cormac McCarthy has won the $25,000 PEN/Saul Bellow Award for lifetime achievement in American fiction. The PEN American Center also named Steve Coll the recipient of a nonfiction award for his book, The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century; and awarded citations to Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, Ha Jin and 18 other authors for excellence in short fiction.
The James Beard Foundation named Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes by Jennifer McLagan as cookbook of the year.

2009 Edgar Awards

The Mystery Writers of America named C. J. Box's Blue Heaven the best novel of 2009. Other 2009 Edgar winners:
Best First Novel: The Foreigner by Francie Lin
Best Paperback Original: China Lake by Meg Gardiner
Best Fact Crime: American Lightning: Terror, Mystery and the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum
Best Critical/Biographical: Edgar Allan Poe: An Illustrated Companion to his Tell-Tale Stories by Dr. Harry Lee Poe
Best Short Story: "Skinhead Central," Mystery Writers of America Presents: The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker
Best Juvenile: The Postcard by Tony Abbott
Best Young Adult: Paper Towns by John Green
Best Play: The Ballad of Emmett Till by Ifa Bayeza
Best Television Episode Teleplay: Prayer of the Bone, Wire in the Blood, Teleplay by Patrick Harbinson
Best Motion Picture Screen Play: In Bruges, Screenplay by Martin McDonagh
Robert L. Fish Memorial Award: "Buckner's Error," Queens Noir by Joseph Guglielmelli
Raven Awards: Edgar Allan Poe Society, Baltimore, Md., and Poe House, Baltimore, Md.
S&S/Mary Higgins Clark Award: The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

2009 Nebula Awards

The winners of the Nebula Awards, sponsored and voted on by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, are:
Best Novel: Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin
Best Novella: The Spacetime Pool by Catherine Asaro
Best Novelette: Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel
Best Short Story: Trophy Wives by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (
Script: WALL-E screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon; original story by Andrew Stanton and Pete Docter

Other awards and their winners:
Andre Norton Award: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) by Ysabeau S. Wilce
SFWA Service Award: Victoria Strauss
Bradbury Award for excellence in screenwriting: Joss Whedon
Grand Master Award: Harry Harrison
Author Emerita: M.J. Engh
A new honor, the Solstice Award, given to speculative fiction writers making a positive impact in the genres of science fiction or fantasy, was awarded to Kate Wilhelm, Martin H. Greenberg and the late Algis Budrys.

2009 Pultizer Prizes

The winners in Letters, Drama, and Music are:
Fiction: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Drama: Ruined by Lynn Nottage
History: The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed
Biography: American Lion by Jon Meacham
Poetry: The Shadow of Sirius by W. S. Merwin
General Nonfiction: Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A. Blackmon
Music: Double Sextet by Steve Reich

Author J.G. Ballard Dies

J. G. Ballard, best known for his autobiographical novel Empire of the Sun, has died. His other works include Crash, High-Rise, and The Crystal World. His writing helped set the adventurous tone for the British science fiction magazine New Worlds. In the 1960s,Ballard and Michael Moorcock, among others, were described as part of a New Wave in science fiction writing. Ballard recently published an autobiography, Miracles of Life.

HarperCollins Plans on Publishing New Works of the Late Michael Crichton

HarperCollins has announced that the late Michael Crichton, best selling author of Jurassic Park and other thrillers, left behind at least one finished novel and about one-third of a second.HarperCollins will release Pirate Latitudes, an adventure story set in Jamaica in the 17th century, on Nov. 24. The company also plans to publish a technological thriller in the fall of 2010, a novel that Mr. Crichton was writing when he died. Crichton's assistant discovered Pirate Latitudes in Crichton's computer files after his death. The novel features a pirate named Hunter and the governor of Jamaica, and their plan to raid a Spanish treasure galleon. HarperCollins does not plan to take Crichton’s name and create a franchise in the way that ghostwriters have continued to publish books under Robert Ludlum’s name long after his death

2009 Bancroft Prize

The winners of the 2009 Bancroft Prize, awarded by Columbia University to the authors of books of "exceptional merit in the fields of American history, biography and diplomacy," are: Thomas G. Andrews for Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War , Drew Gilpin Faust for This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War ,and Pekka Hämäläinen for The Comanche Empire .

Lifetime Introduces 2009 Nora Roberts Movies March 21

Lifetime will kick off the premiere of the 2009 Nora Roberts Collection with a Nora-thon this Saturday, March 21. All the previous movies made from Nora's books will air starting at 11 am PT/ET with Sanctuary, Blue Smoke, Carolina Moon, Montana Sky and Angels Fall. Nora Roberts' Northern Lights will premiere at 9 pm ET/PT on Saturday night starring LeAnn Rimes. Nora Roberts' Midnight Bayou with Jerry O'Connell and Faye Dunaway will premiere on March 28. Nora Roberts' High Noon will air on April 4; Cybill Shepherd is one of the cast. The final movie, Nora Roberts' Tribute starring Brittany Murphy will air on Saturday, April 11. Encore airings of each movie will be shown immediately after the premiere, at 9 pm on the Sunday and Monday after the premiere. On Sunday, April 12, there will be a mini Nora-thon, with all the 2009 Nora Roberts Collection airing one after the other starting at 3 pm ET/PT.

Man Booker International Prize Shortlist

Fourteen authors from 12 countries have been named to the shortlist for the Man Booker International Prize. The Man Booker International Prize is given every two years acknowledging a writer's contribution to world literature. The nominees are Evan S. Connell, Joyce Carol Oates and E.L. Doctorow (U.S.), Mahasweta Devi Bangladesh), James Kelman (U.K.), Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru), Arnošt Lustig (Czech Republic), Alice Munro (Canada), V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India), Antonio Tabucchi Italy), Ngugi Wa Thiong'O (Kenya), Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia), Peter Carey (Australia) and Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia). Jane Smiley, chair of the judges, said that choosing the shortlist had made the judges aware of "how unusual and astonishing the literary world really is. . . . We've all read books by authors we had never heard of before and they have turned out to be some of the best books we've ever read. It makes me wonder who else is out there untranslated into English."