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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: writer

writer stories: 32 news summaries

1 - 20 of 32 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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 Danielle Steel 
 Aide 'Fesses to 
 $400K Ripoff 

Author claims assistant stole $2.7M

Sep 29, 09 6:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - A long-time assistant has pleaded guilty to embezzling $400,000 from best-selling romance queen Danielle Steel. Kristy Watts admitted depositing checks for Steel into her own bank account and using the author's credit card points to obtain gifts and airline tickets. Steel, who has written 76 best-selling novels, claims Watts... More »

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novelist • author • writer • romance • embezzlement • novel • best seller • Danielle Steele

 Behind Mad Men Are...Women 

Women directed five of this season's 13 episodes

Aug 7, 09 2:21 PM CDT
(Newser) - The misogynists who populate Mad Men's character ranks might make you think otherwise, but seven of the show's nine writers are women—a rarity in Hollywood, where 80% of primetime programs in 2007-08 had no female writers. “A lot of people think women can only do women shows,... More »

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entertainment • television • writer • screenwriters • scriptwriters • TV series • Mad Men • writers • women's issues • television program

(Newser) - Nora Roberts is the most popular romance writer in America, but it’s not easy being on the top. “People go, ‘Oh, you work six or eight hours a day, oh my God,’” she tells the New Yorker. “‘Well, yeah, how many hours do... More »

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publishing • writer • romance • novel • book • Nora Roberts • J.D. Robb • genre

 Freelance 
 Jokesters Pen 
 Late-Night 
 Laughs 

WGA miffed by non-union writers

May 4, 09 2:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - Late-night hosts don’t get all their gags in-house—scores of wannabe comedy writers bombard the likes of Jay and Dave with their one-liners, the Los Angeles Times reports, then anxiously wait for the show to air "to find out if you got a joke on or not,”... More »

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Saturday Night Live • union • Jay Leno • late night talk show • Jon Stewart • freelance • writer • David Letterman • Tonight Show • Writers Guild of America • jokes • Late Show

(Newser) - British author JG Ballard died this morning "with great sadness" after many years of poor health, his agent said today. The 78-year-old novelist and short story writer was most famous for his semi-autobiographical book Empire of the Sun, later made into a film by Steven Spielberg, and his controversial... More »

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obituary • British • death • novelist • author • writer • novel • JG Ballard

ALS Patient Chronicled Her Struggle, Chose Her Death

'I choose not only how I will live, but if I will live'

Apr 13, 09 12:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - When writer Catherine Royce became an ALS patient, she shared with NPR her passionate belief that she should be able to meet her decline and eventual death on her own terms. "Every day, I choose not only how I will live, but if I will live," she said... More »

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philosophy • death • illness • Lou Gehrig's disease • writer • ALS

book review

From Romantic Lemons, Literary Lemonade

It's fizzy, too—and comes complete with recipes and regrets

Apr 9, 09 10:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - Recipes for "Morning After Pumpkin Bread" and "Ineffectual Eggplant Parmigiana" should clue readers in that Giulia Melucci's I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti is no how-to on gaining a man's heart through his stomach, Joyce Wadler writes for the New York Times. Melucci—"... More »

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New York • cooking • literature • writer • relationship • book reviews • book • publishing industry • Giulia Melucci

New Yorker to Run Excerpt
of Wallace's Last Book

In Pale King, deceased writer 'didn't want to do the old tricks'

Mar 1, 09 4:43 PM CST
(Newser) - David Foster Wallace fans can get a glimpse of the deceased writer’s unfinished novel tomorrow, when the New Yorker publishes an excerpt from The Pale King, the Washington Post reports. Wallace, who killed himself last fall, had been working on the book for years. The magazine will also run... More »

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suicide • New Yorker magazine • author • writer • novel • book • David Foster Wallace

Aussie Writer Gets 3 Years
for Thai Insult

Self-published book that sold 7 copies dissed the monarchy

Jan 19, 09 9:01 AM CST
(Newser) - An Australian writer has been sentenced to 3 years in prison for insulting Thailand’s monarchy in one passage of a self-published book, the BBC reports. Tough “lese-majeste” laws shield Thailand’s monarchy from criticism and led to Harry Nicolaides’ arrest as he was leaving the country. He pleaded... More »

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Thailand • monarchy • jail • writer • book • insult • imprisonment

OPINION

Need a Blurb?
Meet the Usual Suspects

New writers' book jackets reveal the top 10 lazy comparisons

Jan 7, 09 5:43 PM CST
(Newser) - Blurbs for hot new writers' books unfailingly liken them to a handful of known quantities, Chris Rovzar observes in New York. Here are some of the most-abused blurb comparisons:
  • F. Scott Fitzgerald or Edith Wharton. Writing about crumbling, decadent high society? "If you're a boy, you're Scott; if
... More »

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Hunter S. Thompson • Jack Kerouac • writer • book • Edith Wharton • Candace Bushnell • David Sedaris • Chuck Klosterman • authors • F. Scott Fitzgerald

Appreciation

Above All, Pinter Was Remarkable, Loyal Friend

Playwright lives on in his plays, already considered modern classics

Dec 25, 08 2:12 PM CST
(Newser) - He didn’t always like the plays of Harold Pinter, who died yesterday at 78, but Guardian theater critic Michael Billington says he’s sure they “will endure wind and weather, because he understood the insecurity of human life.” Billington, also Pinter’s biographer, remembers the “poet’... More »

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theater • obituary • writer • Harold Pinter • Nobel Prize for Literature • playwriting • Nobel laureates

OBITUARY

 Theater Giant 
 Harold Pinter 
 Dead at 78 

Outspoken playwright was awarded Nobel in 2005

Dec 25, 08 8:10 AM CST
(Newser) - Harold Pinter, one of the foremost playwrights of the 20th century, has died of cancer at the age of 78. He began his career as a poet before writing such classic plays as The Caretaker and The Homecoming, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2005. His widow, Antonia Fraser,... More »

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theater • obituary • writer • Harold Pinter • Nobel Prize for Literature • playwriting • Nobel laureates

book review

 Sontag's 
 Early 
 Journals 
 Mesmerize 

Journals tell a touching tale of earnest self-creation

Dec 16, 08 6:15 PM CST
(Newser) - The newly released diaries of a young Susan Sontag provide an invaluable glimpse of how the writer-to-be came to be, critics say. “I do not just express myself more openly than I could do to any person," the late Sontag writes of journaling. "I create myself."... More »

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critic • writer • journals • intellectual • Susan Sontag • self-improvement

OBITUARY

 Sci-Fi Guru 
 Forrest Ackerman 
 Dead at 92 

Magazine editor coined term 'sci-fi'

Dec 6, 08 9:42 AM CST
(Newser) - Fright-film magazine writer and editor Forrest J Ackerman—credited with coining the term "sci-fi"—died this week of heart failure, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was 92. Ackerman introduced new generations to horror films with his magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland; he was also known for... More »

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obituary • magazine • editor • writer • science fiction • horror flims

One Month, 50K Words: Writers Race to Finish Novels

National Novel Writing Month gives creative types an unrelenting deadline

Nov 27, 08 9:53 AM CST
(Newser) - Aspiring novelists are packing coffee shops in the Twin Cities and elsewhere as the frenzy of National Novel Writing Month heats up, Minnesota Public Radio reports. Founded roughly a decade ago, “Nanowrimo” challenges writers to conquer procrastination and get 50,000 words down during November. The emphasis, say the... More »

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fiction • creative writing • writer • writers • Twin Cities • National Novel Writing Month

(Newser) - The Onion, bucking a 20-year trend, plans to cover tomorrow's election results in something resembling real time, the AP reports. The "satirical newspaper of record" and its website have prepared articles and videos in advance, requiring long hours unfamiliar to its writers. “It has become sort of... More »

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newspaper • satire • comedy • writer • The Onion • Election 2008 • media coverage • Joe Randazzo

BOOK REVIEW

Death Takes a Holiday in Saramago's Latest

Author of Blindness deals with death in new novel

Oct 10, 08 6:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - The premise of Jose Saramago’s Death With Interruptions seems a bit cutesy at first, with a Buffy-esque Grim Reaper deciding to take some time off her job, writes Shannon McBeen in Radar. But as Saramago explores the ramifications of universal immortality, he manages to transform “the admittedly weak... More »

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literature • Portugal • writer • book reviews • book • Jose Saramago

(Newser) - Nicholas Sparks may run low on creative gas, but that only lasts for a minute or two. The multimillionaire author of The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe works out for nearly 3 hours a day before writing 2,000 words and coaching track at his son's school. ''I'm efficient,"... More »

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novelist • author • writer • Nicholas Sparks

appreciation

 Wallace Kept  
 Up 'Debate 
 Inside His 
 Head' 

Infinite Jest author was an 'astute observer' and 'prose magician'

Sep 14, 08 7:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - David Foster Wallace was remembered today as a complex novelist who engaged in layer upon layer of self-examination. The author of Infinite Jest "wrote about the maddening impossibility of scrutinizing yourself without also scrutinizing yourself scrutinizing yourself and so on," Laura Miller writes in Salon. Wallace's suicide remains... More »

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novelist • writer • David Foster Wallace

Writer David Foster Wallace Found Dead

46-year-old Infinite Jest author hangs himself
in California home

Sep 13, 08 10:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - Author David Foster Wallace, best known for his 1996 novel Infinite Jest, has been found dead in his California home at the age of 46, the Los Angeles Times reports. His wife, who found his body Friday, told police that he hanged himself. Wallace gained worldwide renown for his ambitious... More »

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writer • David Foster Wallace

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