Authors Freywatch: The Agent Speaks! By Neal on Jan. 31, 2006 - 12:32 PM Brillstein-Grey literary agent Kassie Evashevski breaks her silence in an exclusive interivew with Publishers Weekly e-i-c Sara Nelson. Until now, Evashevski had not commented about her role in James Frey’s rise to literary ...
Publishing Freywatch: UK publisher pulls head out of sand By Carmen on Jan. 31, 2006 - 9:06 AM So remember last week when we essentially laughed in the face of Frey’s UK publisher John Murray for insisting that the controversy didn’t extend across the Atlantic? Well evidently they realized how stupid they sounde ...
Publishing Class Action Suit against Scholastic By Carmen on Jan. 31, 2006 - 9:05 AM Is there any child who hasn’t been a part of Scholastic’s in-school book club, where you get their flyers order books and enjoy them? Well, it looks like it’s gotten bit out of hand as the children’s book p ...
Authors Freywatch: Ladies Love Cool James By Neal on Jan. 31, 2006 - 9:05 AM Oprah may be supermegapissed at James Frey these days, which probably harshed her birthday buzz Sunday, but a few other women in her general age bracket have taken a more sympathetic view. Pulitzer-winning Chicago Tribune culture ...
Book Biz It’s Miller Time By Carmen on Jan. 31, 2006 - 8:47 AM Back in the early days of litblogging, it seemed that a day could hardly pass before someone was getting upset, indignant or just plain cranky about what Laura Miller had written in the New York Times. The ire has lessened a lot i ...
Authors The Publisher as Plagiarist By Carmen on Jan. 31, 2006 - 8:40 AM It all started when Kirkus children’s book editor Karen Breen got a copy of Harriet Ziefert’s A Snake Is Totally Tail for review and realized that the book seemed awfully similar to an out-of-print children’s boo ...
Authors Authors With Brimfuls of Celeb Sexcapades By Neal on Jan. 31, 2006 - 8:08 AM There’s nothing much we can add to Gawker’s video footage of Samantha Knoop pretending to be “JT LeRoy” at the Sundance film festival (confirmed by the Observer), so we’ll just have to make do with co ...
Authors Wackiest Fake Writer Yet: “Nazi Like Me” By Neal on Jan. 31, 2006 - 8:00 AM Jacques Pluss got himself dropped from the history department of Fairleigh Dickinson University last year when campus officials discovered he was a high-ranking member of the National Socialist Movement (or, as they maintained, ar ...
Book Biz Why Brooklyn Says Frey’s Fiction By Neal on Jan. 30, 2006 - 5:30 PM As promised last Friday, the Brooklyn Public Library has issued an official statement regarding the decision to reclassify A Million Little Pieces as a work of fiction. Here’s the word from BPL chief of staff Dionne Mack-Har ...
Authors Wendy Wasserstein, 1950-2006 By Neal on Jan. 30, 2006 - 2:58 PM Pulitzer-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein died earlier today “after a bout with lymphoma,” according to her NYT obituary. Wasserstein was best known as the author of plays such as The Heidi Chronicles, but was also ...