We’ve all heard it before: “Books are always better than the films they’re based on.” The book vs film debate is likely never to be resolved. From the British Vivien Leigh taking on the role of the very southern Scarlett O’Hara to Will Smith portraying a completely different version of Robert Neville in I Am [….]
When you put yourself out ‘there’ as a writer, when you lasso the title of ‘writer,’ inevitably you are asked your opinion. You are also confronted by a litany of folks who make excuses. Now, I’m not adverse to the excuse bit. I hear and speak them daily. But what I’ve discovered in my brief [….]
There are many axioms that get tossed around writing advice columns and beginning writer’s workshops. Show, don’t tell is a big one, as is Avoid -ly adverbs. While these are good and useful, they’re really only pertinent to the actual process of writing. Just as there is more to being a professional athlete than the [….]
In the past, we’ve shown you LitStackers a brief glimpse of some of classic Hollywood’s most eager bookish celebrities. Now, here’s a few shots of some of the “younger” generation’s biggest book nerds. Some of these may surprise you. Some, not so much. Feel free to tell us all about your favorite celebrity book nerds [….]
A few years back I was asked by a dear friend if I teach the classics and I answered with an emphatic “No!” He scrunched up his face, tilted his head to the side and replied “Why not?” I sighed and then prepared myself for explaining why I feel like some of the writings of [….]
The Hugo Award is one of the major awards for sci-fi and speculative fiction novels, shorter stories, magazines, editors, dramatic presentations (movies and TV shows) and other works; having “Hugo Award Winner” splashed across the top of a book or on an author’s bio is a really helpful thing when it comes to attracting the [….]
The National Book Critics Circle has announced the winners of their 2016 awards, with Louis Erdrich winning the Fiction award for her novel, LaRose. This is the second time Ms. Erdrich has won the award; she won for her celebrated novel, Love Medicine, in 1984. Here is the complete list of winners and finalists: AUTOBIOGRAPHY [….]
PEN/Faulkner is a nonprofit literary organization that promotes a lifelong love of reading and a connection to writing through public events, in-school education and public promotion of exceptional literary achievement. They annually administer the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, one of the highest honors available to American fiction writers; on Tuesday, they announced the finalists for [….]
Fun news! Penguin Random House has announced that they have won the bidding war, and will be publishing books by both former President Barak Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. They also shared that they will donate one million books in the Obama family’s name to First Book, a nonprofit organization that provides books [….]
Last night, amidst all the glitz, glitter and glamour, the 89th Annual Academy Awards – the “Oscars” – were handed out in a star studded ceremony in (where else?) Hollywood, California. Among the statuettes handed out, two were for writing excellence: Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay. Just in case you were in the [….]
