Bridgeville author Susan Kimmel Wright draws inspiration from real-life cold case for latest novel
A Bridgeville resident took inspiration from a real-life cold case murder more than a century ago for her latest novel. Susan Kimmel Wright’s mystery “Mabel Gets The Ax” will be released July 5. The book follows Mabel, who tries to solve a 1939 double axe murder in the fictional town...
Jared Kushner has book deal, publication expected in 2022
NEW YORK — Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump and one of his top advisers during his administration, has a book deal. Broadside Books, a conservative imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced that Kushner’s book will come out in early 2022. Kushner has begun working on the memoir,...
Behind the mane: Book captures essence of Steelers great Troy Polamalu
Troy Polamalu is a man of few words. But author Jim Wexell came up with a book’s worth of them about the beloved former Pittsburgh Steelers star strong safety – 432 pages, in fact. “Troy is the most mysterious sports figure and the most liked in Pittsburgh,” said Wexell, of...
Johnstown native’s mob book chronicles ‘3 men from Greensburg’ in gambler’s death
What do “three men from Greensburg” have to do with a small-time Johnstown gambler whose body was found floating behind the Conemaugh River Dam in Derry Township some six decades ago? The three unidentified men were fingered by an aging Johnstown gangster — “Rip” Slowmason — as the possible murderers...
White Whale Bookstore expanding in Bloomfield
White Whale Bookstore is expanding in the Bloomfield building where it has operated for nearly five years. “We had been thinking about expanding for a couple years,” said Jill Yeomans, who owns the bookstore with her husband, Adlai. The expansion will be in a second storefront in its current building...
Monroeville author releases debut novel, ‘The Souls of Clayhatchee’
Monroeville author Anthony Todd Carlisle untangles long-hidden family secrets of racism and rage in his debut novel, “The Souls of Clayhatchee,” released in early May. The story follows one man’s pilgrimage to the South to fulfill his mother’s last wish of being buried in her small Alabama hometown. As the...
‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ author Eric Carle dies at 91
NEW YORK — Eric Carle, the beloved children’s author and illustrator whose classic “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and other works gave millions of kids some of their earliest and most cherished literary memories, has died at age 91. Carle’s family says he died Sunday at his summer studio in Northampton,...
Pittsburgh author Damon Young wins 2020 Thurber Prize for American Humor
Two years after the release of his book “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker,” the accolades keep coming for Damon Young. The Pittsburgh author has won the 2020 Thurber Prize for American Humor. The Thurber Prize is a coveted national award named for writer and humorist James Thurber that...
Andrew McCarthy taps into ’80s nostalgia with new memoirVideo
NEW YORK — Andrew McCarthy admits he “fled” from his shaggy-haired 1980s persona and didn’t look back for decades. Much like the slouchy blazers he wore in movies like “Pretty in Pink” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,” that Brat Pack moniker and image never really fit. But time has put a...
Pfizer head Albert Bourla writing book about covid vaccine
NEW YORK — Pfizer Chairman and CEO Dr. Albert Bourla can now tell the incredible story. Bourla has a deal with Harper Business for what the publisher is calling “an exclusive, first-hand, behind-the-scenes story” of how the drugmaker managed to develop an effective vaccine against covid-19 in a remarkably short...
1st Pittsburgh International Literary Festival to get people talking, reading
The Pittsburgh International Literary Festival, known as “LitFest,” hopes to get people talking through reading. Hosted by the City of Asylum @ Alphabet City based on Pittsburgh’s North Side, the virtual event will feature authors from all over the world discussing topics that encompass Black, Indigenous and all people of...
Sewickley writer’s work featured in latest ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ book
A Sewickley writer’s work recently appeared for the fourth time in a “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book. Judith Burnett Schneider, who left her job as a research scientist several years ago to become a full-time writer, just had her essay “Pivotal Cup” appear in the media company’s latest anthology,...
Alan Moore working on short stories, 5-volume fantasy series
NEW YORK — Alan Moore has many, many stories still to tell. The celebrated British author known for “V for Vendetta” and “Watchmen” among other works has a deal with Bloomsbury for the story collection “Illuminations” and a five-volume fantasy series, “Long London.” In a statement Monday, Moore said he...
Wilkinsburg author Deesha Philyaw wins PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
Wilkinsburg author Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, “The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” continues to rack up awards. On Tuesday, her book was announced as the winner of the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, which honors the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar...
Books by Gino, Steinbeck among most objected to in 2020
NEW YORK — The closing of physical libraries because of the pandemic has slowed but not stopped patrons and others from calling for books to be banned or restricted. On Monday, the American Library Association reported more than 270 challenges to books in 2020, from Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye”...
Hunter Biden says he wouldn’t repeat work for Ukrainian firm
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter says his service on the board of a Ukrainian gas company, which Republicans tried to turn into a negative during the 2020 presidential campaign, wasn’t unethical and didn’t represent a lack of judgment on his part. But the younger Biden wouldn’t do it...
‘Captain Underpants’ book pulled for ‘passive racism’
A graphic novel for children from the wildly popular “Captain Underpants” series is being pulled from library and book store shelves after its publisher said it “perpetuates passive racism.” The book under scrutiny is 2010’s “The Adventures of Ook and Gluk” by Dav Pilkey, who has apologized, saying it “contains...
Beloved children’s author Beverly Cleary dies at 104
NEW YORK — Beverly Cleary, the celebrated children’s author whose memories of her Oregon childhood were shared with millions through the likes of Ramona and Beezus Quimby and Henry Huggins, has died. She was 104. Cleary’s publisher HarperCollins announced Friday that the author died Thursday in Carmel Valley, California, where...
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry dies at 84
DALLAS — Larry McMurtry, the prolific and popular author who took readers back to the old American West in his Pulitzer Prize-winning “Lonesome Dove” and returned them to modern-day landscapes in works such as his emotional tale of a mother-daughter relationship in “Terms of Endearment,” has died. He was 84....
Former TV reporter Kelly Brennan Culver pens story of her daughter’s rare disease, treatmentVideo
As Kelly Brennan Culver and Kevin Culver pull into the parking garage, they hear crying. Their daughter Caroline tears up in the back seat. The 3-year-old knows what day it is — treatment Friday. Every four weeks, she and her parents make the trip from their McCandless home to UPMC...
Pitt program provides books for children to promote social justice, inclusion
The University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Child Development has taken up the cause of social justice and trying to end the cycle of systematic racism through books. The office works with child care providers in the region to improve their programs and since the 2018 massacre at the Tree of...
Poet Amanda Gorman says she was racially profiled near her home
NEW YORK — Amanda Gorman, the 22-year-old poet who captured hearts at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, posted to social media that she was followed home by a security guard who demanded to know where she lived because she “looked suspicious.” “I showed my keys & buzzed myself into...
3 Pittsburgh comic book artists join famed artist Rob Liefeld for G.I. Joe issueVideo
Three Pittsburgh comic book artists are joining in on the final issue of “Snake Eyes: Deadgame,” a G.I. Joe comic written and drawn by famed artist Rob Liefeld. Issue five of the IDW Publishing mini-series arrives in April, and it will feature work by area artists Ed Piskor, Jim Rugg...
Billie Jean King memoir ‘All In’ to be published in August
NEW YORK — Billie Jean King has a memoir coming this summer, and she calls it a journey to her “authentic self.” Alfred A. Knopf announced Thursday that “All In: An Autobiography” will be published Aug. 17. It will cover the highlights of her celebrated and groundbreaking tennis career, including...
6 Dr. Seuss books won’t be published for racist images
BOSTON — Six Dr. Seuss books — including “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” and “If I Ran the Zoo” — will stop being published because of racist and insensitive imagery, the business that preserves and protects the author’s legacy said Tuesday. “These books portray people...
