WQED seeks storytellers for annual PBS KIDS Writers ContestVideo
Young authors are invited to take up their pens, or fire up their devices, and spin yarns for WQED’s annual PBS KIDS Writers Contest. WQED has partnered with the EQT Foundation for 11 years to present the contest to children throughout the region, encouraging them to submit original stories and...
Book details history of Allegheny County’s legal community
Long before headline-grabbing attorneys basked in the spotlight of television cameras, there were lawyers like Thomas Mercer Marshall. In the early 19th century, Marshall traveled the Perrysville Plank Toll Road between present day West View and Pittsburgh’s North Side nearly every day. Dismayed that the road was deteriorating, took matters...
Barack Obama names Dan Rooney book as a favorite of 2019
Barack Obama included a Pittsburgh gem in his list of top books from of the year. The former president and avid reader shared via Twitter 19 titles that impressed him. One of his sports favorites was Jim Rooney’s “A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl...
Nora Roberts pens tale of survivors after shooting
Nora Roberts has crafted a chillingly timely piece of fiction with her book “Shelter In Place,” released in 2018. The prolific author has taken on an active shooter scenario, with a plot frighteningly reminiscent of the 2012 theater shooting in Colorado. That’s where all similarities end. Roberts sets her book...
30-plus years of ‘Garfield’ comic strips to sell at auction
DALLAS — Cartoonist Jim Davis is offering up more than 11,000 “Garfield” comic strips hand-drawn on paper in an auction that will stretch into the coming years, with at least a couple of strips featuring the always-hungry orange cat with a sardonic sense of humor available weekly. “There are just...
‘Sophie’ biography explores struggles, success of Pittsburgh’s Mayor Masloff
For historian Barbara Burstin, researching the life of Sophie Masloff, Pittsburgh’s first female and Jewish mayor, was a fascinating and rewarding project. She sees Masloff’s story of overcoming poverty, sexism and anti-Semitism as inspiring to everyone. Masloff served as mayor from 1988 to 1994. “Her story is a reflection of...
Unauthorized biography of first lady Melania Trump offers lurid details of life in the White HouseVideo
The unauthorized biography of first lady Melania Trump by CNN correspondent Kate Bennett that was released Tuesday provides details of her marriage of President Donald Trump. The title “Free, Melania: the Unauthorized Biography,” offers details of life inside the White House such as Melania and the president not only sleep...
First Marvel Comics issue sells in Texas for $1.26 million
DALLAS — A rare near-mint condition copy of the first Marvel Comics comic book has sold at auction in Dallas for $1.26 million. Heritage Auctions says the Marvel Comics No. 1 from 1939 sold Thursday. Heritage says the buyer wished to remain anonymous. Ed Jaster, senior vice president at Heritage,...
Sewickley’s Penguin Bookshop celebrates 90 years
The smell of freshly printed books greets you as you enter the Penguin Bookshop, located in the heart of Sewickley. Friendly faces offer assistance to the steady flow of customers that enter the cozy space, quickly helping them find their next read or wrapping the perfect present to give to...
John Bolton has book deal, publishing officials say
NEW YORK — Former national security adviser John Bolton has a book deal, The Associated Press has learned. The hawkish Bolton departed in September because of numerous foreign policy disagreements with President Donald Trump. He reached a deal over the past few weeks with Simon & Schuster, according to three...
Former Steeler Merril Hoge appearing at The Tiny Bookstore in Ross
Before hosting the 2019 Steelers Alumni Weekend Dinner at Heinz Field, Merril Hoge will be appearing at The Tiny Bookstore in Ross Township on Saturday, Nov. 9, from 1 to 3 p.m. Hoge will be at the store to promote his most recent book, “Brainwashed: The Bad Science Behind CTE...
Marie Kondo’s doing what she can to make your kids tidyVideo
Not even Marie Kondo can follow all her rules for tidying all the time. “Of course, when things get very busy, I need to let go of some of my standards and methods, and I think that’s a completely natural thing,” the decluttering guru, Netflix realty star and mother of...
‘Echoes from the Hollow’ author Don Roberts to hold 2 book discussions
Don Roberts said it was a breath of fresh air to have found a creative outlet such as writing fiction shortly after retiring. The Monroeville resident, 76, had a 35-year career in education with Pittsburgh Public Schools. He concurrently taught at the University of Pittsburgh as a history lecturer. “As...
Scary pairings: Check out these Halloween book/film adaptationsVideo
From spine-tingling pages to images that seem to jump off the screen (and make us jump), the Halloween season offers plenty of frightful moments for both book lovers and movie buffs alike. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh public and readers services librarian Shayna Ross has curated a list of some of...
Quaker Valley grad publishes poetry book
Bonita Lee Penn uses her words to empower women. Her poetry gives a voice to those who are not heard or are marginalized. Through her writing, she tells the story of her experiences as a black woman and the troubles she sees in the world. “Usually, I am inspired by...
Prince’s anticipated, posthumous memoir is ready for fans
NEW YORK — Panic, joy, shock: Dan Piepenbring felt them all when Prince plucked him to collaborate on his first memoir, followed by more shock and profound sadness at news of the superstar’s death while the book was in its early stages. Though the project was thrown into chaos when...
‘A Different Way to Win’ details Dan Rooney’s life’s work, with the Steelers and beyondVideo
Jim Rooney interviewed over 50 people to tell the story of his famous and beloved father — the late Dan Rooney, best known as owner and president of the Pittsburgh Steelers. “A Different Way to Win: Dan Rooney’s Story from the Super Bowl to the Rooney Rule” will be available...
Genre-bending bio of Thomas Edison is highly illuminating
The late Edmund Morris, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer known for his willingness to brush aside the norms of his genre if it suited his narrative ends, does it again in his final book: a fresh look at Thomas Alva Edison, perhaps America’s most prolific and consequential inventor. Morris, who died...
Tree of Life survivor among ‘A Gathering of Authors’Video
An author alone in a bookstore bothers Francine Costello. “I hate to see authors sitting in a bookstore waiting for people to come and buy books so they can sign them, and no one is there,” said Costello, co-owner of Word Association Publishers in Tarentum. “They are all by themselves....
Ronan Farrow details lack of enthusiasm at NBC for Weinstein story
In reporter Ronan Farrow’s account of his contentious divorce from NBC News, the more evidence he gathered on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct, the less enthusiastic his bosses seemed to be. NBC’s decision to let Farrow take his work to The New Yorker magazine is widely regarded as...
Ex-inmate Cyntoia Brown-Long argues for redemption in memoir
Cyntoia Brown-Long, now 31 years old, knows as much about life in prison as she does about being free. At 16, she was arrested for robbing and killing a man she says picked her up for sex and later was sentenced to life in prison. But two months ago, Brown-Long...
Olga Tokarczuk, Peter Handke win Nobel literature prizes
STOCKHOLM — Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian writer Peter Handke won the 2018 and 2019 Nobel Prizes for literature on Thursday, a rare double announcement that came after no prize was announced last year due to sex abuse allegations that tarnished the group awarding the prizes. The Swedish Academy...
Michelle Obama’s next book is a companion to ‘Becoming’
NEW YORK — Michelle Obama’s first book since “Becoming” is more about her readers than about herself. “Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice” will be published Nov. 19 by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The new release was announced Monday and is a companion to...
Author, veteran to discuss ‘Women in the Marines’ at Westmoreland libraries
Retired Marine Corps Col. Nancy Anderson will discuss her recently published book, “The Very Few, The Proud: Women in the Marines,” during programs at several Westmoreland County libraries. Anderson, who earlier this year served as interim CEO of the Westmoreland Cultural Trust, will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday in The...
Latrobe-area writer focuses on Fred Rogers’ kindness, hometown impactVideo
Beloved children’s television host Fred Rogers achieved his greatest effect on others by being “defiantly kind,” Latrobe-area writer Chris Rodell asserts. Rodell offers an example — a 1995 encounter with Latrobe native Rogers that lifted the spirits of a younger man — in his new book released this month, “Growing...
