A Hemingway classic and Popeye enter public domain while copyright only gets more confusing
Last year, it was Mickey Mouse. This year, Popeye the Sailor joins Mickey as a new entrant to the public domain — that is, shedding his core copyright protections on Jan. 1. He’s merely the most familiar cultural artifact to enter the public domain on Wednesday. But as Jennifer Jenkins,...
Give the gift of stories with books by Pittsburgh-area authors
Curling up by the fireside with a good book is one of those wintertime idylls, and with Christmas just around the corner, why not help provide that experience for someone with the gift of a book? Here are several new books recently released by local authors. ‘The Catalysts,’...
2 local booksellers receive holiday bonus from author James Patterson
Two local independent bookstore employees — Weston Millar from Penguin Bookshop in Sewickley and Carolyn Pallof from White Whale Bookstore in Bloomfield — are getting a little extra cash this holiday season, courtesy of bestselling author James Patterson. Since 2015, Patterson has provided these monetary rewards through the American Booksellers...
Taylor Swift ‘Eras’ tie-in book is a smash, selling more than 800,000 copies in first weekend
NEW YORK — Just one retail chain was enough for Taylor Swift to have the top-selling book last week and the biggest publishing launch of 2024. According to Circana, Swift’s “Eras Tour Book” sold 814,000 copies over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Circana tracks around 85% of the print market, but...
TV Talk: From ‘Blue Bloods’ to ‘Bluey’ to ‘Seinfeld,’ there are plenty of gift ideas for TV fans
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers gift-giving ideas for the TV fan in your life. Seeking a Christmas or holiday present for the TV fan in your life? This guide to new TV-themed gifts offers ideas by series titles: “Blue Bloods” will end Dec. 13, but fans can...
West Deer native pens supernatural young adult novel set in his hometown
Anyone who grew up in West Deer Township during the 1990s may feel a spark of familiarity reading Josiah Golojuh’s new young adult novel “The Paper Boy.” That’s because the author grew up there and modeled the book’s setting off of his own childhood experiences. “It’s not a true story,...
Spencer Lawton, the Savannah prosecutor who tried ‘Midnight in the Garden’ case, dies at 81
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Spencer Lawton Jr., a former Georgia district attorney who worked to expand the rights of crime victims and prosecuted a Savannah killing made famous by the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” has died. He was 81. Lawton died Wednesday at his home in...
‘Pittsburgh Steelers: An Illustrated Timeline’ documents the team’s storied history
Jim Wexell spent weeks during the summer of 2023 in the library, but not just any library. It was the Pro Football Hall of Fame library in Canton, Ohio. There, he perused everything written about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ storied franchise as he researched book ideas. Wexell filled 10 legal pads...
Here are 5 book recommendations for Halloween season
It’s Halloween week — you might be looking for some new creepy recommendations. Here are five spooky books you should read this week: ‘Long Bright River’ by Liz Moore This is a heart-wrenching tale of family in the throes of addition, corruption in law enforcement and perseverance in the face...
TV Talk: Recent books go behind the scenes of ‘West Wing,’ ‘Sopranos,’ ‘Gilmore Girls,’ ‘thirtysomething,’ ‘Golden Girls’
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers reading tips
for recent books about TV. One of the best aspects of writing about TV is the opportunity to occasionally visit the sets of shows to gather insider intel. A raft of recent books about the industry take readers behind the...
Westmoreland native’s new guidebook explores the ‘weird, wonderful and obscure’ in New York City
Having grown up in Western Pennsylvania, Rossilynne Skena Culgan had a leg up when she started her first guidebook, “101 Things to Do in Pittsburgh Before You Die.” A few years ago, the Murrysville native moved to New York City, where she quickly began cataloguing five boroughs’ worth of oddities...
Nobel Prize in literature is awarded to South Korean author Han Kang for her ‘intense poetic prose’
STOCKHOLM — The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded Thursday to South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel committee called “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised Han’s “physical empathy for the vulnerable, often...
Riley Keough felt a duty to finish Lisa Marie Presley’s book on Elvis, grief, addiction and love
Riley Keough was quick to agree to help complete her mother’s memoir. She thought they’d write it together, reflecting on her extraordinary upbringing and life, but it became a much greater responsibility after Lisa Marie Presley’s sudden death in 2023. Finishing the task her mother — the only child of...
Bob Woodward book reveals Trump’s calls with Putin and Biden’s private remarks on Obama, Netanyahu
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump has had as many as seven private phone calls with Vladimir Putin since leaving office and secretly sent the Russian president covid-19 test machines during the height of the pandemic, Bob Woodward reported in his new book, “War.” The revelations were made in the famed Watergate...
Salman Rushdie, Percival Everett and Miranda July are National Book Award finalists
NEW YORK — Salman Rushdie’s memoir a bout his near-fatal stabbing, “Knife,” and Percival Everett’s revisionist historical novel, “James,” are among the finalists for the 75th annual National Book Awards. Others nominated include author-filmmaker Miranda July for her explicit novel on middle age, “All Fours,” and the celebrated Canadian poet...
Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, looks back in memoir ‘Be Ready When the Luck Happens’
NEW YORK — Long before Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa mini-empire of bestselling cookbooks and TV shows ever took off, she found herself at an airport, wanting to learn to fly. It was the late 1960s and she was a newlywed in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She and her soldier-husband, Jeffrey, would...
JoJo was a teen sensation. At 33, she’s found her voice again
Joanna Levesque shot to stardom at 13. Two decades later, “JoJo” — as she’s better known — has written a memoir and says the song responsible for her meteoric rise, “Leave (Get Out),” was foreign to her. In fact, she cried when her label told her they wanted to make...
Pennsylvania state senator sues critics of his book about WWI hero Sgt. York
HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania state senator and former GOP gubernatorial candidate whose support for Donald Trump drew him to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 has sued a Canadian university and nearly two dozen academics over criticism of him and his research into World War I hero Sgt. Alvin York....
Murrysville woman writes a book about grandmothers with Alzheimer’s
In her professional career, Doreen Coulson Putnam noticed when grandchildren were separated from their grandparents who had Alzheimer’s and dementia. A certified dementia practitioner, Putnam sought to create an educational resource for families to help them understand memory loss and how to include children. The Murrysville resident wrote “Sometimes Grandmamma...
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is hitting the road to promote her new memoir, ‘Lovely One’
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is embarking on a high-profile, nationwide tour to promote her new memoir, “Lovely One.” Jackson, 53, is using the book, publisher Random House says, to trace her family’s rise from segregation to her confirmation as the first Black woman on the nation’s...
Book review: ‘Steel City’ novel a vivid journey through Pittsburgh’s industrial heyday
In the late 19th century, Pittsburgh was in many ways the center of the universe. From steel to electricity to food, the innovators and barons of America’s biggest industries called the Steel City home. In his debut novel, “Steel City: A Story of Pittsburgh,” William J. Miller Jr. transports the...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Aug. 9-11
After a long, rainy week, it’s time to relax and enjoy some downtime. From performances to parties, from celebrity appearances to festivals, Pittsburgh is jumping this weekend. Join in the fun with these events. Idina Menzel at the Benedum Center Broadway legend — and real-life Disney princess — Idina Menzel...
West Leechburg native pens trilogy of books about his international aerospace career
Most jobs don’t result in your car being destroyed by debris from an exploding rocket. But for Daniel Kovalchik, formerly of Allegheny Township, Leechburg and West Leechburg, a workday in 1997 turned tragic at Cape Canaveral, Fla., when the launch of an unmanned Delta II rocket experienced a failure, sending...
Ligonier Valley Writers invite public to picnic at Unity farm
The Ligonier Valley Writers are setting a new scene for the organization’s annual picnic this year. On Aug. 11, attendees will gather under a pavilion at the Jamison Farm in Unity for a feast of potluck dishes and local literature. After holding the picnic for many years at St. Michael’s...
Melania Trump to tell her story in memoir, ‘Melania,’ scheduled for this fall
NEW YORK — Former first lady Melania Trump has a memoir coming out this fall, “Melania,” billed by her office as “a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who has carved her own path, overcome adversity and defined personal excellence.” It’s the first memoir by Trump, who has been...
