Monroeville resident, optometrist adds ‘author’ to list of achievements
Monroeville resident Dr. Elisa Beth Haransky-Beck holds many titles, including optometrist, wellness practitioner, consultant, coach, somatic yoga instructor, educator and speaker. She founded Sustainable Monroeville in 2009 and Vegan Spirituality-Southwest PA in 2019. Along with several organizations, such as the League of Women Voters and Protect Penn Township and Trafford,...
Independent booksellers continued to expand in 2023, with more than 200 new stores opening
NEW YORK — Three years ago, Erin Decker was a middle school librarian in Kissimmee, Florida, increasingly frustrated by the state’s book bans and worried that she couldn’t make a difference remaining in her job. So, she and fellow librarian Tania Galiñanes thought of a way to fight back. “We...
German author Jenny Erpenbeck wins International Booker Prize for tale of tangled love affair
LONDON — German author Jenny Erpenbeck and translator Michael Hofmann won the International Booker Prize for fiction Tuesday for “Kairos,” the story of a tangled love affair during the final years of East Germany’s existence. Erpenbeck said she hoped the book would help readers learn there was more to life...
TribLive reporter pens book chronicling punk band Brainiac
In May 1997, an Ohio punk band called Brainiac, on the verge of exploding into popularity, saw their dreams deferred by the sudden death of frontman Tim Taylor. TribLive reporter Justin Vellucci wrote a comprehensive, engaging chronicle of the band in “Brainiac,” published by J-Card Press and available now through...
Soulful singer Michael McDonald looks back in his new memoir, ‘What a Fool Believes’
NEW YORK — Something stopped Michael McDonald from telling his story publicly — him. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer with multiple Grammys just didn’t think he had one. McDonald, a member of both Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers who became a singular soul solo artist with such...
Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world’s most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history’s most honored short story writers, has died at age 92. A spokesperson for publisher Penguin Random House Canada said Munro, winner of the Nobel literary prize in 2013,...
Book review: Anonymous public servants are the heart of George Stephanopoulos’ ‘Situation Room’
The biggest challenge for an author tackling the history of the Situation Room, the basement room of the White House where some of the biggest intelligence crises have been handled in recent decades, is the room itself. As a setting, it’s pretty underwhelming. In “The Situation Room: The Inside Story...
Murrysville library seeks area writers for local author fair
Murrysville Community Library staff wants to give local authors a chance to connect with local readers, and will host its first-ever author fair next month. “At the end of our summer reading program last year, the one thing we got a lot of was requests for more literary events,” said...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: May 10-12
Craving music? Good food? Some shopping? Don’t let the weekend go to waste. Here are a handful of fun things to do in Pittsburgh. Pittonkatonk Get ready to enjoy some free live music without boundaries. Starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Vietnam Veterans Pavilion in Schenley Park, Pittonkatonk is...
Jayne Anne Phillips’ novel ‘Night Watch,’ Eboni Booth’s drama ‘Primary Trust’ among Pulitzer winners
NEW YORK — Stories of race, slavery and the Civil War, real and invented, were winners this year for the Pulitzer Prizes. Jayne Anne Phillips’ “Night Watch,” a mother-daughter saga set in a West Virginia asylum right after the war, was cited for fiction. Jacqueline Jones received the history prize...
WNBA’s Brittney Griner still adjusting after Russian prison ordeal, details experience in book
Brittney Griner continues to try to settle into a normal routine after being released from a Russian prison 17 months ago. Life isn’t what it once was for the perennial WNBA All-Star. The 6-foot-8 center looks different and has different priorities. Gone are her familiar dreadlocks that couldn’t be maintained...
Western Pennsylvania bookstores celebrate Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday
Lovers of reading have a chance to celebrate their favorite booksellers — and get some fun giveaways in the process — with the nationwide Independent Bookstore Day on Saturday. Independent Bookstore Day, now in its 11th year, is an event conceived by the American Booksellers Association. Participating bookstores offer giveaways,...
Goddaughter of King Charles III, India Hicks, to speak at Carnegie Museum of Art
Having a king as a godfather is pretty cool. Just ask India Hicks — hers is King Charles III, monarch of the United Kingdom. Hicks will be in Pittsburgh as the featured guest at the On Dec 2024 presentation and luncheon sponsored by the Women’s Committee of the Carnegie Museum...
Salman Rushdie’s ‘Knife’ is unflinching about his brutal stabbing and uncanny in its vital spirit
NEW YORK — In Salman Rushdie’s first book since the 2022 stabbing that hospitalized him and left him blind in one eye, the author wastes no time reliving the day he thought might be his last. “At a quarter to eleven on August 12, 2022, on a sunny Friday morning...
Higher-ed experts discuss impact of banning books at Greensburg panel
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg professor Liz Jones can still remember the first time she picked up a copy of Elie Wiesel’s memoir “Night,” at 12 years old. The book’s frank descriptions of the horrors of the Holocaust would stick with her for life. “It blew me away. I was...
Colter Harper hosting book launch for ‘Jazz in the Hill’
Colter Harper’s book “Jazz in the Hill” explores the musical genre through the lens of conversation and community as a catalyst for change. Harper provides a direct look at the dialogue between musicians and listeners, as well as the connection between the community and its people. At a book release...
Howard Ehrlichman writes book about years of driving a Yellow Cab in Pittsburgh
You’ve hailed a cab. No. 125 pulls up. In his book “Not a Bad Trip: A Pittsburgh Cab Story,” the driver will take you on some of the thousands of trips he has made throughout his career. Howard “Howie” Ehrlichman of Wilkins slid behind the wheel of a Checker Cab...
Allegheny County Bar Association Homer S. Brown Division launches children’s book celebrating Black lawyers
The Homer S. Brown Division of the Allegheny County Bar Association is celebrating its first children’s book, “Black Lawyers of the Burgh: An Anthology,” with the community on Saturday. The book, published earlier this month, profiles 28 local Black attorneys and judges and their career journeys. The theme for the...
Carnegie Museum of Art honors Audre Lorde’s 90th birthday
Audre Lorde was born in New York City and was a prolific writer and poet whose work addressed the state of the world, confronted inequities, and brought to light the tossing aside of Black queer women. On Sunday, what would have been Lorde’s 90th birthday was celebrated at Carnegie Museum...
Silent Book Club gains traction in the Pittsburgh region
The rules of Silent Book Club are simple: No assigned reading, no homework and no small talk required. Members are expected to show up at a designated meeting place with whatever title they’re enjoying, sit and read. They can share thoughts if they want, but they don’t have to. The...
Libraries see rise in usage since covid; circulation, eBook usage increases
Scott Mason of Greensburg was spending his Saturday morning at the Greensburg Hempfield Area Library in Greensburg, reading a 1931 book on Revolutionary War hero Arthur St. Clair for an upcoming presentation before the Greensburg Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Mason relies upon the reference books in...
Simon & Schuster marks centennial with list of 100 notable books, from ‘Catch-22’ to ‘Eloise’
NEW YORK — One of the world’s largest and most influential publishers, Simon & Schuster, celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. To mark the centennial, the publisher has unveiled a list of 100 notable releases — a blend of bestsellers, prize winners, headline makers and cultural sensations. The list tells...
N. Scott Momaday, Pulitzer Prize winner and giant of Native American literature, dead at 89
NEW YORK — N. Scott Momaday, a Pulitzer Prize-winning storyteller, poet, educator and folklorist whose debut novel “House Made of Dawn” is widely credited as the starting point for contemporary Native American literature, has died. He was 89. Momaday died Wednesday at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, publisher...
Works of poetry, fiction and nonfiction receive $10,000 ‘Science + Literature’ awards
NEW YORK — A poetry collection, a coming-of-age novel and a history of deep sea exploration are unlikely to be found in the same section of your favorite bookstore. But they all have enough in common to be this year’s winners of Science + Literature awards, $10,000 prizes administered by...
Scholar discovers stories and poems possibly written by Louisa May Alcott under a pseudonym
WORCESTER, Mass. — The author of “Little Women” may have been even more productive and sensational than previously thought. Max Chapnick, a postdoctoral teaching associate at Northeastern University, believes he found about 20 stories and poems written by Louisa May Alcott under her own name as well as pseudonyms for...
