For the latest in the world of books from The Australian Women’s Weekly Books Editor, read on!
And now for something completely different…actress Shirley MacLaine who has written her share of bestsellers – six, according to Publishers Weekly – has a new book coming out called Out on a Leash: Exploring Reality and Love. Shirley is ‘co-authoring’ it with her pet terrier, Terry, with each providing insights into the other’s life.
According to USA Today, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s image has improved since the release of her blockbuster memoir. In a poll conducted after the release of Living History, more than half said they have a favourable view of the former first lady.
One of the stars at the recent BookExpo America, “the world’s largest publishing event”, was actor Buddy Ebsen, best known as Jed Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies and TV sleuth, Barnaby Jones. His book, Kelly’s Quest, a love story about one woman’s need for love and success in a world dominated by men, has been a Los Angeles Times bestseller.
The June issue of Publishers Weekly announces that Australian children’s writer, the talented Andy Griffiths, has become a big star in the US with his book, The Day My Bum Went Psycho (“Bum” has been replaced by “Butt” in the US version), rocketing up the bestseller charts. Now his ‘Just’ series about to be published there as well.
Singer/songwriter/activist, Kris Kristofferson, is writing a memoir for Hyperion.
Barbara Taylor Bradford is suing a large Indian production company for using her Woman of Substance trilogy as the basis for a prime-time television series.
The nextshort story contest to be staged by The Australian Women’s Weekly will be launched at the opening night dinner of the Byron Bay Writers Festival on Thursday July 31. Details along with entry coupon will be published in the August issue of The Women’s Weekly. Guests at the biggest regional writing festival will include Malcom Fraser, Midnight Oil’s Rob Hirst, Nomra Khouri, Susan Mitchell, Sarah McDonald, Peter FitzSimons and local hero, David Leser, who is a regular contributor to The Australian Women’s Weekly.
According to Publishers Weekly (May issue), reports from several international news sources that recast the rescue of Jessica Lynch during the Iraqui war as a stunning case of “news management” by the Pentagon, could put HarperCollins on the defensive about its recent acquisition of a book about the mission. The reports question whether Lynch was in any real danger and whether the drama surrounding the mission was genuine.
UK entertainer, Cilla Black has just celebrated her 60th birthday and forthcoming autobiography, What’s It All About?
In the UK again, Cherie Booth, has signed up to co-write a book with Cate Haste (wife of Melvyn Bragg), which will be a social history of the changing role of the wife of the PM.
Simon & Schuster UK has bought The First Man: The Life of Neil A Armstrong, the authorised biography of the first man on the moon. Film rights have been picked up by Clint Eastwood who will produce and direct the movie version.
A book begun by Mark Twain in 1885 and finished more than a century later by US author Lee Nelson, has been released in the US. Published by The Mark Twain Foundation and the University of California Press, the book, which Twain stopped writing mid sentence after 15,000 words, is the sequel to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
There’s a lot of fizz surrounding next month’s publication of Shantaram, the book written by Australian, Gregory David Roberts, former heroin addict who spent 19 years in prison for a series of robberies of building societies. Shantaram is about his years spent in India after escaping from prison in 1980, where he set up a health clinic in the slums, acted in Bollywood movies and worked for the Bombay mafia. Word is that the writing is extraordinary and the book, already the subject of a hotly contested auction overseas, is being read right now by Russell Crowe.
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