The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.
According to the AP, a memoir out next month from Robert Bork, the solicitor general under President Nixon, claims that Nixon promised him the next open spot on the Supreme Court after Bork fired Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973's "Saturday Night Massacre." Bork, who died last December, was ultimately nominated to the High Court by President Reagan in 1987. But he was rejected by the Senate — after hearings that "marked the modern battle lines over judicial nominations," as NPR's Nina Totenberg has said.
Martha Graham Cracker, a legendary Philadelphia drag performer (whose costumes, incidentally, are very Seussian), became a subject of controversy this week after she was asked — and then uninvited — by an afterschool program to read Dr. Seuss to children for National Read Across America Day. A local church will host her instead.
English actor and probable vampire Russell Brand is working on another revelatory "Booky Wook," which will delve into his marriage to singer Katy Perry. What exactly is wrong with just calling it a "book"?
Writer (and former NPR NewsPoet) Paisley Rekdal won the $10,000 Rilke Prize for her book of poems, Animal Eye.
Vampires in the Lemon Groveauthor Karen Russell on missing the word "Hallelujah" during Lent in an interview with author Claire Vaye Watkins: "I was raised Catholic and one of my favorite times of year was right after Lent, Easter Sunday, when you can say 'Hallelujah' again. I don't know if any other kid felt the famine of Hallelujahs."
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Annalisa Quinn is a contributing writer, reporter, and literary critic for NPR. She created NPR's Book News column and covers literature and culture for NPR.
Known as a charming and witty man in private, Bork, who died Wednesday, was dour and humorless in his Senate confirmation hearings, and his answers seemed to play into the stereotype liberals painted of a man who cared little for the public. His Senate rejection changed the way future nominees have testified.
The competition coordinator of Britain's Diagram Prize says, "You can't judge a book by its cover, but I think people do." The winner will be announced March 22.