Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilbert King

Gilbert King, author of Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2013.

He appears Sunday, May 5, on the WordSmitten About the Books broadcast. He discusses his Pulitzer Prize-winning book with Kate Sullivan, host of the show.

King has written about Supreme Court history and the death penalty for the New York Times and the Washington Post. He is a featured contributor to Smithsonian magazine’s history blog, Past Imperfect. He lives in New York City with his wife, two daughters, and a French Bulldog named Louis.

The Scent of Scandal

Craig Pittman appears on the WordSmitten “About the Books” broadcast to discuss his recent book, “The Scent of Scandal.” The segment airs live from NYC and Pittman will discuss his work as a journalist (he writes environmental columns for the Tampa Bay Times) and as an author.

Pittman has also written freelance stories about manatees, the Everglades, offshore drilling and other topics for Smithsonian, Planning, Sarasota and Gulfshore Life magazines, winning two first-place awards from the Florida Magazine Association. He lives in St. Petersburg with his wife and two children.

In February, he taught a session on manuscript revision at the 7th Annual WordSmitten Writing Conference at the St. Petersburg Museum of History (SPMOH.com) and appeared on the panel with bestselling author Tom Robbins, entertainment attorney Peter Dekom, Eckerd College professor Sterling Watson, and WEDU-TV host and author Cathy Unruh.

Tune in to the fun. If you miss the live broadcast, download the podcast from iTunes (keyword WordSmitten).

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Tom Robbins Master Class Fiction :: February 23, 2013

Author Tom Robbins is emerging from his cocoon in Seattle and flying to St. Petersburg, Florida.

Robbins will teach a master class in fiction and this writing workshop is a rare event. He does not appear in public very often and has offered to teach a master class on the topic of creative writing (novels and short stories). Robbins is a bestselling author (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Another Roadside Attraction, Jitterbug Perfume, Skinny Legs and All, and many more).

Luncheon panelists include Margo Hammond (former book editor of the Times), Cathy Unruh (WEDU-TV and author of Taming Me), Sterling Watson (Eckerd College professor of creative writing and author of bestselling novels), and Kate Sullivan (host of About-the-Books.com radio broadcast).

Register early. Seating is limited.
Advance registration ends December 31, 2012
Regular registration begins January 1, 2013
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http://wordsmitten-tomrobbins.eventbrite.com/

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For more information, contact:
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St. Petersburg, FL 33713

Author Tom Robbins Interview

Even cowgirls get the blues, according to bestselling author Tom Robbins, who has also written a children’s book that explains why dad drinks beer. The title is “B is for Beer” and describes why hops are good and what the Beer Fairy does for a living.

Robbins is a guest on About the Books on November 25, and will answer age-old questions, asked by Kate Sullivan, producer and host of the broadcast. Questions:

1. Have you always been able to fly?

2. If you were a dog, would you bite interlopers?

CEO John Tayman Talking Story at Byliner.com

Our November 11, 2012 segment of About the Books features the CEO of Byliner, John Tayman. Kate Sullivan interviews Tayman from his San Francisco offices of Byliner to discuss this new eBook publishing concept he created and funded not only with first round funding from venture capital firms in California, but moreover, with support from Random House.

According to Fast Company, this hot new online firm is “One of the Ten Most Innovative Media Companies in the World.”

From a statement on the Byliner site the company describes what they do (publish short fiction and nonfiction) and why they do it.

“What’s Byliner’s story? We’re the leading publisher in the fastest-growing segment of digital books, commonly—if inelegantly—known as eSingles.” –Byliner.com

According to Byliner, they “commission and publish original stories from some of the world’s best fiction and nonfiction writers.

“These stories, written to be read in a single sitting, range between 5,000 and 30,000 words, and can be purchased at online booksellers for your Kindle, iPad/iPhone, NOOK, or Android device. Since our launch in June 2011 we’ve had 26 bestselling Byliner Originals, including works by Jon Krakauer, Nick Hornby, Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan, Ann Patchett, Buzz Bissinger, and others.”

Tune in to the fun. Sunday afternoons.
The WordSmitten “About the Books” broadcast.

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National Book Award Finalists – Exclusive Interview

Kate Sullivan’s guest on this segment of About the Books is Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the National Book Awards. The NBF is announcing the finalists in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young adult literature this week.

The National Book Foundation’s list of finalists for this year are:

FICTION
Junot Dí­az, This Is How You Lose Her
Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Dave Eggers, A Hologram for the King
McSweeney’s Books

Louise Erdrich, The Round House
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

Ben Fountain, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds
Little, Brown and Company

NONFICTION
Anne Applebaum, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956
Doubleday

Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
Random House

Robert A. Caro, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4
Knopf

Domingo Martinez, The Boy Kings of Texas
Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot Press

Anthony Shadid, House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

YOUNG PEOPLE’S LITERATURE
William Alexander, Goblin Secrets
Margaret K. McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing

Carrie Arcos, Out of Reach
Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing

Patricia McCormick, Never Fall Down
Balzer+Bray, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

Eliot Schrefer, Endangered
Scholastic

Steve Sheinkin, Bomb: The Race to Build—- and Steal– – the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon
Flash Point, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press

Harold Augenbraum has published seven books on Latino literature of the United States, including the Encyclopedia Latina (2006, with Ilan Stavans), Lengua Fresca (2006, with Ilan Stavans) and, with five colleagues, the Norton Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature (2010). He translated Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition (2002), the Filipino novelist José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere (2006) for Penguin Classics, and Rizal’s second novel, El Filibusterismo (2011). In 2013, Penguin will publish his edition of The Collected Poems of Marcel Proust.

Augenbraum has been awarded ten grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, received a Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America for distinguished service to the mystery field, founded the Proust Society of America, and co-directed the national celebration of the centennial of the birth of John Steinbeck.

Madeline Miller – Gods and Mythology

Madeline Miller, winner of Britain’s Orange Prize appears on this week’s segment of the About the Books broadcast.

According to the British newspaper, the Guardian, Miller’s “lively first novel, The Song of Achilles…was this week awarded the Orange prize for fiction. Miller, still blinking and beaming, is floating on endorphins.”

With support for the Orange Prize wavering, Miller’s achievement may be a last and historic event in the history of British literature. It may be the last year of the Orange prize, after a mobile phone company withdrew sponsorship, according to an unexpected and abrupt announcement from the sponsor.

Miller says she is “concerned and hopeful the award for women’s literature will continue.”

On a strong shortlist, including Ann Patchett, Anne Enright, Cynthia Ozick and Esi Edugyan, Miller’s novel was a slightly surprising winner. The Song of Achilles “is highly enjoyable, and full of scholarship, but also occasionally pulpy,” according to the British report.

Finding Big Stone Gap – A Memoir

On September 23, Kate Sullivan interviews debut author Wendy Welch who discusses her memoir, The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap.

Welch discusses her hard-to-find bookshop, recruiting a shop-sitter (they found one as a result of coverage by Huffington Post, NPR, and the LA Times), being an educator at UVA, and what it takes for a used bookshop owner to wrangle cats, kittens, customers, and avid readers in a forlornly rural location.