Lawyer/ventriloquist adds author to list
Valerie Leonhart Smalkin has worn a number of different hats in her life, but these days, it’s all about her shoes: a pair of lime green, Converse high-top sneakers.
Author James Patterson funding Towson scholarships
Author James Patterson will be giving scholarships to a handful of students at Towson University who plan to be teachers. The school announced this week that Patterson will provide eight scholarships of $6,000 to incoming freshmen who want to be teachers. The inaugural Towson University James Patterson Scholars will be chosen this fall. Recipients will […]
Best-selling author Tom Clancy has died at age 66
NEW YORK — In 1985, a year after the Cold War thriller “The Hunt for Red October” came out, Tom Clancy was invited to lunch at the White House, where he was questioned by Navy Secretary John Lehman. Who, the secretary wanted to know, gave Clancy access to all that secret material? Clancy, the best-selling […]
Annapolis woman publishes book on Hemingway
ANNAPOLIS — When Ernest Hemingway tells you to do something, how can you say no? Especially if you’re already contemplating a book with him as a main character. That was the position author Erika Robuck found herself in after she visited Hemingway’s home in Florida. She was swept away by the history and a fascination […]
The man who wrote the book on conventions
Like a lot of lawyers, Stan M. Haynes loves to read American history. Unlike most lawyers, Haynes loves it so much he’s written a book about it.
How Scalia thinks you should interpret the law
When Supreme Court justices aren’t interpreting our nation’s laws or deciding on the fate of health-care reform, they aren’t just kicking back and watching marathons of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” after work. Well, maybe they are, but they are also writing books. And in Justice Antonin Scalia’s newest book (which he co-authored), he is […]
Judge dismisses lawsuit against ‘Three Cups’ author
HELENA, Mont. — A federal judge on Monday dismissed a civil lawsuit against author Greg Mortenson, calling claims “flimsy and speculative” that the humanitarian and his publisher lied in his best-selling “Three Cups of Tea” and “Stones Into Schools” to boost book sales. The lawsuit by four people who bought Mortenson’s books claimed that they […]
Lipsett to receive AMWA’s Women in Science Award
Pamela A. Lipsett, M.D., M.H.P.E., the first female professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has been named the 2012 recipient of the American Medical Women’s Association’s Women in Science Award. The Woman in Science Award is presented to a female physician who has made exceptional contributions to medical science, especially […]
Silver Spring company gains rights to Agatha Christie estate
SILVER SPRING — Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot and other Agatha Christie characters are now under American ownership. Acorn Media Group announced Wednesday that it had acquired majority ownership of Agatha Christie Limited. The Silver Spring-based company now controls rights to the British mystery writer’s dozens of novels and plays, including “Murder on the Orient Express” [&hell[...]
Author’s letter is focal point in ‘The Help’ suit
JACKSON, Miss. — A handwritten letter from author Kathryn Stockett has become the focal point of a lawsuit over her bestselling novel “The Help,” which has been made into a box office hit. A housekeeper who works for Stockett’s brother claims her likeness was used in the book without permission. “The Help” is based on […]
Book collector claims to have evidence that Butch Cassidy survived
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Did Butch Cassidy, the notorious Old West outlaw who most historians believe perished in a 1908 shootout in Bolivia, actually survive that battle and live to old age, peacefully and anonymously, in Washington state? And did he pen an autobiography detailing his exploits while cleverly casting the book as biography under another […]
New book takes on zero tolerance fervor in schools
NEW YORK — High-tech surveillance. Metal detectors. Zero tolerance for, well, just about any bad behavior, real or overblown. Welcome to “Lockdown High,” the title of a sweeping new book by journalist Annette Fuentes, describing how the schoolhouse has become a jailhouse and fear prevails. Dating to Ronald Reagan’s war on drugs launched nearly three […]