The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.
Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenage girl shot in the head by a Taliban gunman last fall for advocating girls' right to an education, plans to publish a memoir this fall titled, I Am Malala. "I want to tell my story, but it will also be the story of 61 million children who can't get education," she wrote in a press release. Reports put the deal around $3 million, but no one at publisher Little, Brown was willing to confirm the number.
Did you know that Sylvia Plath wrote a children's book?
Brandee Barker, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's spokesperson, allegedly told a critic of Sandberg's book, Lean In, "There's a special place in hell for you." Taylor Swift joke, hoax or nervous breakdown?
Nathan Englander, on needing coffee to write, in an interview with The Daily Beast: "I used to drink coffee Balzac-style, literally 90 gallons of coffee a day. I'm three years clean on decaf. I thought the muse was contained in the act of consuming enough caffeine until you were at the edge of psychosis — you know, until you're writing with the lights off because you also think you're hiding from the CIA."
Atlas Shrugged: Part III, is coming soon to a theatre near you. (Prompting the question — did anyone know that there were Atlas Shrugged: Parts I & II?)
The California Department of Education's new recommended reading list, released last week, has caused a stir because of a backlash against the handful of books featuring gay and transgender characters. In particular, comments from Sandy Rios, a radio show host and Fox News contributor, sparked outrage. Rios said, "The reading lists are very overtly propagating a point of view that is at odds with most American parents. Leftist educators are advocates of everything from socialism to sexual anarchy. It's very base; it's raping the innocence of our children."
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