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Books and literature

'Fifty Shades' publisher awards $5,000 bonuses
Thanks to "Fifty Shades of Grey," employees at Random House Inc. are seeing green. Every worker, from sales to editorial to distribution, will receive ...
Review: The action is fast in Kovacs' 'Good Junk'
"Good Junk" (Minotaur Books), by Ed Kovacs New Orleans private detective Cliff St. James finds himself probing the deadly netherworld of foreign ...
Correction: People-PSY-Protests story
In a story Dec. 7 about the South Korean rapper PSY, The Associated Press erroneously reported the date of a charity concert where the singer is ...
AP Exclusive: China Nobel wife speaks on detention
Stunned that reporters were able to visit her, Liu Xia trembled uncontrollably and cried as she described how absurd and emotionally draining her ...
Chinese Nobel literature winner: censorship a must
This year's Nobel Prize in literature winner, Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his membership in China's Communist Party and reluctance to speak ...
Winfrey picks Mathis' debut novel for book club
Add another book for possible holiday gifts: Oprah Winfrey's latest 2.0 selection. Winfrey announced Wednesday that she has chosen Ayana Mathis' debut ...
Russian writer Vasily Belov dies at 80
Vasily Belov, a writer who paid homage to old rural Russia in his books, has died. He was 80. Belov's death late Tuesday was announced by the ...
Huston's "Infrared" wins Bad Sex fiction prize
It's the prize no author wants to win. Award-winning novelist Nancy Huston won Britain's Bad Sex in Fiction award Tuesday for her novel "Infrared," ...
New search engine connects literary dots
Author Jennifer Gilmore is reading a biography of the late David Foster Wallace. She's curious about his most famous book, the novel "Infinite Jest," ...
Data: New (physical) book chronicles the virtual
We question. We research. We catalog. We quantify. We aggregate, calculate, communicate, analyze, extrapolate and conclude. And eventually, if we're ...
Dick Cheney working on book about heart treatment
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the world's most prominent heart patients, is working on a book about his many battles with coronary disease ...
Book traces odd journey of Cohen's song
It's hard to think of any song that has taken a stranger journey through popular culture than Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Recorded in 1984, it was ...
AP Newsbreak: New Suzanne Collins book in 2013
"The Hunger Games" novelist Suzanne Collins has a new book coming out next year. The multimillion-selling children's author has completed an ...
Spanish poet wins Cervantes literature prize
Spanish poet and essayist Jose Manuel Caballero Bonald has won the 2012 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honor.
Title, release date announced for Amanda Knox book
Amanda Knox's upcoming memoir has a title, a cover design and a new publication date. HarperCollins announced Wednesday the book is titled "Waiting ...
Nobel winning economist Roth has book deal
One of this year's winners of the Nobel Prize for economics is working on a new book. Alvin Roth, an economics professor at Harvard University and ...
Bob Saget book due in 2014
Bob Saget has a book coming out, and, yes, it may get dirty. The actor and standup comedian has a deal with It Books, an imprint of HarperCollins ...
Simon & Schuster helps launch self-publisher
A leading mainstream publisher and a top self-publishing company are teaming up. Simon & Schuster and Author Solutions Inc. on Tuesday announced the ...
Nolan Ryan to serve up beef cookbook in 2014
A new book by baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan will be a bit of a sizzler. The game's all-time strikeout king is also a longtime Texas rancher and ...
Obama buys books to promote independent shops
President Barack Obama made a quick trip to a Virginia bookstore for some Christmas shopping. The president took his daughters, Sasha and Malia, to ...
Best-selling Australian author Courtenay dies
Best-selling Australian author Bryce Courtenay, whose first and final books drew on his tough early-life experiences in Africa, has died of stomach ...
Australian author Bryce Courtenay dies of cancer
Australian best-selling author Bryce Courtenay has died of stomach cancer. He was 79. His publisher Penguin Group said Friday that the South ...
Appalachian book project helps inmates in 6 states
For people behind bars in six Appalachian states, they are one of the few forms of escape — hundreds of used books, wrapped in brown paper and stacked ...
Review: Tony Bennett's meditations on show biz
"Life Is a Gift: The Zen of Bennett" (Harper Collins), by Tony Bennett When you've been as successful as Tony Bennett over 60 years in show business, ...
Book gift guide: 20 picks for the season
Louise Erdrich is more than this year's winner of the National Book Award for fiction. She's a bookstore owner and has some ideas for what customers ...