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Author William F. Buckley dies

photo courtesy of student.brittania.comFrom MSNBC.com:

William F. Buckley Jr., the erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald who showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right’s post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House, died Wednesday. He was 82.

His assistant Linda Bridges said Buckley was found dead by his cook at his home in Stamford, Conn. The cause of death was unknown, but he had been ill with emphysema, she said.

Read the rest of the article here.

Posted on February 27, 2008 by Anne at 02:56 PM | | Comments (0)

Elizabeth Hardwick dies at 91.

From The New York Times:
Elizabeth Hardwick (photo courtesy NYTimes)
Elizabeth Hardwick, the critic, essayist, fiction writer and co-founder of The New York Review of Books, who went from being a studious Southern Belle to a glittering member of the New York City intellectual elite, died Sunday night in Manhattan. She was 91.

Her death, at a Manhattan hospital, was confirmed today by her daughter, Harriet Lowell.

Known mainly as a critic, and credited for expanding the possibilities of the literary essay through her intimate tone and her dramatic deployment of forceful logic, Ms. Hardwick nevertheless resisted easy classification. Although born into a large Protestant family in Lexington, Ky., she had her eye on New York City and its culture from an early age.
Continue reading this article here.

 

Posted on December 06, 2007 by Meghan at 08:23 PM | | Comments (0)

Norman Mailer dead at 84.

In very sad news, from CNN.com:

Norman Mailer (photo courtesy CNN.com)Norman Mailer, the outspoken writer whose prize-winning works made him a towering figure on the American stage for more than 50 years, is dead. He was 84.

Mailer died about 4:30 a.m. Saturday at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, his literary executor, J. Michael Lennon, said.

Author of "The Naked and the Dead," "The Armies of the Night" and "The Executioner's Song," Mailer was probably the most famous of the generation of writers who came of age after World War II -- he was certainly the most colorful, and most pugnaciously so.

He wrote constantly: novels, screenplays, articles (he was a key figure in the "New Journalism" movement of the 1960s), poems, polemics. He co-founded the Village Voice. He was married six times.
Continue reading this article here.

 

Posted on November 10, 2007 by Meghan at 11:12 AM | | Comments (0)

Robert Jordan dead at 58.

From CNN.com:

Knife of Dreams by Robert JordanCHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) -- Author Robert Jordan, whose "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy novels sold millions of copies, has died of a rare blood disease, his aide said Monday. He was 58.

Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., died Sunday at the Medical University of South Carolina of complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, his personal assistant, Maria Simons, said. The disease attacks the body's major organs; in Jordan's case, it caused the walls of his heart to thicken.

He wrote a trilogy of historical novels set in Charleston under the pen name Reagan O'Neal in the early 1980s. Then he turned his attention to fantasy and the first volume in his Wheel of Time epic, "The Eye of the World," was published in 1990 under the name Robert Jordan.
Continue reading this article here.

 

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Meghan at 03:20 PM | | Comments (1)

Poet and short story writer Grace Paley dead at 84.

Grace Paley (photo courtesy CNN.com)From CNN.com:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Poet and short story writer Grace Paley, a literary eminence and old-fashioned rebel who described herself as a "combative pacifist," has died. She was 84.

Paley, who had battled breast cancer, died Wednesday at her home in Thetford Hill, Vermont, according to her husband, playwright Robert Nichols.

A published writer since the 1950s, Paley released only a handful of books over the next half century, mostly short stories and poems. Writing was a passion, but not a compulsion: She never felt the need to put every experience into words. Her fiction, although highly praised, competed for time with work, activism, family and friends.

"None of it happened, and yet every word of it is true," she once said of her fiction. "It's truth embedded in the lie."
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on August 23, 2007 by Meghan at 11:36 AM | | Comments (0)

Author Mark Harris dead at 84.

From CNN.com:

Mark Harris, best known for baseball novels that included "Bang the Drum Slowly," narrated by the fictional Henry Wiggen, has died. He was 84.

Harris died Wednesday at Cottage Hospital, a month after he broke his hip in a fall and got pneumonia, his wife, Josephine, said Friday from their home in Goleta.

Harris had Alzheimer's disease, she said.

Harris wrote five nonfiction books and 13 novels, including the baseball books "The Southpaw" (1953), "Bang the Drum Slowly" (1956), "A Ticket for a Seamstitch" (1957) and "It Looked Like Forever" (1979).

"Bang the Drum Slowly," which he also adapted for the 1973 movie starring Michael Moriarty and Robert De Niro, was the most popular of the four, and it was named one of the top 100 sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on June 04, 2007 by Meghan at 06:18 PM | | Comments (0)

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio author dead.

From CNN.com:

Prize Winner of Defiance, OhioDEFIANCE, Ohio (AP) -- Terry Ryan, who wrote the book "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," later turned into a movie, about how her mother kept the family financially afloat by winning jingle contests, has died. She was 60.

Ryan died Wednesday of cancer at her home in San Francisco, her family said.

She was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2004 just after filming of the movie was completed. The DreamWorks film, starring Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson, was released in 2005.

Ryan, the sixth of the family's 10 children, told the story of how her mother, Evelyn, won cars, refrigerators, televisions and money in commercial jingle contests during the 1950s and '60s in this town about 50 miles southwest of Toledo.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on May 18, 2007 by Meghan at 10:38 AM | | Comments (0)

Pulitzer winning writer Halberstam dies in car crash.

The Best and the Brightest

From The LA Times:

SAN FRANCISCO — David Halberstam, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose sweeping career as a newspaper reporter and author included coverage of the civil rights struggle in the South and the Vietnam War as well as probing accounts of media barons and sports legends, was killed Monday in a car crash in the Bay Area.

Halberstam, a front-seat passenger in a car that was broadsided, was 73.

Winner of the Pulitzer in 1964 for his Vietnam coverage for the New York Times — groundbreaking reporting that questioned the nation's ability to win the war and lifted him into the ranks of the country's leading journalists — Halberstam went on to write 21 books. He was praised Monday by fellow authors and journalists for the scope of his work and the expansiveness of his approach in tackling his topics. They also lauded his courage and integrity.

His 1972 book about the missteps of American leaders in Vietnam, "The Best and the Brightest," became a classic, and the phrase "best and brightest" entered the American lexicon — albeit without the irony the author intended.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on April 24, 2007 by Meghan at 09:08 AM | | Comments (0)

So it goes...author Kurt Vonnegut is gone.

A Man Without a CountryA wonderful vivid obituary for a truly great writer. I don't know about anyone else, but Kurt Vonnegut's writing has had a huge impact on my life, and he will be greatly missed.

From today's New York Times... 

"Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night in Manhattan. He was 84 and had homes in Manhattan and in Sagaponack on Long Island.

Mr. Vonnegut suffered irreversible brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago, according to his wife, Jill Krementz.

Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States.

Like Mark Twain, Mr. Vonnegut used humor to tackle the basic questions of human existence: Why are we in this world? Is there a presiding figure to make sense of all this, a god who in the end, despite making people suffer, wishes them well?"

Continue reading this article here.

Check out books by Kurt Vonnegut. I recommend his newest, A Man Without a Country, although he never wrote a book (or essay or short story) that I didn't treasure.

"Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt." - Slaughterhouse Five

Posted on April 12, 2007 by Lissa at 08:36 AM | | Comments (0)

Author and columnist Molly Ivins dies at 62.

From NPR.org:

Molly Ivins (photo courtesy NPR.org)Conventional journalism didn't quite fit Molly Ivins, the liberal political columnist and author.

Ivins, who died Wednesday of breast cancer at age 62, bedeviled politicians — especially those of her native Texas — with witty political critiques.

She started at The Houston Chronicle and The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, but by 1969, Ivins had had enough of conventional newspaper editors.

"I couldn't find any way to tell the truth in a regular newspaper," she said in a 2006 interview.
Continue reading this article here.

Thanks to staffer Stuart for the article! She will be missed.

Posted on February 01, 2007 by Meghan at 05:13 PM | | Comments (0)

Author Sidney Sheldon dead at 89.

From CNN.com:

The Other Side of Me by Sidney SheldonLOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers -- Broadway theater, movies and television -- then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels, has died.

Sheldon was 89.

Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist. His wife, Alexandra, and his daughter, author Mary Sheldon, were by his side.

"I've lost a longtime and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I've never heard an unkind word said about him."

Sheldon's books, with titles such as "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes," provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on January 31, 2007 by Meghan at 09:52 AM | | Comments (0)

Author Bebe Moore Campbell dies at 56.

From CNN.com:

Your Blues Ain't Like MineLOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Bebe Moore Campbell, whose many best sellers such as "Brothers and Sisters" touched on America's ethnic and social divides, died Monday. She was 56.

Campbell died at home in Los Angeles from complications due to brain cancer, said publicist Linda Wharton-Boyd. She was diagnosed with the disease in February.

"My wife was a phenomenal woman who did it her way," husband Ellis Gordon Jr. said in a statement. "She loved her family and her career as a writer."

Her books, largely fiction and based on real-life stories, included the perspective of many ethnic groups.

One of her first novels, "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine," was published in 1992 and spanned a 40-year period. It dealt with prejudice in the United States. The book earned her an NAACP Image Award for literature. She followed the book with "Brothers and Sisters," which focused on race relations in the corporate world after the 1992 Los Angeles riot.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on November 28, 2006 by Meghan at 10:47 AM | | Comments (0)

Author William Diehl dead at 81.

Eureka

From CNN.com:

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- William Diehl, best-selling author of "Primal Fear" and other novels, has died at Emory University Hospital. He was 81.

Diehl died Friday, said Sarah Carter of H.M. Patterson & Son funeral home in Atlanta. He died of aortic embolism, said his wife, Virginia Gunn.

He started on his first novel, "Sharky's Machine," while serving as a juror. Diehl, then 50, was bored by the trial and started writing fiction on a notepad. The book, published in 1978, became a best-seller and -- later -- a movie starring Burt Reynolds.

Diehl was unemployed when he got the news that the book was going to be published, his longtime friend Michael Parver said. When his agent first called to tell him, the phone line went dead. Diehl hadn't paid the bill, Parver told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on November 27, 2006 by Meghan at 01:35 PM | | Comments (0)

Author Ernestine Gilbreth Carey dies at 98.

From CNN.com:

Cheaper by the DozenFRESNO, California (AP) -- Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, whose lighthearted memoir, "Cheaper by the Dozen," detailed the frenentic life of a family with 12 children and inspired several films, has died.

Carey died Saturday of natural causes at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, her son Charles Carey Jr. said. She was 98.

"Cheaper by the Dozen," which Carey co-wrote with her brother Frank Gilbreth, became a best seller when it was published in 1948.

The book documented the adventures of the Gilbreth clan, which included six sons and six daughters and parents Lillian Moller Gilbreth and Frank Bunker Gilbreth, management experts who focused on the science of motion study and industrial efficiencies.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on November 06, 2006 by Meghan at 09:25 AM | | Comments (1)

William Styron dies at 81.

From CNN.com:

Sophie's ChoiceNEW YORK (AP) -- William Styron, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who wrote "Sophie's Choice," died Wednesday in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

He was 81.

Styron's daughter, Alexandra, said the author died of pneumonia at Martha's Vineyard Hospital. Styron, who had homes in Martha's Vineyard and Connecticut, had been in failing health for a long time.

"This is terrible," said Kurt Vonnegut, a longtime friend. "He was dramatic, he was fun. He was strong and proud and he was awfully good with the language. I hated to see him end this way."

The Virginia native was a handsome, muscular man, with a strong chin and wavy dark hair that turned an elegant white. His obsessions with race and class informed such tormented narratives as "Lie Down In Darkness" and "The Confessions of Nat Turner."
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on November 02, 2006 by Meghan at 11:32 AM | | Comments (0)

Crikey, I’ll miss Steve-O

The crocodile hunter : the incredible life and adventures of Steve and Terri Irwin Even though the news is a couple of days old, the death of Steve Irwin is still a little fresh with me.  I hope that some of you who read this can relate to my feelings.  Even though I didn’t know him personally, I really loved following Steve and his family these last couple of years.  I haven’t really been affected by too many celebrity deaths, but this one has definitely made me more than just a little sad. 

Steve-O definitely won’t get the number of mourners that Kurt Cobain or Elvis had in the past.  He just didn’t have that big of a following, but I believe that his work was more important.  Irwin helped to build the amount of conservation space for numerous species of animals around the world and his television show educated millions of viewers about some frightening animals that are seen as not quite so scary anymore.  Besides all of the education and saving of animals, he was an all around charming, funny, caring character to watch, as well as a loving father and husband.  My heart goes out to Terri, Bindi, and Bob and the rest of the Irwin family for their loss.

Posted on September 06, 2006 by at 08:30 AM | | Comments (3)

Nobel-winning Egyptian writer dies

From CNN.com:

The DreamsNaguib Mahfouz, the legendary Egyptian story-teller who is the only writer in Arabic to win a Nobel Prize in Literature, has died aged 95 in Cairo, his doctor said.

Mahfouz -- whose novels depicted Egyptian life in his beloved corner of ancient Cairo -- was admitted to a hospital more than a month ago for an injury to his head.

His physician, Dr. Hossam Mowafi, said he died Wednesday morning after a sharp decline.

"His wife last night was whispering in his ears and he was smiling and nodding," Mowafi said.

The Nobel Web site, in a short biography, said Mahfouz began writing at the age of 17 and his first novel was published in 1939. He has written many novels, stories, and articles since.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on August 30, 2006 by Meghan at 11:50 AM | | Comments (0)

National Lampoon Co-founder dead at age 59

Animal House (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)Robert K. Hoffman, on of the three people to start the comedic magazine National Lampoon died today from Leukemia. Henry Beard, the last remaining member of the founders of the magazine (Doug Kenney died in the early ‘80s), said of Hoffman, “National Lampoon never would have happened, and none of the things that came out of it would have happened without Robert.  He had an exceptional pair of talents – he was extremely smart and utterly fearless.”

A Futile and Stupid GestureContinue reading this article from CNN here.

Help memorialize Hoffman by checking out some of the Lampoon book and video collection at the library.

Be sure to put yourself on hold for the book A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever by Josh Karp, set to publish in September.

Posted on August 23, 2006 by at 01:30 AM | | Comments (0)

San Antonio poet and activist Sanchez dies at 63.

From the AP Wire:

SAN ANTONIO - Trinidad Sanchez Jr., a poet and activist who inspired audiences with his writing about culture and social issues, has died. He was 63.

Sanchez, who was known as "Trino," died Sunday at a San Antonio hospital. He had been hospitalized since mid-July after suffering two strokes.

Colleagues and fans remembered the Mexican-American poet for his trademark black beret and his passion for influencing aspiring Latino writers.

"Everyone adored him," said Naomi Shihab Nye, a San Antonio writer and friend of Sanchez. "He was one of the most-loved literary community members - he was a prince."
Continue reading this article here.

Get the works Trinidad Sanchez Jr. through InterLibrary Loan.

Posted on August 01, 2006 by Meghan at 01:12 PM | | Comments (0)

Author David Gemmell dies at 57.

Troy by David Gemmell

From BBC News:

Fantasy novelist David Gemmell, best known for stories such as Legend and Waylander, has died at the age of 57.

Gemmell had heart bypass surgery two weeks ago and appeared to be making a good recovery, according to his publisher Transworld.

His career began in 1984 with Legend, a tale of a fortress under siege. He wrote 30 novels in total.

Transworld managing director Larry Finlay said Gemmell was "writing at the peak of his powers".
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on July 31, 2006 by Meghan at 10:24 AM | | Comments (0)

Author Spillane dies at 88.

From MSN News:

Something's Down ThereCHARLESTON, S.C. – Mickey Spillane, the macho mystery writer who wowed millions of readers with the shoot-'em-up sex and violence of gumshoe Mike Hammer, died Monday. He was 88.

Spillane's death was confirmed by Brad Stephens of Goldfinch Funeral Home in his hometown of Murrells Inlet. Details about his death were not immediately available.

After starting out in comic books Spillane wrote his first Mike Hammer novel, "I, the Jury," in 1946. Twelve more followed, with sales topping 100 million. Notable titles included "The Killing Man," "The Girl Hunters" and "One Lonely Night."
Continue reading this article here.

Check out our collection of Mickey Spillane novels.

Posted on July 17, 2006 by Meghan at 07:04 PM | | Comments (1)

Author Judith Moore dies at 66.

Fat Girl

From the Contra Costa Times:

Judith Moore, a writer who assaulted her readers with an unflinching view of life from the obese side of the world, died a quiet death Monday at her Berkeley home. She was 66.

Moore had been diagnosed with colon cancer in late 2003, 18 months before her best-selling book, "Fat Girl: A True Story," debuted last year. But she told no one except her family about her illness.

People tend to look at you differently when they know you have cancer, Moore told her daughter, Rebecca Moore. And so Moore, whose description of a cheeseburger could make you smell and feel it, and whose recounting of her mother's brutality left you shaking in rage and fear, said not a word about her disease.
Continue reading this article here.

Check out Fat Girl: a True Story and read why Judith Moore chose to wrote her story the way she did.

Posted on May 19, 2006 by Meghan at 03:07 PM | | Comments (0)

Jane Jacobs dead at 89.

Death and LifeFrom CNN.com:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Jane Jacobs, an author and community activist of singular influence whose classic "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" transformed ideas about urban planning, died Tuesday, her publisher said. Jacobs, a longtime resident of Toronto, was 89.

Jacobs died in her sleep Tuesday morning at a Toronto hospital, which she entered a few days ago, according to Random House publicist Sally Marvin. Jacobs' son, James, was with her at the time. The author, who would have turned 90 on May 4, had been in poor health.
Continue reading this article here.

Check out The Death and Life of Great American Cities today!

Posted on April 25, 2006 by Meghan at 08:27 PM | | Comments (0)

Novelist Muriel Spark dies, age 88.

Prime of Miss Jean Brodie From CNN.com:

ROME, Italy (AP) -- Muriel Spark, whose spare and humorous novels made her one of the most admired British writers of the post World War II years, has died in Tuscany, Italian officials said Saturday. She was 88.

Spark died Thursday in a hospital in Florence, said Massimiliano Dindalini, the mayor of the Tuscan village of Civitella della Chiana, where Spark had lived for almost three decades. A funeral was scheduled there for later Saturday, Dindalini said.

Spark wrote more than 20 novels, of which the most famous was "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie."
Continue reading this article here.

Check out Muriel Spark’s works today.

 

Posted on April 16, 2006 by Meghan at 06:04 PM | | Comments (0)

Writer Henry Farrell dead at 85.

From CNN.com:

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Henry Farrell, author of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" and other melodramatic thrillers that spurred a genre of psychological horror movies featuring female protagonists, has died. He was 85.

Farrell died March 29 after a long illness at his home in Pacific Palisades, longtime friend Mary Bishop said.

"Baby Jane," which Farrell wrote in 1960, was the basis for the film two years later, which brought actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford together for the first time, late in their flagging careers. The two played once-famous sisters whose lives ended in disappointment and tragedy.
Continue reading this article here.

Posted on April 05, 2006 by Meghan at 01:06 PM | | Comments (1)

Sci-fi author Stanislaw Lem dead at 84.

Solaris

From CNN.com:

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Stanislaw Lem, a popular science fiction writer whose novel "Solaris" was filmed twice, died Monday in his native Poland, his secretary said. He was 84.

Lem died in Krakow, Wojciech Zemek told The Associated Press. Zemek did not give other details or the cause of death, citing only Lem's advanced age.

Lem was one of the most popular science fiction authors of recent decades to write in a language other than English, and his works were translated from Polish into more than 40 other languages. His books have sold 27 million copies.
Continue reading this article here.

Check out books by Stanislaw Lem from our sci-fi collection and view his official website.

Posted on March 27, 2006 by Meghan at 05:08 PM | | Comments (0)

Author/director/photographer Gordan Parks dies.

The Learning Tree From CNN.com:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gordon Parks, who captured the struggles and triumphs of black America as a photographer for Life magazine and then became Hollywood's first major black director with "The Learning Tree" and the hit "Shaft," died Tuesday, a family member said. He was 93. Parks, who also wrote fiction and was an accomplished composer, died in New York, his nephew, Charles Parks, said in a telephone interview from Lawrence, Kansas.

"Nothing came easy," Parks wrote in his autobiography. "I was just born with a need to explore every tool shop of my mind, and with long searching and hard work. I became devoted to my restlessness."
Continue reading this article here.

Get a copy of The Learning Tree or any other of Gordon Park's works.
Check out some of Park's photographs on the Photo District News website.

Posted on March 07, 2006 by Meghan at 07:36 PM | | Comments (2)

Sci-fi author Octavia Butler dies at 58.

Adulthood Rights From CNN.com:

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Octavia E. Butler, considered the first black woman to gain national prominence as a science fiction writer, has died, a close friend said Sunday. She was 58.

Butler fell and struck her head on the cobbled walkway outside her home, said Leslie Howle, a longtime friend and employee at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle.

The writer, who suffered from high blood pressure and heart trouble and could only take a few steps without stopping for breath, was found outside her home in the north Seattle suburb of Lake Forest Park and died Friday, Howle said.
Continue reading the article here.

Find Octavia Butler's works in our catalog.

Posted on February 27, 2006 by Meghan at 11:15 AM | | Comments (0)

Author Peter Benchley dies at 65.

From Yahoo News:

Shark LifeNEW YORK - Peter Benchley, whose novel "Jaws" terrorized millions of swimmers even as the author himself became an advocate for the conservation of sharks, has died at age 65, his widow said Sunday.

Wendy Benchley, married to the author for 41 years, said he died Saturday night at their home in Princeton, N.J. The cause of death, she said, was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and a fatal scarring of the lungs.
Continue reading the article here.

Check out our collection of Peter Benchley titles and watch the Jaws trilogy (guaranteed to make your scared of all water, including puddles and showers!).

Thanks to staffer Jeff I. for the heads up!

Posted on February 13, 2006 by Meghan at 11:07 AM | | Comments (0)

US feminist Betty Friedan dies

Feminine MystiqueFrom CNN.com: 

Betty Friedan, whose manifesto "The Feminine Mystique" became a best seller in the 1960s and laid the groundwork for the modern feminist movement, died Saturday, her birthday. She was 85.

 

Friedan died at her home of congestive heart failure, according to a cousin, Emily Bazelon.

Continue reading the article here.

 

Check out The Feminine Mystique, other works by Betty Friedan and more titles on feminism.

 

Thanks to staffer Susan for the tip.

Posted on February 06, 2006 by Meghan at 11:46 AM | | Comments (0)

Coretta Scott King dies

Human rights activist Coretta Scott King passed away last night (January 30, 2006).  She was 78 years old and the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here is a link to books by and about Coretta Scott King.  Here is a link to a biography of her life.  For additional information check out our list of websites and databases, free to use with a valid library card. 

Coretta Scott King also has a children's book award named after her, given annually to an an African American author and an African American illustrator.  Follow these links for Coretta Scott King Award winning authors and illustrators in our collection.

Posted on January 31, 2006 by Deb at 09:09 AM | | Comments (0)

Poet Irving Layton dead at 93

Canadian poet Irving Layton died at a Montreal long-term care facility on Wednesday, January 4, 2006. He was 93 years old. Find more news here.

Read more about his life and poetry here.

Order any of Irving Layton's works through Interlibrary Loan using OCLC and your library card.

Posted on January 05, 2006 by Meghan at 02:36 PM | | Comments (0)

Author Trevanian dead at 74

Eiger SanctionFrom CNN.com:

LONDON, England (AP) -- Novelist Rodney Whitaker, who wrote popular thrillers under the pen name Trevanian, has died, his literary agent said Tuesday. He was 74.

Whitaker died December 14 in western England of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and was buried the next day, his agent Michael V. Carlisle said. He did not disclose the exact location, in keeping with the family's wishes.

Whitaker's best-known book was "The Eiger Sanction," an Alpine tale of spies and assassins that became a 1975 film starring Clint Eastwood.

Continue reading the article...

Check out more Trevanian titles.

Posted on December 21, 2005 by Meghan at 11:50 AM | | Comments (0)