Steinbeck's tender letter to son sells for more than $32,000
A heartfelt letter written by author John Steinbeck offering paternal advice to his teenage son who was experiencing love for the first time has sold at auction for more than $32,000.
Trial begins in case of missing California college student
Opening statements have begun in the case of Kristin Smart, who disappeared during her freshman year at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo more than 25 years ago.
![Publishing saw upheaval in 2020, but 'books are resilient'](https://www.ksat.com/resizer/wc2PR7unV28E_6drw7VB3Lzmo0o=/1600x1026/smart/filters:format(jpeg):strip_exif(true):strip_icc(true):no_upscale(true):quality(65)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gmg/E7QNBKFOIBELLC4SHKP23JRJME.jpg)
Publishing saw upheaval in 2020, but 'books are resilient'
(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)NEW YORK โ Book publishing in 2020 was a story of how much an industry can change and how much it can, or wants to, remain the same. To its benefit and to its dismay, publishing was drawn into the events of the moment. Penguin Random House, among other initiatives, asked all employees to read Ibram X. Kendiโs โHow To Be an Anti-Racist.โ Kendi later presided over a company town hall. Macmillan CEO Don Weisberg, who cited a wide range of diversity programs at the publishing house that began before โAmerican Dirt,โ said he โunderstands the skepticism." The CEO of Penguin Random House U.S., Madeline McIntosh, noted how well book publishing could meet the public's needs during the pandemic and other events of 2020.
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Obscure works by Chandler, Christie published this week
NEW YORK โ Two of crime fiction's most famous storytellers, Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie, also knew how to get a laugh. According to Tony Medawar, producer of the International Agatha Christie Festival (in Devon, England), Christie likely drew upon her own childhood in setting a playful atmosphere, with the kids showing proper irreverence for the supposedly world famous detective. โChristmas Adventure" also is appearing in the upcoming Christie collection โMidwinter Murder,โ which comes out Oct. 20. "โChristmas Adventureโ is a particularly light-hearted story," Medawar says. Chandler's employer guide, according to Chandler scholar Dr. Sarah Trott, was likely written in the early 1950s, when Chandler hired a private secretary, Juanita Messick.
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Alexie, Pilkey books among most 'challenged' of past decade
FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2016 file photo, author and filmmaker Sherman Alexie appears at a celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day at Seattle's City Hall. Alexie is included in a list of authors who wrote books that were among the 100 most subjected to censorship efforts over the past decade, as compiled by the American Library Association. All wrote books that were among the 100 most subjected to censorship efforts over the past decade, as compiled by the American Library Association. The association does not formally count the number of times books are actually removed from a library shelf or from a school reading list. โThere are actually two lines of objections to the Anne Frank diary,โ Caldwell-Stone says.
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'American Dirt' Latino backlash part of long publishing war
Her scathing review of โAmerican Dirt,โ in which she accuses Cummins of appropriating works by Latinos, went viral. โAmerican Dirt,โ published last week, tells the story of a Mexican woman and her 8-year-old son fleeing to the U.S. border after a drug cartel kills the rest of their family. Some Latino celebrities posted selfies with the book; Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek later apologized for promoting โAmerican Dirtโ without having read it after she was attacked on social media. Latino critics say ``American Dirt'' contains stereotypes, incorrect regional slang, and cultural inaccuracies. Tony Diaz, a Mexican American novelist in Houston, had promised to organize a protest outside.