Delaware student wins $61,000 writing prize

Delaware student wins $61,000 writing prize

Congratulations to Tim Marcin, winner of Washington College's Sophie Kerr Prize, worth $61,192 this year.

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Winner of $61k Kerr literary prize announced

Winner of $61k Kerr literary prize announced

As the five young writers sat with bated breath, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda told them that a life of wordsmithing would bring them pain.

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Books a popular gift for Maryland governor

Books a popular gift for Maryland governor

Books -- about the War of 1812, the Chesapeake Bay and other topics -- were popular gifts to Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley last year, according to his financial disclosure forms. He received nearly 90 books during the year, The Baltimore...

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Harper Lee lawsuit breaks years of silence

Harper Lee lawsuit breaks years of silence

Harper Lee's leap into the headlines with a lawsuit against a New York literary agent is a remarkable change for the reclusive author, who wrote a great American novel a half-century ago and has hardly been heard from since.

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Book donations honor woman killed in Afghanistan bombing

Book donations honor woman killed in Afghanistan bombing

The Books For Kids Day event has a touching twist this year: It's being dedicated to Anne Smedinghoff, the 25-year-old Johns Hopkins University alum who was killed in a bombing while delivering textbooks to school children in Afghanistan.

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Pulitzer Prize winners include 'The Orphan Master's Son'

Pulitzer Prize winners include 'The Orphan Master's Son'

The 2013 Pulitzer Prizes were announced today, and among the winners is "Devil in the Grove," a non-fiction account of Baltimore native Thurgood Marshall's fearless work for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in a Florida case. As we all know, Marshall went on to bring the nation's landmark school integration case, Brown vs. Board of Education, and later became a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The winners:

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Breathe Books in Hampden opening health-food cafe

Breathe Books in Hampden opening health-food cafe

Breathe Books in Hampden says it will add a health-food cafe to its store next month. Owner Susan Weis-Bohlen says all the offerings will have at least one of five features: gluten free, vegan, vegetarian, raw or Ayurvedic -- Ayurveda is a holistic type of medicine that originated in India. This goes along with the store's stated mission to provide "books, music, and spiritual and inspirational items to help people continue their practice and journey."

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Books and beer could be winning combo

Books and beer could be winning combo

The recent announcement that Atomic Books will expand and make beer available at special events is an intriguing -- and promising -- development for all indie bookstores.

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Kingsolver, Hosseini, Atwood headline National Book Festival

Kingsolver, Hosseini, Atwood headline National Book Festival

The Library of Congress released today the list of speakers for the fall National Book Festival, and, as usual, the event is studded with prominent writers and poets.

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Roger Ebert's books are his legacy

Roger Ebert's books are his legacy

Rogert Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic who died today, leaves behind a rich legacy, thanks to a shelf-full of books that explore movies -- and his own life.

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Newtown shooter's reading list?

Newtown shooter's reading list?

The search warrant for the home of Adam Lanza, who went on a murderous pre-Christmas rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., included some chilling items, including a New York Times articla about a 2008 school shooting. It also mentioned some books, which could have been Adam's or his mother's.

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RIP Anthony Lewis

RIP Anthony Lewis

I was saddened to read the obituaries for Anthony Lewis, the Pultizer Prize-winning reporter, columnist and author.

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Books highlight lineup for speaker series

Books highlight lineup for speaker series

Authors Bill Bryson and Doris Kearns Goodwin are among the headliners for the 2013-14 Baltimore Speakers Series, part of a lineup that is sure to delight book lovers.

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Book lovers, save the date for CityLit Festival

Book lovers, save the date for CityLit Festival

The lineup for the 10th annual CityLit Festival is set, so Baltimore-area book lovers should mark April 13 on calendars.

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Dan Brown offers peek at new book, Inferno

Dan Brown offers peek at new book, Inferno

Dan Brown fans can get a look at the opening of his upcoming book, "Inferno," along with a free ebook of his breakthrough best-seller, "The Da Vinci Code," publisher Doubleday announced today.

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Smith College book sale starts Friday

Smith College book sale starts Friday

Among the annual events that should be marked on every book lover's calendar is the Smith College Club of Baltimore book sale, which starts Friday at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. I've been going to the sales for years, and have never failed to make some interesting purchases. (The harder part is convincing my wife, a Kindle devotee, to let me bring more books into the house, which already has reading material on almost every flat surface -- except the stove. If I can find some fire-proof volumes, that will be covered too.)

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Books on the big screen -- 'Great Gatsby' to launch Cannes film festival

Books on the big screen -- 'Great Gatsby' to launch Cannes film festival

Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of "The Great Gatsby" will kick off the 66th Festival de Cannes, organizers announced today.

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Google Doodle honors author Douglas Adams

Google Doodle honors author Douglas Adams

Today's Google Doodle marks the birthday of Douglas Adams, author of the hilarious "Hitchhiker" sci-fi book series.

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DAVE ROSENTHAL came to The Baltimore Sun as a business reporter in 1987 and now is the Maryland Editor. He reads a wide range of books (but never as many as he'd like), usually alternating between non-fiction and fiction. Some all-time favorites: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole; Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupery; and anything by Calvin Trillin or John McPhee. He belongs to a book club with a Jewish theme.

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Tom Cruise takes back box office with 'Oblivion'

Tom Cruise's post-apocalyptic thriller "Oblivion" wiped out the box office compe...

Tom Cruise's post-apocalyptic thriller "Oblivion" wiped out the box office competition, racking up more than 38 million dollars (USD) in weekend ticket sales during its U.S. and Canadian debut. "Oblivion," a story set in 2077 about the last humans...