Fiction
Bronze medalist Victor Wild, of the Russian Olympic Committee, and gold medalist Austria's Benjamin Karl, right, pose for a picture with volunteers during the venue ceremony for the men's parallel giant slalom at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Snowboarder Vic Wild's ride leads to another Olympic medal

By Eddie Pells Feb. 08, 2022 07:08 AM EST

FILE - This undated, file photo released by Chongyi Feng shows Yang Hengjun and his wife Yuan Xiaoliang. The Chinese Australian writer tried in Beijing for alleged espionage said he pleaded to a judge to reject evidence of what he had said while being tortured by interrogators. Yang faced a closed trial on Thursday. The court deferred its verdict to a later date.(Chongyi Feng via AP, File)
China rejects Australian writer's torture claim in trial

Jun. 01, 2021 04:34 AM EDT

FILE - This undated, file photo released by Chongyi Feng shows Yang Hengjun and his wife Yuan Xiaoliang. The Chinese Australian writer tried in Beijing for alleged espionage said he pleaded to a judge to reject evidence of what he had said while being tortured by interrogators. Yang faced a closed trial on Thursday. The court deferred its verdict to a later date.(Chongyi Feng via AP, File)
Man urges Chinese judge to reject torture-tainted evidence

By Rod Mcguirk May. 31, 2021 03:20 AM EDT

This cover image released by Knopf shows "Phase Six" by Jim Shepard. (Knopf via AP)
Review: Jim Shepard’s stunning new novel about a pandemic

By Ann Levin May. 17, 2021 07:27 PM EDT

FILE - in this Saturday, Oct. 31, 2016 file picture, a child wears a vampire mask while walking in the court yard of Bran Castle in Bran, Romania. Romanian authorities have set up a COVID-19 vaccination center in a medieval building in Bran, not far from the castle, as a means to encourage people to vaccinate and also to boost tourism which has decreased in the area as a result of the pandemic. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
Dracula's castle proves an ideal setting for COVID-19 jabs

By Stephen Mcgrath May. 10, 2021 10:12 AM EDT

Author John Grisham attends the opening night of "A Time To Kill" on Broadway in New York on Oct. 20, 2013, left, and author Margaret Atwood attends the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York on Nov. 11, 2019. Atwood and Grisham are among several authors participating in a novel about the pandemic. The Authors Guild Foundation announced Thursday that it had reached a deal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media to publish “Fourteen Days: An Unauthorized Gathering." (AP Photo)
Atwood, Grisham among contributors to pandemic novel

By Hillel Italie Mar. 18, 2021 02:45 PM EDT

This combination photo shows key art for the Acorn TV series "Bloodlands," premiering March 15, left, key art for the Apple TV+ film "Cherry," center, and key art for Nickelodeon’s "Kids’ Choice Awards," hosted by Kenan Thompson and airing on March 13. (Acorn TV/Apple TV+/Nickelodeon via AP)
New this week: 'Cherry,' 'Bloodlands' & Kids' Choice Awards

By The Associated Press Mar. 08, 2021 12:49 PM EST

Kelly Vaiman poses for a photo in her living room where she sometimes likes to sit and read, Friday, Feb. 19, 2021, in Boynton Beach, Fla. Vaiman is an avid cozy mystery reader. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Murder, but gentler: 'Cozy' mysteries a pandemic-era balm

By Tamara Lush Mar. 07, 2021 03:03 AM EST

This cover image released by Hard Case Crime shows "Later" a novel by Stephen King. Readers may know him best for “Carrie,” “The Shining” and other bestsellers commonly identified as “horror,” but King has long had an affinity for other kinds of narratives, from science fiction and prison drama to the Boston Red Sox. (Hard Case Crime via AP)
Stephen King talks about crime, creativity and new novel

By Hillel Italie Feb. 25, 2021 09:29 AM EST

FILE - Author Lawrence Ferlinghetti recites a poem after he was awarded the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community at the National Book Awards in New York, on Nov. 16, 2005. Ferlinghetti, a poet, publisher and bookseller has died in San Francisco at age 101. His son says Ferlinghetti died at home on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. Ferlinghetti helped launch and perpetuate the Beat movement. He was known for his City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, an essential meeting place for the Beats and other bohemians in the 1950s and beyond. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams, File)
Beat poet, publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti dies at 101

By Janie Har And Hillel Italie Feb. 23, 2021 02:57 PM EST

This image provided by Penguin Random House shows Colombian author Pilar Quintana, winner of the Alfaguara novel prize for "Los Abismos/The Abysses." (Manuela Uribe/Penguin Random House via AP)
Pilar Quintana reconnects with childhood and wins Alfaguara

By Sigal Ratner-Arias Feb. 08, 2021 11:20 AM EST

This image provided by IFC Films shows Jack O’Connell as Jude, right, and Olivia Cooke as Emma in a scene from Chad Hartigan’s “Little Fish.” (IFC Films via AP)
Review: 'Little Fish' is a pandemic-era, sci-fi love story

By Jocelyn Noveck Feb. 03, 2021 05:39 PM EST

FILE - This Sept. 13, 2011, file photo shows British author John Le Carre at the UK film premiere of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," in London. John le Carre, the spy-turned-novelist whose elegant and intricate narratives defined the Cold War espionage thriller and brought acclaim to a genre critics had once ignored, has died. He was 89, Le Carre’s literary agency, Curtis Brown, said Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020 that he died in Cornwall, southwest England on Saturday. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)
John le Carre, who probed murky world of spies, dies at 89

By Jill Lawless Dec. 13, 2020 05:11 PM EST

FILE - In this July 19, 2020, file photo, people gather at a makeshift memorial near the home of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., in Atlanta. Lewis, who died Friday at age 80, was the youngest and last survivor of the Big Six civil rights activists who organized the 1963 March on Washington, and spoke shortly before the group's leader, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., gave his "I Have a Dream" speech to a vast sea of people. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020

By Bernard Mcghee Dec. 07, 2020 12:13 PM EST

Associated Press writer Tamara Lush plays video games during the coronavirus outbreak with the news on the television in the background Oct. 26, 2020, in St. Petersburg, Fla. She started playing Plague, Inc. on her iPad in 2014. A pandemic could never happen in real life, she figured. But six years later, this Florida-based writer is seeking solace in virtual worlds, and found a poignant message in one Nintendo Switch game called Spiritfarer. (AP Photo/Tamara Lush)
VIRUS DIARY: In pandemic, seeking solace in virtual worlds

By Tamara Lush Nov. 13, 2020 09:26 AM EST

FILE - Oprah Winfrey arrives for the presentation of Stella McCartney's ready-to-wear Fall-Winter 2019-2020 fashion collection in Paris on March 4, 2019. Winfrey is setting aside her usual book club recommendations and instead citing seven personal favorites ranging from James Baldwin’s landmark essays in “The Fire Next Time” to Mary Oliver’s poetry collection “Devotions.” She is calling her choices “The Books That See Me Through,” works she values for “their ability to comfort, inspire, and enlighten” her. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
`The books that help her through': Winfrey suggests seven

By Hillel Italie Oct. 26, 2020 08:45 AM EDT

This combination photo shows the cover of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Nickel Boys," left, and a portrait of author Colson Whitehead. Whitehead became the first fiction writer to win Pulitzer Prizes for back to back novels. “The Nickel Boys,” his followup to “Underground Railroad,” won the Pulitzer in April and comes out in paperback this week. He also managed to finish a crime novel, with the working title “Harlem Shuffle,” that he began more than a year ago. (Doubleday, left, and Madeline Whitehead/Doubleday via AP)
An eventful year for Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead

By Hillel Italie Jun. 30, 2020 08:16 AM EDT

AM Prep-Segue

May. 29, 2020 03:05 AM EDT
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS GETS A TUCK-IN IN “HIGH NOTE” LOS ANGELES (AP) - Tracee Ellis Ross had an uncomfortable bedroom scene with Dakota Johnson...

FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2018 file photo, author J.K. Rowling poses for photographers upon her arrival at the premiere of the film 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald', in London. JK Rowling is publishing a new story called “The Ickabog,” which will be free to read online to help entertain children and families stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic. The “Harry Potter” author said Tuesday May 26, 2020, that she wrote the fairy tale for her children as a bedtime story over a decade ago. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
JK Rowling publishes first chapters of new story online

May. 26, 2020 11:57 AM EDT

This combination of book cover images released by Grand Central Publishing shows, "Wild Seed," from left, "Parable of the Sower," and "Parable of the Talents," by Octavia e. Butler. Fourteen years after her death, Butler has never seemed more relevant. The rare black science fiction writer in her lifetime, she is now praised for anticipating many of the major issues of the day, from pandemics to the election of Donald Trump. Grand Central Publishing is reissuing many of her novels and the Library of America welcomes her to the canon in 2021 with a volume of her fiction. (Grand Central Publishing via AP)
Butler's prescient sci-fi resonates years after her death

By Hillel Italie May. 07, 2020 11:12 AM EDT