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MYSTERIES TO PREMEIRE AT SUNDANCE
It's official! The Sundance Film Festival announced its 2008 lineup. And the film adaptation of
Mysteries of Pittsburgh made the list. The festival is Jan. 17-27.
YIDDISH POLICEMEN A WRITERS' FAVE
A poll of writers, celebrities and book critics ranked Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union as the
No. 3 fiction novel in 2007.
"Best-seller lists really only show people what's selling, not what people are reading. Recommendations are personal because it means someone has actually read that book. And who better to ask than award-winning poets, novelists, historians and critics?" John Freeman, president of the National Book Critics Circle, told the AP.
The poll was based on nearly 500 votes from the likes of John Updike and Anne Tyler.
VAUGHAN TO 'MEET' SAM CLAY
The hardcover, set to hit stores Dec. 12, collects the six-part series about Maxwell Roth
and Case Weaver, two Cleveland comic fanatics who try to revive the dormant Escapist line of
comics. In his e-mail newsletter Wednesday, Steve Rolston, who drew the "reality" sequences in the series, says
an intro Chabon wrote for the collection is "almost like an epilogue to Chabon's novel, as the fictional Sam
Clay meets a young boy at a comic convention."
Vaughan, who wrote the series, talked about the introduction with Los Angeles CityBeat
in September. It features “a character from Kavalier & Clay, who’s at a convention
for old-timer comics creators in the 1980s, and inspires a young Brian Vaughan to
become a comic book writer."
"It’s the most surreal experience to read my favorite
novelist writing me into the canon of his world," Vaughan said. "It’s awesome.”
The collection also features a cover by Alex Ross. It's priced at $19.95.
CHABON NAMED TO FORWARD 50
The Jewish Daily Forward has named Michael Chabon one of the 50 Most Influential Jews.
The editors cite Chabon's work on The Yiddish Policemen's Union and Gentlemen of
the Road as reasons why they picked him.
Sharing space on the list is Attorney General Michael Mukasey, director Judd Apatow, and George Soros.
AYELET ESSAY HITS STAGE
If you're living in Washington state, you might consider checking out the Village Theatre's newest production on Monday. Among the short stories being performed is Ayelet
Waldman's controversial essay "Truly, Madly, Guiltily."
A recap: In 2005, Waldman published the essay in the New York Times and says she loves her
husband, Michael Chabon, more than her children. Readers reacte -- negatively. Lots of name calling on the blogs and
dirty letters-to-the-editor culminated in an appearance on "Oprah" where Waldman tried to
explain herself.
Since then, things have been quiet, but the essay remains in the minds of her followers
as, at the very least, a definitive landmark in her writing career. Now, the Village Theatre
will perform an adaptation of the essay as part of Love is Love, which runs Nov. 29-Dec. 16.
"It's like a one woman show with a bunch of monologues, one based on my essay," Waldman says.
Tickets are $20-25.
CHABON TO WRITE ABOUT SUPERHERO FASHION
It's been a while since Chabon wrote anything superhero related. These days, quasi-genre
fiction seems to be more his thing.
But for those of you who got into reading Chabon because
of a certain novel's comic book ties, you might want to pick up Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy,
which carries an introduction by Chabon.
The book is being released in limited distribution as part of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art Costume Institute in New York presents a summer-long show on the same subject. The
show will feature around 70 ensembles and promises "to reveal how the superhero serves as the ultimate metaphor for fashion
and its ability to empower and transform the human body."
The show is scheduled to run May 7 to Sept. 1, 2008.
ORIGINS OF 'GENTLEMEN' REVEALED
A new Chabon interview with The Washington Post sheds some light on the origins of
Gentlemen of the Road, which hit stores this week.
The book takes place in the 10th-century empire of Khazaria, a kingdom of Jewish nomads in
what's now southern Russia. Chabon says he picked up the idea around 1982 after discovering
Borges.
"I remember wondering if this article or encylopedia entry or whatever it was
might be some kind of elaborate historical hoax," Chabon says.
"A medieval empire at war with the Vikings and Byzantium that lasted for more than four
centuries, that was famous all over the world at the time, and everybody was Jewish!
What? How come nobody ever told me about them? The Khazars felt like secret knowledge,
and secret knowledge is definitely a source of inspiration for me."
To read the rest of the interview, follow the white rabbit.
'GENTLEMEN' ON SALE
In case you missed it, Gentlemen of the Road, Chabon's newest novel, hit stands this week.
It collects the serial adventure stories first published in The New York Times Magazine earlier
this year. It's suggested retail price is $21.95. Go get it!
Got news? E-mail me!
Thursday, November 29, 2007, 8:30 PM ET
Source: Dark Horse Comics
Thursday, November 29, 2007, 8:30 PM ET
Source: National Book Critics Circle
Wednesday, November 28, 2007, 7:30 AM ET
Source: Dark Horse Comics
A new hardcover edition of The Escapists will feature an introduction by Michael Chabon
that will introduce real-life writer Brian K. Vaughan to Sam Clay, according to the comic's writer and artist.
Saturday, November 25, 2007, 7:30 AM ET
Source: Jewish Daily Forward
Saturday, November 25, 2007, 7:30 AM ET
Source: Playbill News
Sunday, November 4, 2007, 8:10 AM ET
Source: Artnet News, Fashion Week Daily
Sunday, November 4, 2007, 8:10 AM ET
Source: The Washington Post
Thursday, November 1, 2007, 9:50 PM ET
Source: Exclusive