Cast away on a desert island, surviving on what nature alone can provide, praying for rescue but fearing the sight of a boat on the horizon. These are the imaginative creations of Daniel Defoe in his famous novel Robinson Crusoe. Yet the story is believed to be based on the real-life experience of sailor Alexander […]

Posted in History, Science and Technology, Writing No Comments »

Aravind Adiga has won this year’s Man Booker Prize with his debut novel The White Tiger.
The 33-year-old Indian-born writer was also the youngest author on the shortlist for the £50,000 prize.

He wrote "the kind of book I’d like to read", he told the BBC. "I like books that have ideas in them and that move […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Writing No Comments »

US pop sensation Miley Cyrus has finished writing a book of her life at the age of 15.

The star of hit TV show Hannah Montana was reportedly paid a seven-figure sum to tell her "inspiring story".
The daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus has also said she wants to return to the show for a […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Writing No Comments »

Dame Jacqueline Wilson’s new book has been age banded, despite the children’s author having joined an online campaign protesting against the practice.

The hardback version of Cookie includes the 9+ age band on its back cover.
Wilson is one of 800 authors to sign the No To Age Banding petition, which is being spearheaded by Philip Pullman.
Cookie […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Writing No Comments »

Future worlds described by science fiction visionaries like Philip K. Dick, William Gibson and Robert Heinlein often included wildly inventive methods of transportation to other planets, galaxies and dimensions.

Nicolas Bouvier has always been fascinated with space travel. Growing up in Cape Canaveral, Florida, he vividly remembers watching shuttles and rockets launch. Now a game designer […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Graphic Arts, Writing No Comments »

The latest book by the show business biographer Marc Eliot is predicated on the idea that Ronald Reagan is best understood as “a serial populist” and that his career in government had its roots in his long acting career. He worked in film and television for nearly three decades before being elected governor of California […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Political, Writing No Comments »

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has agreed to make a film about the founders of social networking site Facebook.

Sorkin, who created US TV drama The West Wing and wrote the Tom Hanks movie Charlie Wilson’s War, has even opened a Facebook account to aid his research.
"I figured a good first step in my preparation would be finding […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Film & Film Making, Writing No Comments »

When the children’s book series “The Spiderwick Chronicles” became a popular Hollywood film, its publisher, Simon & Schuster, enjoyed a subsequent lift in book sales — and little else.

Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times
David O. Russell is writing a film script for his book series.

But under a new deal with the Gotham Group, a Los […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Film & Film Making, Writing No Comments »

Sir Salman Rushdie says he may write a book about the fatwa imposed on him 20 years ago after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses.

The author, who went into hiding for nine years, told BBC’s Newsnight he had found the experience "very difficult".
"I guess there’s a story there," he said. "Various people [are] […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Writing No Comments »

GENEVA (Reuters) - A Scottish schoolboy must surrender a Web address tied to the Narnia fantasy world, which his father says he gave him as a present, after a ruling by a United Nations arbitrator, an official report said on Thursday.

A scene from the movie "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The […]

Posted in Arts and Culture, Film & Film Making, Video Games, Writing No Comments »