Book News

Two dozen luminaries — from Terry Gross to Mel Brooks, Morgan Freeman to Louise Glück — got laurels Thursday, as President Obama awarded the National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals.

The Chilean-American novelist is among 19 people slated to receive the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Also: The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm get a gruesome new translation.

In the run-up to the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, authors have written open letters to several imperiled authors around the world. Also: A recap of the truce between Amazon and Hachette.

The teen pitcher, who made history at the Little League World Series, will tell her story in a book to be released in March. Also: R.A. Montgomery, an innovator in interactive reading, dies at age 78.

The book, titled Purity, promises an expansive sprawl and familiar themes, but also a few stylistic experiments. Meanwhile, Texas gears up for a hearing and final vote on much-debated textbooks.

With 20 nominees across five categories, it's little surprise that the Costa Book Award shortlists prove eclectic. Also: A remembrance of the late novelist and transgender activist Leslie Feinberg.

In a ceremony that saw both icons and newcomers honored, it was a fiery speech by the science fiction legend that had attendees talking. Also: A Jonathan Safran Foer book gets adapted to ballet.

The University of Texas, Austin nabbed the rights to preserve and present the late Nobel winner's collected writings. Also: HBO takes on Scientology, and Aretha Franklin decries her new biography.

"His historical context, unlike my own, came from a place of ignorance," writes the National Book Award-winning Woodson, responding to racially charged comments delivered after she won her prize.

The son of an officer who investigated the murders central to Truman Capote's true-crime classic just won a bid in court to publish his father's findings, which he says contradict Capote's account.