Ann Patchett News

Oakland, CA

Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked and many other bestsellers are just some of the titles penned by David Sedaris aka the 'rock star of authors'. This international best-selling writer will be at The Ridgefield Playhouse for a comedic performance on Monday, October 13, at 7:30 p.m.

Composer Jimmy López and librettist Nilo Cruz heard their music and words come to life recently when members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago sang through portions of Bel Canto backstage at the Civic Opera House on Friday, July 11. Sir Andrew Davis conducted the workshop, with pianists Maureen Zoltek and Craig Terry accompanying 11 singers performing multiple roles.

Meet the latest bookstore owner: 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' author Jeff Kinney.

When I was quite young, my great-aunt and I walked to our tiny library every week, first stopping at the corner store to buy bananas. After we had picked out our books, we'd sit on the front steps, eat a banana, and consider what we had chosen. (A rosy memory, since weather in western Washington precludes most step-sitting occasions.) Later, a bookmobile came around; I recall the thrill of stepping up into a world of wonders. Later still, our little town got a larger library, attached to the fire station. I raced through the books to the extent that Mrs. Dawes, the librarian, called my mother to ask if I could check out adult books. I wanted then to be a librarian--specifically, a bookmobile librarian--and have never lost my love for libraries.

Pegasus Books is proud to release and advance The Tenor by Peter Danish of New York, NY, an exciting, well-written fiction involving a sweeping tale of historical fiction involving a young impressionable Italian World War II soldier who meets young opera diva Marie Callas, during the Greek occupation and risks his life to save her for music and love. On [Date], 2014 Peter Danish will be autographing copies of her book at…

Without a doubt Alexandra Fuller is one of my most favorite authors. Her first book, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, is a delightfully funny yet poignant backward look at her childhood in Africa. The latest,Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, is, at first glance a charming, delightfully funny account of her mother's life as a child when she was growing up in Africa. Fuller never loses her sense of humor and there are numerous chuckle out loud moments where she uses her mother's own words to paint for us an undeniably brilliant picture of just who her mother is and what is important to her.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today that the acclaimed American director Kevin Newbury will direct the world-premiere production of Bel Canto during the company's 2015-16 season. Newbury replaces Stephen Wadsworth.

Today Byliner publishes Devotion: A Rat Story ($1.99), by Maile Meloy. Hailed by The New Yorker as 'a wise and astonishing conjurer of convincing realities,' Meloy is one of our country's most celebrated fiction writers. In her scalp-prickling Byliner Original Devotion: A Rat Story, she shows how easily an everyday reality a young woman's struggle for an independent life can become a nightmare, toothy monsters included.

In advance of her Season Opening Gala performance with the Nashville Symphony, sopranoRenee Fleming will join novelist Ann Patchett for a free lecture at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7 p.m. tonight, September 20. The two women will discuss music, creating characters, the forthcoming opera version of Patchett's novel Bel Canto, and Fleming's concert the following evening at the Schermerhorn.

In advance of her Season Opening Gala performance with the Nashville Symphony, sopranoRenee Fleming will join novelist Ann Patchett for a free lecture at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, 7 p.m. Friday, September 20. The two women will discuss music, creating characters, the forthcoming opera version of Patchett's novel Bel Canto, and Fleming's concert the following evening at the Schermerhorn.

Today Byliner publishes The Man with the Electrified Brain: Adventures in Madness ($1.99), a shockingly frank new memoir by Simon Winchester, bestselling author of The Professor and the Madman, which reveals for the first time how he nearly lost his mind.

The U.S. Supreme Court decisions on same-sex marriage made for a historic day. But the struggle for the rights of gay men and lesbians to marry is a tense, complex story that has been unfolding over many years a story told in great sweep and detail by Adam Liptak in The New York Times / Byliner Original To Have and Uphold. The e-book is available for preorder today and will be published July 9, 2013.

Many of country music's most impactful artists, from early musical architects to contemporary superstars, will perform together on the Ford Theater stage this summer-in a manner of speaking: The world premiere of String City: Nashville's Tradition of Music and Puppetry, a colorful telling of the history of country music in Nashville, will take place tonight, June 20 at 8 p.m. at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Welcome to the summer! We've got our hair slicked back and our Wayfarers on, baby. And this June mailbot has more signs of summer than the average episode of Baywatch. Not only are we celebrating Pride month and the Trillium Book Awards, but we've got author picnics and canoe trips. So check us out this June; we're determined to be more than just a summer fling. Coach House's love for you will still be strong after the books of summer have gone.

Byliner recently published Joy Williams's new fiction e-short, 99 Stories of God ($1.99), the first new book in a decade from the acclaimed author of State of Grace, Escapes, Taking Care, and Breaking and Entering. Williams has a one-of-a-kind gift for capturing both the absurdity and the darkness of everyday life, and in 99 Stories of God she takes on one of mankind's most confounding preoccupations: the Supreme Being.

Byliner recently published Joy Williams's new fiction e-short, 99 Stories of God ($1.99), the first new book in a decade from the acclaimed author of State of Grace, Escapes, Taking Care, and Breaking and Entering. Williams has a one-of-a-kind gift for capturing both the absurdity and the darkness of everyday life, and in 99 Stories of God she takes on one of mankind's most confounding preoccupations: the Supreme Being.

Many of country music's most impactful artists, from early musical architects to contemporary superstars, will perform together on the Ford Theater stage this summer—in a manner of speaking: The world premiere of String City: Nashville's Tradition of Music and Puppetry, a colorful telling of the history of country music in Nashville, will take place June 20 at 8 p.m. at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

ANNIE, the new production of the Tony Award-winning musical, will be celebrating 'World Book Night' on Tuesday, April 23. All Annie audience members at the Tuesday performance will receive a paperback book, courtesy of World Book Night, for them to pass on to a reluctant reader or a reader in need.

The eighth annual Mission Creek Festival has announced its slate of literary events alongside the full lineup of musicians and artists performing from today, April 2nd to 7th, 2013.