Ann Patchett News

The eighth annual Mission Creek Festival has announced its slate of literary events alongside the full lineup of musicians and artists performing from April 2nd to 7th, 2013. As with past festivals, writers, presses, and literary journals from across the country will appear alongside acts such as Grizzly Bear, Divine Fits, Deerhoof, Tig Notaro, Killer Mike, Iris Dement, Janeane Garofalo, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, and many more. All literary events are free and open to the public.

In Half-Life: Reflections from Jerusalem on a Broken Neck ($3.99), released today by digital publisher Byliner, Joshua Prager delivers an often agonizing, frequently comic, and always soulful account of a young man's attempt to survive a near fatal injury and recover his formerly carefree existence, only to discover that it is gone forever.

In Not Less Than Everything: Catholic Writers on Heroes of Conscience, from Joan of Arc to Oscar Romero (HarperOne; Paperback; February 2013), editor Catherine Wolff has compiled a thoughtful and engaging collection of essays and reflections on the Catholic figures who continue to inspire and serve as role models today.

Book-It Repertory Theatre and the UW School of Drama are collaborating for the second year in a series that explores potential adaptations for future main stage productions at Book-It. Four evenings of readings will take place at the Meany Studio Theatre on the Seattle campus. MFA acting, directing and design students present selections developed through intensive workshops and master classes. Selections for the 2013 series include: The Count of Monte Cristo, Run, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and Portrait of a Lady.

"It's commonly said that if people understood the difficulties and heartbreaks of having children, they might not do it," writes Walter Kirn in MY MOTHER'S BIBLE($1.99), just released by Byliner, the acclaimed e-shorts publisher. "This seems to be true of God as well. Parenthood was not what he expected."

Book-It Repertory Theatre and the UW School of Drama are collaborating for the second year in a series that explores potential adaptations for future main stage productions at Book-It. Four evenings of readings will take place at the Meany Studio Theatre on the Seattle campus. MFA acting, directing and design students present selections developed through intensive workshops and master classes. Selections for the 2013 series include: The Count of Monte Cristo, Run, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and Portrait of a Lady.

The UW School of Drama is collaborating with Book-It Repertory Theatre to explore potential adaptations in several evenings of readings at Meany Studio Theatre on the Seattle campus. MFA acting, directing and design students present selections developed through intensive workshops and master classes. Selections for the 2013 series include: The Count of Monte Cristo, Run, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, and Portrait of a Lady.

Sebastian Junger, arguably America's greatest chronicler of life lived at its extremes and the bestselling author of The Perfect Storm, War, and A Death in Belmont publishes a rare work of short fiction today with digital publisher Byliner, A WORLD MADE OF BLOOD ($1.99).

Fuller's new e-single, published today by Byliner, Falling: The Story of a Marriage($2.99) is a heartbreakingly honest tale of passion and loss. It speaks to wives, husbands, and anyone who has been deeply in love.

Shakedown explodes the postwar America of June and Ward Cleaver, breathing randy new life into the man who whetted our national appetite for sex and scandal. Freddy's lack of scruples-and lack of morality-make today's gossip culture seem almost innocent. What's true and what's fiction? Ellroy's certainly not telling.

At 5:00 p.m. on September 11, 2001, an ashen-faced but composed President Al Gore stepped into the East Room of the White House to deliver a televised address to the nation. With him were former presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as Texas governor George W. Bush-flown to Washington from Dallas on a military jet, his first visit back to the capital after the close race that lost him the presidency just months before.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today that The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is awarding $2 million to the internationally acclaimed company in support of expanded community engagement and new artistic initiatives.

Just when you thought it was safe to go to the theater once again, we welcome you to the debut installment of Music City Confidential, all the news that's fit to print (or not-depending on your perspective) from Nashville's ever-growing, ever-fascinating (okay, so we obviously don't have enough to occupy ourselves) live theater industry (we're trying that out-does it work? Let us know, theaterati!) Here amid the florid prose and flowery praise, you'll find all the stories that don't quite fit elsewhere, some of 'em kind of gossipy, some of 'em stone-cold serious, some of 'em just lists of names you need to know. You'll also find photos from our new "Intermission@" series, details about the latest cast parties and various and sundry minutiae-the veritable flotsam and jetsam-from backstage, onstage, offstage and beyond…

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced today that the company is reporting a breakeven operating performance for fiscal year 2012. Lyric has operated in the black for 24 of the past 25 years-a record among the country's major not-for-profit music and performing-arts companies.

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, today announced details of its new world premiere. Bel Canto, by the gifted young Peruvian composer Jimmy Lopez, with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, is based on the best-selling novel by Ann Patchett. To premiere in Lyric's 2015-16 season, the new opera, commissioned as part of Lyric's Renee Fleming Initiative, will be conducted by Lyric music director Sir Andrew Davis and directed by Stephen Wadsworth.

People.com reports that funnyman Stephen Colbert will be returning to his TV show THE COLBERT REPORT today after taking a short hiatus last week reportedly to be with his 91-year-old mother, Lorna, who was facing a health crisis.

Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, today announced the Festival's 2011 programs. The fifth edition of Luminato's annual multi-disciplinary celebration of theatre, dance, music, literature, food, visual arts, fashion, film, and more takes place from June 10-19, 2011 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.