Novelist and essayist William H. Gass, author of The Tunnel and many other works, has died.
Kal Penn is publishing an essay collection with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2019. The still-untitled book will include pieces on “his ambition as an actor, the challenges of navigating Hollywood,” and his year-long hiatus from acting while he worked as an associate director in President Obama’s Office of Public Engagement.
Actress Sally Field is working on a memoir. Grand Central will publish In Pieces, which Field has been writing for the last five years, next fall.
Paris Review editor Lorin Stein has resigned “amid an internal investigation into his behavior toward female employees and writers,” the New York Times reports.
WNYC hosts Leonard Lopate and Jonathan Schwartz have both been put on leave as the station investigates recent allegations of misconduct.
The Times looks at the complicity of Harvey Weinstein’s colleagues and professional acquaintances in maintaining the environment of silence and intimidation around the former producer. The Guardian reports that six women have filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Weinstein and other producers at the company. “We are but six women representing hundreds,” the women said in a statement. “Dozens have come forward so far, and many more remain in the shadows, still trying to find their courage. But we will, if we can transform our horror stories into a cultural shift.”
Pacific Standard’s Jack Dentonwonders who exactly is behind Semanal Media and the reasoning for the newly-formed group’s purchase of LA Weekly. After firing three-quarters of the staff, the paper has posted few articles and the new owners have made inconsistent statements about their motivations and plans. “The new owners' backgrounds notwithstanding, there has been little evidence of a political shift at LA Weekly during the first week,” Denton writes. “Instead, the shift has, at least initially, been one toward incompetence and ignorance.”
Tonight at the Brooklyn Historical Society, Jennifer Egan talks about her new book, Manhattan Beach.
