Postscripts

Larry Wright's new book, Twins and What They Tell Us About Who We Are, has an official release date of January 23, but if you didn't know that, its appearance might have easily slipped past you. Many readers and local literary folk have been awaiting the local author's book, which is an expansion of the popular August 7, 1995 New Yorker article that was the project's first incarnation. U.K. publishing firm Weidenfeld & Nicolson published the book in November; John Wiley & Sons, a New York trade but also textbook publisher, is the stateside publisher. One reason for the silence with which the book hits the shelves may result from Wright's tight schedule and the fact that he doesn't plan on doing any bookstore appearances to promote it. On January 28, filming begins on Holy War, directed by Ed Zwick, a film Wright wrote starring Denzel Washington. Wright is working on various "book and movie projects," such as finishing up a novel, and his next assignment for New Yorker will take him to the Middle East and Jerusalem. As for how Twins ended up at John Wiley, Wright's editor, Emily Loose, reports that she "aggressively" went after the book after it had been published in the U.K., which she knew all about since most publishing houses keep close track of what has been published in the U.K. and hasn't been picked up by an American publisher. Loose's enthusiasm for Twins began when she first read it in New Yorker... Crossed over author Beverly Lowry is in town since the subject of that book is Karla Faye Tucker, the death row inmate who has a scheduled execution date of February 3. Knopf published the book in hardback in 1992, and in paperback in 1993; it's been out of print for several years, but because both Lowry and Knopf have recently been getting daily calls asking where the book can be found, it will be reprinted in hardback hopefully to arrive at stores by the end of this week. Lowry is writing a piece for the New Yorker that will update readers about the case. Lowry's archives are housed at the Witliff Collection at Southwest Texas State... If you just can't get enough of New Yorker writing, the paperback version of John McPhee's The Ransom of Russian Art (The Noonday Press, $12) is now out. It's a fascinating chronicle of American professor Norton Dodge's attempts to bring to the United States from 1956-1986 some 9,000 works of nonconformist art from the Soviet Union... Houston writer, teacher, and political activist Tony Diaz received some good news when he found out that his novel The Aztec Love God has been chosen by writer Ishmael Reed as the winner of the1998 Nilon Award for Excellence in Minority Fiction, sponsored by the University of Colorado and Fiction Collective 2. Prizes include a $1,000 advance on royalties and publication of the book, which is scheduled for distribution this May. Diaz will be in Austin on a reading tour of the book the week of June 28... Martin Amis will be discussing his new book Night Train on John Aielli's Eklektikos, KUT-FM 90.5, February 2, noon; that evening at 7pm, Amis will be at Book People.

Ongoing:

The Austin Writers' League is accepting entries for the Young Texas Writers Award, open to Texas high school students grades nine-12. Three scholarships, ranging from $50-150, will be awarded in each of four categories: poetry, short story, essay, and journalism. And the Teddy Award, which recognizes the best children's book published in 1997 by an AWL member, is still up for grabs, at least until January 31, also the deadline for the Young Texas Writers Award.