At the New York Public Library’s Library Lions benefit on Monday, Nov. 3, most guests were eager to get home at a reasonable hour—since polls around the city were scheduled to open at 6 a.m. the next day, and as several guests pointed out, open bars at benefits tend to make it difficult to get Read More
Portfolio‘s Matt Malone interviewed ex-Random House CEO Peter Olson last month and no one noticed! Mr. Olson, who was given a teaching position at the Harvard Business School after German media conglomerate Bertelsmann removed him from the top of their publishing empire earlier this year, sounds like he’s pretty happy to be out Read More
The Booker Prize shortlist was announced this afternoon, and, no surprise, people are already pissed about it. Industry newsletter Publisher’s Lunch (sub. required) noted: "What a ‘shock.’ As usual, manufactured ‘surprise’ is the fuel of the Booker publicity machine, as the ‘longlist’ turns out to be a head fake for the Read More
According to the Associated Press, Queen Elizabeth II conferred knighthood on Salman Rushdie today, despite protests from Islamic countries.
In 1989, a fatwa was placed on Mr. Rushdie after his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses, was deemed an insult to Islam. Mr. Rushdie spent the next decade in hiding.
When Mr. Read More
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia loves Sex and the City; bums cigarettes from Sarah Jessica Parker. [Intelligencer]
Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky are getting ready to wed in October. Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman is reportedly designing the gown. [P6]
Salman Rushdie’s 11-year-old son thinks four wives is enough. [Read More
Last night, Salman Rushdie shared sex tips with a bulging, giddy crowd on the fourth floor of the Union Square Barnes & Noble, during a reading from his newest novel The Enchantress of Florence.
Rushdie began by reading a passage about the effete main character, who has an obsession with tulips; images of the flower Read More
Perhaps you’ve seen Scarlett Johansson’s new video and were impressed by the actress-turned-singer’s dirge-like cover of Tom Waits’ “Falling Down.”
The Daily Mail was less impressed by her singing than her co-star: Salman Rushdie. The author has a blink-and-miss-it cameo in the video nuzzling Ms. Johansson’s hair and neck. Read More
If you remember this year’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner, you weren’t there. Felix Gillette, John Koblin, and Choire Sicha flood the zone in D.C..
Janet Silver is moving from Houghton Mifflin to Nan Talese’s imprint at Doubleday. Leon Neyfakh checks in with with Ms. Talese who says, "I called Janet and she sent Read More
On Friday, April 25, Redbelt, a riveting David Mamet cops-and-con-men drama set in the world of professional jujitsu, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The cool table at the after-party, held at the Honey nightclub on West 14th Street, included Mr. Mamet and his wife, actress and chanteuse Rebecca Pidgeon; author Salman Rushdie; the actors Read More
“It’s not the best time in the world to be a White House correspondent,” said Bill Plante on the sultry afternoon of Saturday, April 26. This was at Tammy Haddad’s annual pre-White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner lawn party. The blooming wisteria was strangling the woods that surround her house.
These nearly-over final four years Read More
