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ROXANE GAY

Eric Jerome Dickey, bestselling novelist, dead at 59

This undated image released by Joseph Jones shows author Eric Jerome Dickey in Antigua. Dickey, the bestselling novelist who blended crime, romance and eroticism in "Sister, Sister," "Waking With Enemies" and dozens of other stories about contemporary Black life, has died at age 59. (Joseph Jones via AP)NEW YORK – Eric Jerome Dickey, the bestselling novelist who blended crime, romance and eroticism in “Sister, Sister,” “Waking With Enemies” and dozens of other stories about contemporary Black life, has died at age 59. Dickey's publicist at Penguin Random House, Emily Canders, told The Associated Press that the author died of cancer Sunday in Los Angeles. “I am truly saddened to hear about the passing of Eric Jerome Dickey,” author Roxane Gay tweeted Tuesday.

Charles Yu novel, Malcolm X bio win National Book Awards

NEW YORK – Charles Yu's “Interior Chinatown,” a satirical, cinematic novel written in the form of a screenplay, has won the National Book Award for fiction. Tamara Payne and her father the late Les Payne's Malcolm X biography, “The Dead Are Arising,” was cited for nonfiction and Kacen Callender's “King and the Dragonflies” for young people's literature. The traditional dinner ceremony is the nonprofit National Book Foundation's most important source of income and is usually held at Cipriani Wall Street, where publishers and other officials pay thousands of dollars for tables or individual seats. The scholar Manning Marable died right before the 2011 publication of “Malcolm X,” which went on to win a Pulitzer Prize and receive a National Book Award nomination. This is a story you should try to tell.”Winners in each of the competitive categories receive $10,000, and other finalists $1,000, with the money divided equally between the author and translator for best translated book.

'Little House' author's life, times examined in PBS film

LOS ANGELES A new documentary about the life and work of Little House on the Prairie author Laura Ingalls Wilder puts her novels scattered racist references in historical context, the films producers said. Wilders work reflects the perspective of her family and attitudes in the late 1800s Midwest, the setting for the coming-of-age novels based on her childhood, said Mary McDonagh Murphy, director and producer of PBS American Masters biography. I think we can count on her as a reliable narrator for much of that, she said. Michael Kantor, the executive producer of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Murphy said the documentary's development relied on experts, including the head of Native American initiatives at the Minnesota Historical Society. Weve been working very carefully with the academic community to make sure we tell a fair and truthful history, which we think will be no less interesting, Kantor said.

Remember Tide pods? Now we have Scotch pods

But anyone who's bought a Tide pod for the laundry will recognize the origins of the so-called Scotch pod, "glassless cocktails" for drinkers who can't be bothered to(CNN) - It's not every day that a liquor company imitates a detergent manufacturer. But anyone who's bought a Tide pod for the laundry will recognize the origins of the so-called Scotch pod, "glassless cocktails" for drinkers who can't be bothered to pour. People have been enjoying Scotch whisky for hundreds of years, usually in a glass and often on the rocks, of course. "Ummm, whisky cocktails are for sipping & savouring, not exploding in your mouth all in one go," wrote Susie Mac. The limited-production pods are being served as an amuse-bouche during London's celebration of cocktail innovations, which run through October 13.