A book on the late film and theatre director Mike Nichols is in the works, with the consent of his widow, Diane Sawyer. Penguin Press announced that it had reached a deal with Mark Harris, author of the acclaimed film histories Pictures at a Revolution and Five Came Back. A publication date has not been set for Mike Nichols: A Biography. Nichols, one of the most honoured film and stage directors of his generation, died last autumn at the age of 83. Harris interviewed Nichols several years earlier for Pictures at a Revolution, a comprehensive take on five major movies of 1967, including Nichols's The Graduate. – AP
Sneak peeks are part of free compilations
Excerpts from upcoming books by Mitch Albom, Alice Hoffman and dozens of other authors are being featured in a pair of free online compilations. Readers can download Buzz Books 2015: Fall/Winter and Buzz Books 2015: Young Adult Fall/Winter through Amazon.com, Apple and other major internet retailers. The books, which offer fiction and non-fiction, are being published by the industry newsletter Publishers Lunch. They include material from 54 releases, including Hoffman's The Marriage of Opposites. Jesse Eisenberg, James Dashner and Geraldine Brooks are among the other writers whose books will be featured. – AP
Parkman winner announced
One of the top honours for historians, the Francis Parkman Prize, has been awarded to Danielle Allen for a modern take on the Declaration of Independence. The Society of American Historians said Allen had won for Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. Also, David Levering Lewis, the Pulitzer Prize- and Parkman-winning historian, has received the Arthur M Schlesinger Jr Award for lifetime achievement. The biennial James Fenimore Cooper Prize for historical fiction went to Jacinda Townsend's Saint Monkey, while Justin Leroy's Empire and the Afterlife of Slavery received the Allan Nevins Prize for best dissertation. The society is based at Columbia University. – AP
