| Mississippi Author Larry Brown Dies |
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Author Larry Brown, who wrote about the often rough, gritty lives of rural Southerners, died Wednesday at his home, his publisher said. He was 53.
Author Larry Brown, who wrote about the often rough, gritty lives of rural Southerners, died Wednesday at his home, his publisher said. He was 53.
Brown died of an apparent heart attack, North Carolina-based Algonquin Books announced.
I’m just paralyzed, like most people when they lose a loved one they admire, said fellow Oxford-based author Barry Hannah.
Brown’s books included Big Bad Love (1990), a collection of short stories about marital malaise, and Joe (1991), which teamed a hard-drinking ex-convict with a 15-year-old boy whose father was a drunken migrant worker.
Brown won the Southern Book Critics Circle Award twice.
Brown took up writing while working as a firefighter in his native Oxford. His first published work appeared in magazines and journals, and his first book, 1988’s Facing the Music, was a collection of stories.
His first novel, Dirty Work, published a year later, was inspired in part by his father’s experiences in World War II.
Other works of fiction included Father and Son (1996) and Fay (2000). He also wrote several nonfiction works, including On Fire (1993), about his work as a firefighter, and Billy Ray’s Farm (2001), a collection of essays about his life and work as a writer.
As a writer he had the advantage of growing up in a place where people knew each other deeply, and that showed in his work, said Oxford Mayor Richard Howorth, who also owns the Square Books bookstore.
Big Bad Love was made into a 2001 film starring Debra Winger and Arliss Howard, who also directed it.
In a 1991 interview with The Associated Press, Brown acknowledged that he paints a dreary and desolate picture of the world.
I don’t know why all my stuff has such a bleak turn in it, because I’m certainly a happy person, he said. I love living and everything that goes along with it.
Brown did not start out as a writer, only briefly attending the University of Mississippi before working in a series of jobs including carpenter and lumberjack.
He began writing fiction while working as a firefighter with the Oxford Fire Department, a job he held from 1973 to 1990, when he quit to write full time.
Survivors include his wife, Mary Annie Brown; two sons; a daughter; and his mother.
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| Sirius Shares Slip on JPMorgan Downgrade - Nov 25, 2004 18:48 IST |
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Shares of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc., whose shares have doubled over the past month, on Wednesday fell 8 percent after a JPMorgan analyst said that a further rally would make the stock expensive relative to its growth potential.
We believe Sirius is now much closer to reflecting the near-term rapid growth opportunity we foresee, prompting us to take profits, said Barton Crockett, an analyst at J.P. Morgan, who downgraded the stock to neutral from overweight.
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| Almodovar’s ’Education’ Gets NC-17 Grade - Nov 25, 2004 16:41 IST |
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Oscar-winning director Pedro Almodovar’s latest film, Bad Education, will carry an NC-17 rating, a commercially damaging tag which means that no one aged 17 and under will be admitted.
Almodovar’s film, which delves into the issue of priestly sexual abuse within the context of a homoerotic film noir, was released Friday in New York via Sony Pictures Classics. It opens Dec. 10 in Los Angeles.
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| Film Studios Win $24 Million Against Web Site - Nov 25, 2004 16:41 IST |
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Hollywood’s major movie studios said they won a $23.8 million judgment against a California company and its Malaysian owner for operating a Web site that charged customers to download illegally copied movies.
The company, MasterSurf Inc, is owned by Tan Soo Leong, and it operated a site called Film88.com, according to a statement by the Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the studios in governmental and industry matters.
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| Sony Pictures Sets Up Operation in China - Nov 25, 2004 16:23 IST |
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Sony Pictures has set up a joint venture television and film co-production unit in China, taking advantage of a loosening of restrictions on the tightly controlled industry.
The joint venture with Hua Long Film Digital Production Co. of the state-run China Film Group, which holds a majority stake, has full approval from Chinese regulators, Sony Pictures Television International said in a statement Thursday.
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| Conrad Sentenced to House Arrest - Nov 25, 2004 16:22 IST |
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Former Wild Wild West star Robert Conrad will pay a price for his wild, wild ride.
The aging action hero has been sentenced to six months of house arrest, five year’s probation and alcohol counseling for a 2003 DUI accident.
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| Beatles’ Guitar, Cobain Letter Up for Auction - Nov 25, 2004 16:17 IST |
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Rock ’n’ roll fans with deep pockets can buy a Beatles guitar or a mugshot of the pop star formerly known as Cat Stevens at what Christie’s said on Wednesday was its biggest auction of show business memorabilia.
The Gibson SG electric guitar, played by George Harrison from 1966-1969, is the star attraction among over 400 lots, ranging from Britney Spears’ book report to a handwritten 1991 letter from the late Kurt Cobain to Courtney Love.
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| Critics Blast ’Alexander’ But Novelist Defends It - Nov 25, 2004 16:16 IST |
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While critics savaged Oliver Stone’s long-waited epic Alexander, novelist and social activist Gore Vidal rallied to the $160 million movie’s defense saying it was barrier-breaking because of its frank depiction of bisexuality.
Stone’s film opened on Wednesday to near universal pans from critics who called it everything from a noble failure to an indifferent epic.
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| Police praise ’courageous’ Ozzy - Nov 25, 2004 16:2 IST |
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The singer grabbed an intruder who then jumped 30ft (10m) from a first floor window as the star gave chase at his Buckinghamshire home on Monday.
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| McCartney backs UK conservation - Nov 25, 2004 16:1 IST |
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The awards set out to honour excellence and innovation in preserving the UK’s cultural heritage.
Sir Paul, 62, agreed to fund the awards after meeting 2002 winner Ian Clark and hailed conservationists’ work.
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| Elderly ’need digital TV funds’ - Nov 25, 2004 15:58 IST |
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The Ofcom Consumer Panel is advising the government on how to make sure the vulnerable are not left behind when the switch-off happens, probably in 2012.
The UK government may have to spend £250m-400m to make sure those groups can still receive TV, its report said.
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| UK sweep up at global Emmy Awards - Nov 25, 2004 15:32 IST |
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Channel 4 won three prizes - for Brat Camp, The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off and children’s tale, The Illustrated Mum.
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| Glastonbury mulls ID card tickets - Nov 25, 2004 15:20 IST |
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The black market trade has flourished with recent huge demand for tickets.
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| US actor fined over Oscars piracy - Nov 25, 2004 15:19 IST |
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Mr Caridi, 70, who had small parts in two Godfather films, was sued for sending videos of The Last Samurai and Mystic River to another man.
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| Label withdraws McFadden’s video - Nov 25, 2004 15:16 IST |
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St Fintian’s High School says it is clearly identified in the video, while McFadden never went there.
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| Potter director signs Warner deal - Nov 25, 2004 15:15 IST |
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The Mexican film-maker, who directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, will produce mainstream movies and smaller Spanish-language films.
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| US Super Bowl opts for McCartney - Nov 25, 2004 15:14 IST |
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Organisers have promised there will be no repeat of her nipple-baring incident that sparked thousands of complaints on US TV’s most-watched broadcast.
A National Football League spokesman said they were comfortable this show would be acceptable to a mass audience.
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| Jermaine Jackson to divorce wife - Nov 25, 2004 15:9 IST |
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The older brother of Michael Jackson petitioned the Superior Court, asking that the couple’s children, Jaafar and Jermajesty, live with their mother.
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| Stars turn out for rare Waits gig - Nov 25, 2004 15:7 IST |
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The gravel-voiced US singer played at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on Tuesday in front of a sell-out crowd.
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| Blake jury given evidence warning - Nov 25, 2004 15:1 IST |
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They were warned by Deputy District Attorney Shellie Samuels that there is no DNA evidence, no fingerprints and no eyewitnesses to the crime.
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| Playing the Touching Game - Nov 25, 2004 15:1 IST |
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Think fast -- Mario’s plummeting to Earth, and there’s nothing for the poor little guy to hang onto. So you take your stylus and draw him a trampoline.
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