Roundtable awards to honor Braverman
Weathervane Playhouse and veteran actress Irene Braverman will be recognized Jan. 27 during the Central Ohio Theatre Roundtable’s 19th annual Theater Awards Celebration.
The Roundtable, a nonprofit consortium representing 30 central Ohio theater companies, will present Harold Awards to Weathervane Playhouse, which last year celebrated its 50th anniversary as a summer-stock company in Newark, and Braverman, 95, who has appeared in more than 50 productions since 1954 at Gallery Players.
The awards show will include the Roundtable Awards in 16 categories and Central Ohio Theatre Critics’ Circle’s 25th annual citations, including the Roy Bowen award for lifetime achievement.
The celebration, hosted by the comedy duo Stringer and Farkle, will take place at 7 p.m. Sunday — with a 6 p.m. reception — at the Jewish Community Center’s Roth/ Resler Theatre, 1125 College Avenue.
Tickets cost $15. Call 614-231-3401 or visit www. theatre-roundtable.org.
New novel coming from ‘Shades’ author
E L James is working up some new thrills.
The author of the blockbuster “Fifty Shades” trilogy has an “erotic love story” coming out April 16, Vintage Books announced Thursday. It’s called “The Mister” and, according to Vintage, will again be a story of sex, wealth and other indulgences, featuring a rich Londoner who “has rarely slept alone.”
“‘The Mister’ is a contemporary romance set in London, Cornwall and Eastern Europe that introduces readers to the privileged and aristocratic young Englishman Maxim Trevelyan and the mysterious, talented and beautiful Alessia Demachi, who’s recently arrived in London owning little more than a dangerous and troublesome past,” the publisher announced.
James, whose “Fifty Shades” books have sold more than 100 million copies and launched a billion dollar movie franchise, says “The Mister” is a modern fairy tale.
Finalists named for PEN awards
Tara Westover’s bestselling memoir “Educated” and Richard Powers’ novel “The Overstory” are among the nominees for a $75,000 award presented by PEN America, the literary and human-rights organization.
On Thursday, PEN announced finalists for everything from translation to science to sports writing. Writers cited included Zadie Smith, Jamel Brinkley, Jane Leavy and Alexander Chee. Authors and books nominated span the globe from Morocco to Hanoi to rural Idaho, the setting of Westover’s memoir.
Most of the winners will be announced Feb. 26.
Westover and Powers are finalists for the PEN/ Jean Stein Book Award for “originality, merit and impact,” with others in contention including Ada Limon’s “The Carrying” and Nana Kwame AdjeiBrenyah’s story collection, “Friday Black.”