Dorothy Parker

For my 14th birthday she had presented me with a book on scandals of the Amish, which I cherished; for my 15th, an oversized tub of Brussels sprouts wrapped in lingerie, which I hid under my bed. When I turned 16 — that day when one is supposed to...

On the third floor of a big, gray building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, silver-haired docent Julie Chelminski recently stepped up to the middle of a hushed room and faced 15 spellbound tourists. "On the walls of this room there were 9,000 drawers,"...

The restaurant Musso & Frank is where some of L.A.'s greatest writers drank; now it celebrates that legacy with a quarterly literary salon, complete with steak and cocktails....

You know the feeling. You're looking at the best-seller list and a title catches your eye. "What?!" you sputter. "That piece of (expletive deleted) is a hit, while (insert title of favorite obscure novel) is a flop? Ah, the injustice!" Life is not fair....

Francis N. Craig, a retired Edgewood Arsenal scientist, died of respiratory failure Thursday at the Broadmead Retirement Community in Cockeysville. He was 100 and had previously lived in the Loreley section of Baltimore County near White Marsh. His...

Assistant Director Angela Turner, told me about a website that will be of interest to anyone who uses a Kindle e-reader and likes a bargain. It’s called Pixel of Ink, www.pixelofink.com, and it’s devoted to steering Kindle users to free and...

Paula B. Hill’s life is so deeply ingrained with theater culture, it is the stuff of movies. She is a celebration of the adventure of an exuberant and exciting life lived up high, free to go and see and be but still grounded by her strong ties to...

Drinking accoutrements, coffee, pencils, apps: 14 offbeat gifts for writers....

Few comedians are as intrinsically tied to rock 'n' roll as "Saturday Night Live's" Fred Armisen. Once a drummer in early '90s Chicago hardcore band Trenchmouth, his role on IFC's "Portlandia" often sees Armisen lampooning indie rock culture alongside...

A good anthology is like a dartboard in a crowded bar on a Saturday night. Everybody lines up to take their best shot. Everybody wants the chance to squint, aim and let fly. The more august and monumental and definitive-seeming the anthology —...

The Writers Room opens Friday in a legendary writers drinking space in Hollywood....

The long Memorial Day holiday weekend was a chance to catch up on all sorts of films Ive been meaning to get to — documentaries, mainly (Though I did plow through the Andy Serkis star turn as rocker Ian Drury “Sex, Drugs & Rock'n Roll.”...