July 30, 2010 This bulletin just in: the sky, contrary to earlier reports, is not falling. Books are not dying, beloved authors are not destined for the poorhouse, and neither the Kindle nor the iPad will murder serious literature. That’s what David “Skip” Prichard, CEO of the LaVergne-based Ingram Content Group, believes, at least. And if anyone should know whereof he speaks on this subject, surely it’s the guy in charge of running a company with 2.6 million books for sale.

July 19, 2010 Bill Friskics-Warrren, Silas House, Amanda Little, Adam Ross, Rebecca Skloot, and Abraham Verghese are popping up all over the news scene:

Music journalist Bill Friskics-Warren, author of I’ll Take You There: Pop Music and the Urge for Transcendence, memorializes Nashville songwriter Hank Cochran in this obituary in The New York Times. “Heartache was Mr. Cochran’s great theme as a songwriter,” he writes.

July 15, 2010 Award-winning novelist and short-story writer Richard Bausch will teach an unusual writing workshop this fall at the University of Memphis, where he holds the Moss Chair of Excellence in English. University students are not eligible for the course; it is open only to members of the community, and aspiring writers who are selected will attend free of charge. Ten to twelve applicants will be chosen. Classes will meet weekly in the evening, beginning the last week of August.

July 12, 2010 This afternoon at 4 p.m. EDT, nonfiction author Michael Sims will be interviewed live on the National Public Radio program Here On Earth. He will discuss his new anthology, Dracula’s Guest: A Connoisseur’s Collection of Victorian Vampire Stories and what he learned, in researching the book, about the natural history of vampires.

July 9, 2010 Morgan Entrekin, a Nashville native and the publisher of Grove/Atlantic Inc. in New York, has been named to PEN American Center’s board of directors. This nonprofit is the U.S. affiliate—and largest branch—of PEN International, “the world’s oldest literary and human rights organization,” according to the PEN American website. PEN is perhaps best known for its annual high-profile literary prizes, which include the PEN/Faulkner Award and the PEN/O. Henry Prize.

July 7, 2010 This has been a big week for Alice Randall, Adam Ross, Michael Sims, and Steve Stern, who are being featured in publications as diverse—and as geographically far-flung—as The New Yorker, Entertainment Weekly, and Garden & Gun.