"Patti Smith's 'Just Kids' Wins Nonfiction Award" from NPR's Morning Edition by LYNN NEARY

Rock musician Patti Smith is now a literary star. Her memoir about life in New York City in the 1960s, Just Kids, won the National Book Award for nonfiction. The literary awards were handed out Wednesday night in New York City. Lord of Misrule author Jaimy Gordon won for fiction. NEARY: The most emotional moment of last night came when Patti Smith won the non fiction award for her memoir "Just Kids," about her lifelong friendship and early love affair with the late artist Robert Mapplethorpe. Smith said she promised Mapplethorpe she would write the book the day before he died of AIDS. Ms. PATTI SMITH (Author, "Just Kids"): I was the only one that could write it really, since we grew together, we evolved as artists together. And he could also trust that I would present him to the world as I knew him, which was as an artist, a loving friend; mischievous, generous, kind, funny and beautiful. So I did my best. NEARY: In accepting her award, Smith recalled the time when she was a young girl, new to the city, working at Scribner's Bookstore and dreaming of writing her own book one day.

Download the podcast here. See also: Patti Smith Complete 1975-2006: Lyrics, Reflections & Notes for the Future, Auguries of Innocence: Poems, Early Work: 1970-1979, Patti Smith: Dream of Life

The Colbert Report - October 14, 2010 - Bill Bryson

October 14, 2010 - Bill Bryson Views: 293,904 Aired: 10/14/10 Episode 06133 Stephen gives away free bus tickets to D.C., and Bill Bryson talks about sex in the Middle Ages.

See: http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/thu-october-14-2010-bill-bryson. See also: A Short History of Nearly Everything: Special Illustrated Edition, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, In a Sunburned Country

Charlie Rose's Wednesday, September 15, 2010 Conversation with Annie Cohen-Solal

CHARLIE ROSE: Annie Cohen-Solal is here. She is a writer, and a
teacher and a culture historian. In 1985 she made a name for herself when
she published "Sartre, a Life," a well-regarded biography of the famous
French philosopher. She then arrived in New York in 1989 as a cultural
counselor to the French embassy.

Then she met art gallery legend Leo Castelli. He became her mentor
and her friend different. She’s now written a biography about him called
"Leo and his Circle, the Life of Leo Castelli." I’m very pleased to have
Annie Cohen-Solal back at this table. Welcome.

Watch the interview here. See also: Jean-Paul Sartre: A Life (Lives of the Left), Painting American: The Rise of American Artists, Paris 1867-New York 1948, Charlie Rose with Raymond Kelly; Edward Said; Annie Cohen-Solal (November 20, 2001)