The PW Morning Report, April 30, 2008

By Dermot McEvoy -- Publishers Weekly, 4/30/2008 5:48:00 AM

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

A daily round-up of the latest publishing news: NBC Bans Huffington; Scouting Roth; Nudist Jong; Bloomberg’s Book; William W. Warner Dead; Literary Cat Fight; Charles Simic Steps Down; Tom Wolfe to Big Screen; Two Memoirs Optioned; and California Bookstores Hoaxes

NBC Bans Arianna Huffington Because New Book is Critical of Timmy Russert, reports Keith Kelly in New York Post
In Right Is Wrong (Knopf) Huffington labels Russert "EZ Pass" and apparently the corporate suits in Peacockville are not happy. Let’s go back to 2003 for an in-depth PW Interview with Huffington when Pigs at the Trough was published

Janet Silver Plays Literary Scout for Nan Talese, reports New York Observer
Former Houghton Mifflin publisher is now playing on Talese’s team and the player they're after is Philip Roth, according to the Observer’s Leon Neyfakh

"Natural Nudist" Erica Jong Weighs in on the Miley Cyrus Controversy, reports HuffingtonPost
Erica is in an "apologizing" mood and lowers the boom on the MSM

New York Times Reports the Story Behind Mayor Bloomberg’s New Book
Columnist Margaret Carlson is the mayor’s collaborator and all proceeds will go to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation

William W. Warner Dead at 88, reports New York Times
Chesapeake author wrote Beautiful Swimmers, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in 1977

Literary Cat Fight Alert!: Jonathan Franzen Call Michiko Kakutani "The Stupidest Person in New York City," reports New York Observer
Now that’s saying a lot considering the amount of stupid that goes around the Big Apple every day

Charles Simic Stepping Down as United States Poet Laureate, reports UPI
Simic, poet laureate since 2007, won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990

Tom Wolfe’s I Am Charlotte Simmons To Big Screen, reports Variety
Essential Entertainment is financing Wolfe’s first screen venture since Bonfire of the Vanities in 1987

Paramount and Plan B Nab Two Memoirs, reports Variety
Beautiful Boy by David Sheff and Tweak by Nic Sheff are optioned for film

Author Hoaxes Hit California Booksellers, reports Los Angeles Times
Beware: Phony authors with sob stories are hitting up bookstores for dough