TODAY'S NEWS

Borders Completes Refinancing
Borders Group has finalized its new financing agreement with Pershing Square Capital Management, its largest shareholder, under terms more favorable than the original deal. One major change is the lowering of the interest rate from 12.5% to 9.8% that Borders will pay on the $42.5 million loan from Pershing. The 12.5% rate had caused some concern among analysts and publishers about the high cost Borders would be paying for the financing. Read on »

Viking Lands Small Pub Hit
By Matthew Thornton
Viking executive editor Carolyn Carlson bought world rights to Michael Dowd’s Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World; Jillian Manus made the sale. The book has already sold 10,000 copies via Tulsa-based independent Council Oak Books, which published last fall; it offers an inclusive perspective on the relationship between religion and science that bridges the gap between people of all faiths.

Reverend Dowd, a self-dubbed “evolutionary evangelist,” has become an increasingly visible figure in the ongoing debate over evolution versus creation and the role of science versus religion in society, and has been praised by various Nobel laureates in the scientific community. For the past five years, he and his wife, science writer Connie Barlow, have lived permanently on the road sharing their view of evolution with religious and secular audiences. Viking will publish this summer.

Three Answers: Clarence B. Jones
By Dick Donahue
Three Answers from Clarence B. Jones, whose What Would Martin Say? was just published by Harper. Read on »

MORE STORIES

Web Exclusive Reviews
This week: Poetry, poets, puppies and psychopathology; marginalized voices from Native America and the Civil Rights movement; dedicated craftsmen and flighty counter-dependents; and a dazzling debut novel with a "polyphonic narrative." Plus: how do you measure up against McCain, Clinton and Obama? Read on »

The PW Morning Report
By Dermot McEvoy
Clintons Book Haul; Amazon Mad at Brits; Borders Fights Jaws; Helen Yglesias Dead; Penguin Praises Canadians; Ellroy’s Hollywood Problem; Hoagland Wins Jackson Poetry Prize; Amazon Goes Digital; Soap Opera Bestseller; Hitchens Memoir; and a Ludlum for Denzel Read on »

Blogs

AUTHORS ON THE AIR

Authors on the Air: Isabel Allende; Sergio Ramírez; Jessie Ventura
Yesterday, Weekend Edition chatted with novelist Isabel Allende, whose latest is The Sum of Our Days: A Memoir (Harper, $26.95; HarperAudio unabridged CD, $39.95). PW’s starred review called it a “deeply revealing second memoir. This is a book to savor.” Read on »

PICTURE OF THE DAY

Laughing With Hirsch
Last week author Sherre Hirsch celebrated the release of her new book We Plan and God Laughs at a party in Manhattan hosted by Jane Weitzman of Stuart Weitzman. Hirsch is pictured here with agent Mel Berger (l.) and editor Trace Murphy. Submit your pictures here »

JOB OF THE DAY

PW VIRTUAL EDITION

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