Author Norman Mailer passed away at Mt. Sinai Hospital this morning of renal failure. The deceased writer was the author of more than 30 books, from his debut "The Naked and The Dead," to others including "Armies of the Night," and "The Executioner's Song," for which he won a Pulitzer and the National Book Award, respectively. Mailer was known as much for his out-sized personality as for his writing. The New York Times waxes poetic......

Grace Paley, New York's official state author from 1986-88, died at the age of 84 yesterday. She had been battling breast cancer for quite some time. The author, born in the Bronx on December 11th, 1922, still kept an apartment in Manhattan -- but was at her home in Vermont at the time of death. The NY Times recaps her life in literature:Ms. Paley’s output was modest, about four-dozen stories in three volumes: “The Little......

READING: The New School's wonderful public lectures and reading series are back in swing as the school year revs up, and tonight, the ethereal Mary Gaitskill will discuss her book Veronica (a National Book Award finalist) with moderator Jeffrey Renard Allen. - Krissa Corbett Cavouras 6:30pm // The New School [66 W 12th St, room 510] // $5 THEATER: The Soho Think Tank is legendary for nurturing some of the freshest new work in town.......

MUSIC: Propect Park. TV on the Radio. Matt Pond PA. Voxtrot. Free. Need we say more? Bring a blanket. Friday // 6:30pm // Prospect Park Bandshell // Free READING: On of our favorite New Yorkers, Joan Didion, will be reading from her masterful book, The Year of Magical Thinking, tonight in Central Park. The book, which chronicles the year after Pulitzer-prize-winning Didion lost her husband John Gregory Dunne to a heart attack, was a taut,......

With Thanksgiving just moments away, literary events in New York have gone into standby mode. Nonetheless, there are few things happening this week and a few things to keep your eyes on for next week. And, as a little gift to you from the city, it's all free! Happy Thanksgiving. Over Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday, if shopping isn't exactly your thing, tune into KCRW online to hear "Mean Streets USA: A Collection of Short......

The 9/11 Commission Report was nominated for a National Book Award today, making it only the second government study to be nominated (the first was about the prison riot at Attica). The various media reports about this nomination cite the fact that the report is unusually compelling. The report is really gripping - almost painfully so - and needed to be, to convey what happened and to be used as the facts on record. Other......