HEMINGWAY - "A Room on the Garden Side"

"Long-lost Hemingway story captures Paris liberation" PBS NewsHour 8/7/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  In August 1944, Paris was liberated from Nazi occupiers, and embedded with the soldiers was a giant of American literature.  More than a decade later, Ernest Hemingway captured the mood and the moment in a short story that bears the hallmarks of his classic works.  Now "A Room on the Garden Side" has been published for the first time.  Jeffrey Brown reports.

REF:  "Revisiting Paris: The Story Behind Hemingway's Unpublished 'A Room on the Garden Side'" by Kirk Curnutt, Strand Magazine 8/2/2018

2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners in Literature and Journalism

My pro-Free Press, Anti-Trump post.

"2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners" by New York Times 4/10/2017

The Pulitzer Prizes awarded Monday encompassed, among other topics, reporting done on the presidential election; a fatal fire in Oakland, Calif.; and the attempts by the Russian government to assert its power.

• The New York Daily News and ProPublica won the Public Service award for a series on the New York Police Department's abuse of a law to force people from their homes over alleged illegal activities.

• The New York Times won three prizes, the most for any news organization.

• Colson Whitehead and Lynn Nottage were among the winners in the Arts categories.

Here is the full list:

PUBLIC SERVICE

ProPublica and The Daily News

The series by The Daily News and ProPublica exposed the widespread abuse by the New York Police Department of a decades-old law to bar hundreds of people from their homes and businesses over alleged criminal activity.  The investigation, which was led by Sarah Ryley, 36, a journalist for The Daily News, found that the Police Department almost exclusively targeted households and shops in minority neighborhoods.  The reporting spurred New York City to pass sweeping reforms.

Finalists:  The Chicago Tribune | The Houston Chronicle
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BREAKING NEWS REPORTING

The East Bay Times

Dozens of journalists at The East Bay Times worked on the coverage of the deadly “Ghost Ship” fire in Oakland, Calif., in December, which killed 36 people at a warehouse party.  “We had everybody involved, from investigative reporters to artists to breaking news reporters,” said Neil Chase, the paper's executive editor.  Mr. Chase said the paper, whose reporting also revealed the city's shortcomings in preventing the tragedy, was donating the cash prize that comes with the award to a local fund for the victims.

Finalists:  The staff of The Dallas Morning News | The staff of The Orlando Sentinel
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INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

Eric Eyre, The Charleston Gazette-Mail

Mr. Eyre (pronounced AIR), 51, won the award for a series of articles about the opioid abuse epidemic in West Virginia.  Mr. Eyre, the paper's statehouse reporter, began his multipart series with these words: “Follow the pills and you'll find the overdose deaths.”  It took Mr. Eyre years to acquire the documents most important to his reporting, and he did it “in the face of powerful opposition,” according to the Pulitzer citation.  A lawyer defending a drug wholesale company said that it was vital to protect crucial court records “from the intrusive journalistic nose of the Gazette-Mail.”

Finalists:  Michael J. Berens and Patricia Callahan of The Chicago Tribune | Steve Reilly of USA Today Network
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EXPLANATORY REPORTING

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy and The Miami Herald

A sprawling network of journalists was awarded the prize for their explosive articles on the so-called Panama Papers.  The Pulitzer board commended the “collaboration of more than 300 reporters on six continents to expose the hidden infrastructure and global scale of offshore tax havens.”  The work was originally submitted for the international reporting award, but the board moved it to the explanatory reporting category.

Finalists:  Joan Garrett McClane and Joy Lukachick Smith of The Chattanooga Times Free Press | Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu, Lauren Kirchner and Terry Parris Jr. of ProPublica | The Staff of National Geographic
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LOCAL REPORTING

The staff of The Salt Lake Tribune

The prize honored reports about “the perverse, punitive and cruel treatment given to sexual assault victims at Brigham Young University.”  The Tribune's first article said that the university, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, investigated students who reported sex crimes — and sometimes disciplined them for breaking rules on curfews and dress codes.  The Tribune also found that the school's Title IX office, to which students could report sexual assaults, regularly alerted the honor code office, which looked into the rule violations.  In November, Brigham Young took steps to restructure the Title IX office.  The school also said that students who reported sexual assaults would no longer risk having their conduct reviewed by the honor code office.

Finalists:  Jenna Russell, Maria Cramer, Michael Rezendes, Todd Wallack and Scott Helman, The Boston Globe | Michael Schwirtz, Michael Winerip and Robert Gebeloff, The New York Times
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NATIONAL REPORTING

David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post

Mr. Fahrenthold was cited for his reporting during the 2016 presidential campaign, which cast doubt on Donald J. Trump's “assertions of generosity toward charities.”  A month after Mr. Trump skipped a Republican debate in Iowa to attend a fund-raiser for veterans, Mr. Fahrenthold found that only about half of the money had gone to veterans' charities.  Mr. Fahrenthold, 39, later found that Mr. Trump had used his own foundation's money for business-related legal settlements and purchases that included two portraits of himself.  In October, Mr. Fahrenthold received a tip about a video that showed Mr. Trump talking about women in vulgar terms.  “The voice you'd heard in so many other contexts was talking in a way we'd never heard before,” Mr. Fahrenthold said Monday.  “That's what made it so powerful.”

Finalists:  Renee Dudley, Steve Stecklow, Alexandra Harney and other members of the Reuters Staff | The staff of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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INTERNATIONAL REPORTING

The staff of The New York Times

In “Russia's Dark Arts,” a team of New York Times journalists across two continents chronicled the covert and sometimes deadly actions taken by President Vladimir V. Putin's government to grow Russian influence abroad.  The series, which began last spring, explored the rise of online “troll armies,” the strategic spreading of disinformation and Russia's unprecedented — and politically consequential — cyberattack on the 2016 American presidential election.

Finalists:  Chris Hamby, BuzzFeed News | The staff of The Wall Street Journal | International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy and The Miami Herald
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FEATURE WRITING

C.J. Chivers, The New York Times

Mr. Chivers, 52, spent months crafting his 18,102-word portrait of a young combat veteran haunted by his experiences in Afghanistan, who was imprisoned after a violent fight with a stranger.  Unflinching yet empathetic, the reporting by Mr. Chivers — himself a former Marine — prompted the state of Illinois to vacate the veteran's jail sentence.  “The truth literally set a young man free,” Jake Silverstein, the editor of The New York Times Magazine, where the story appeared, said Monday.

Finalists:  Adam Entous and Devlin Barrett, The Wall Street Journal | Eli Saslow, The Washington Post
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COMMENTARY

Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Noonan, 66, has been a longtime observer and participant in the political sphere, having worked as a speechwriter to President Ronald Reagan.  Her winning columns addressed the bruising 2016 campaign season and the rise of Mr. Trump, analyzing his populist appeal and his effect on the Republican Party.  Paul Gigot, the editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, wrote in a memo to the newsroom, “Peggy didn't shrink from addressing Trump's many flaws as a candidate, but she always showed great respect for the intelligence of voters and explained the currents of American life and politics that catapulted Trump to the White House.”

Finalists:  Dahleen Glanton, The Chicago Tribune | Trudy Rubin, Philadelphia Media Network
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CRITICISM

Hilton Als, The New Yorker

A staff writer at The New Yorker since 1994, Mr. Als, 56, was praised for reviews that “strove to put stage dramas within a real-world cultural context,” particularly when it comes to themes of gender, sexuality and race.  Mr. Als, who was a finalist last year, is known for stylish and trenchant prose, and won the honor for a set of 10 pieces that covered works including “The Color Purple” and “Dear Evan Hansen.”  American theater, he said in an interview, is an a transitional state.  “We're living in an amazing age,” he said.  “All kinds of stories are going to be told now that just didn't get an audience before.  That's thrilling to me.”

Finalists:  Laura Reiley, The Tampa Bay Times | Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
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EDITORIAL WRITING

Art Cullen, The Storm Lake Times

There is no mistaking the anger in the voice of The Storm Lake Times when it writes about the legacy of big agriculture: “Anyone with eyes and a nose knows in his gut that Iowa has the dirtiest surface water in America.”  That voice is personal, too.  It belongs to Mr. Cullen, 59, who owns the newspaper with his brother John.  The Times comes out twice a week and has a circulation of 3,000.  Among its admiring readers were Pulitzer jurors.  They cited Mr. Cullen's “tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing.”

Finalists:  Fred Hiatt, The Washington Post | Joe Holley, The Houston Chronicle
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Example

EDITORIAL CARTOONING

Jim Morin, The Miami Herald

The looming ogre of “Nationalism,” armed with a malevolent grin and the club of “Racism,” opened the door and cast his menacing shadow last June.  “Hello,” he said.  “Remember me?”  For this and other work portraying a frightening America, Mr. Morin, 64, earned his second Pulitzer Prize.  (The first was in 1996.)  The Pulitzer jurors said he “delivered sharp perspectives through flawless artistry, biting prose and crisp wit.”

Finalists:  Jen Sorensen | Steve Sack, The Star Tribune
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BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY

Daniel Berehulak, The New York Times

Mr. Berehulak, 41, was recognized for work that showed “the callous disregard for human life in the Philippines brought about by a government assault on drug dealers and users.”  On Monday, Mr. Berehulak described observing “an assembly line of state-sanctioned murder” over 35 days in Manila.  He dedicated his award to the families of those killed, saying he hoped “their pain might somehow be remedied by justice.”  He was previously awarded a Pulitzer Prize for feature photography in 2015 for his work documenting the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Finalists:  The staff of The Associated Press | Jonathan Bachman, Reuters
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FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

E. Jason Wambsgans, The Chicago Tribune

Mr. Wambsgans, 44, was honored for his portrayal of a 10-year-old boy and his mother after the boy survived a shooting in Chicago.  He has mainly photographed violence in the city for the past four years.

“Because he and his mother were so open, it was just a deeper level of intimacy than we're typically able to convey,” Mr. Wambsgans said.  “It's kind of a bittersweet thing because there's not a week that goes by that I don't worry about this boy and his future.”

Finalists:  Jake May, The Flint Journal | Katie Falkenberg, The Los Angeles Times
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FICTION

Colson Whitehead, “The Underground Railroad”

When he was working on his hallucinatory and chilling novel, which reimagines American slavery, Mr. Whitehead studied works by masters of magical realism, including Toni Morrison's “Beloved” and Gabriel García Márquez's “One Hundred Years of Solitude.” His aim was to write about “the fantastic with a straight face.”

Mr. Whitehead, 47, said the critical reactions to the book have been enormously gratifying (the novel also won the National Book Award).  But one of the most meaningful responses came from a stranger who approached him in a bookstore.  “She said, 'Your book made me a more empathetic person,'” he said.

Past coverage:  Profile | Review | Sunday Book Review

Finalists:  “Imagine Me Gone,” by Adam Haslett (Sunday Book Review) | “The Sport of Kings,” by C. E. Morgan (Review | Sunday Book Review)
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DRAMA

Lynn Nottage, “Sweat”

Ms. Nottage's play explores working-class alienation in Reading, Pa., a city that has been hurt by deindustrialization.  The Pulitzer citation called “Sweat,” which is currently running on Broadway, “a nuanced yet powerful drama that reminds audiences of the stacked deck still facing workers searching for the American dream.”

“I was trying to understand how economic stagnation is reshaping our cultural narrative,” Ms. Nottage said, “and wanting to tell the story of what was happening to people on the ground in a way that was truthful and emotional and unapologetic.”

This is the second Pulitzer Prize for Ms. Nottage, 52, who won in 2009 for “Ruined,” a play about rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Past coverage:  Review | Feature | Off-Broadway Review | Ashland, Ore.  Review

Finalists:  “The Wolves,” by Sarah DeLappe (Review | Off-Broadway Review | Feature) | “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” by Taylor Mac (Review | Feature )
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HISTORY

Heather Ann Thompson, “Blood in the Water”

Ms. Thompson spent 13 years researching this account of the Attica prison uprising, which the Pulitzer board cited as “a narrative history that sets high standards for scholarly judgment and tenacity of inquiry.”  In addition to extensive archival research, Ms. Thompson, 53, interviewed dozens of survivors, participants and observers, many of whom spent decades fighting to uncover the truth about the violent retaking that left 39 prisoners and hostages dead.

“This was a story that the people inside of that prison have been trying to tell for 45 years,” she said.

Past coverage:  News Feature | Review | Sunday Book Review

Finalists:  Larrie D.  Ferreiro, “Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It” | Wendy Warren, “New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America” (Sunday Book Review)
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BIOGRAPHY

Hisham Matar, “The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between”

Mr. Matar was a 19-year-old student in England when his father, a prominent critic of the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi living in exile, was kidnapped and taken to a secret prison in Libya.  This memoir recounts Mr. Matar's return to his homeland 22 years later, after the fall of that government, to find out what happened to him.  The Pulitzer citation called it “a first-person elegy for home and father,” executed with “controlled emotion.”  In an interview last year with The New York Times, Mr. Matar, 46, was asked to imagine what his father would have made of his journey.

“My failure to cure myself of Libya would have amused and perhaps even comforted him,” Mr. Matar said.  “My search for him would have not.  He wanted me, above all things, to be free and happy.”

Past coverage:  Review | Sunday Book Review | Q&A | Excerpt in Sunday Review

Finalists:  Susan Faludi, “In the Darkroom” (Review | Sunday Book Review) | Paul Kalanithi, “When Breath Becomes Air” (Review | Sunday Book Review | Well Review | Q&A With Widow | Essay by Widow)
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POETRY

Tyehimba Jess, “Olio”

Mr. Jess's second book of poems is a kaleidoscopic and formally ambitious collection about African-American artists between the Civil War and World War I, and the ways in which they both fought against and tried to make creative use of the cultural pressures of minstrelsy.  Scott Joplin plays a prominent role in the book's imagination, as do less well-known figures, most but not all musicians.  “American music is critically and fundamentally tied to the African-American experience, the experience of a people who were denied access to literacy for most of our time in this country through slavery,”  Mr. Jess, 51, said in an interview in March with The New School.  “They were forced to forge another kind of literacy through the music.”

Finalists:  Adrienne Rich, “Collected Poems: 1950-2012” (Review) | Campbell McGrath, “XX”
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GENERAL NONFICTION

Matthew Desmond, “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City”

In his meticulously reported book, Mr. Desmond, a sociologist, followed eight impoverished families in Milwaukee as they struggled to make rent.  Mr. Desmond, 37, a director of the Justice and Poverty Project at Harvard, said he decided to investigate the causes and the repercussions of evictions as a way to write about the systemic causes of poverty in the United States.

“America's the richest country, with the worst poverty,” he said.  “That ugly fact has troubled me for a long time, and I wanted to understand the role that housing plays.”

Past Coverage:  Profile | Review | Sunday Book Review | Sunday Review Essay | Op-ed

Finalists:  “In a Different Key: The Story of Autism,” by John Donvan and Caren Zucker (Sunday Book Review) | “The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery,” by Micki McElya
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MUSIC

Du Yun, “Angel's Bone”

Ms. Du, 39, won for her savage chamber opera, a collaboration with the librettist Royce Vavrek, which finds an allegory for human trafficking in the story of two angels who are brutally mistreated after they crash-land in a suburban backyard.

“In the U.S., trafficking seems very far from us, in Southeast Asia or Eastern Europe,” she said.  “But it's happening right in front of our eyes.  And that's how this arose, to be able to create a platform that's not didactic, but a work that allows ideas to blossom.”

Past coverage:  Review

Finalists:  Ashley Fure, “Bound to the Bow” (Review) | Kate Soper, “Ipsa Dixit”

LITERARY WORLD - Take Two

"From Neil Gaiman, tales of Thor and Odin for modern ears" PBS NewsHour 3/17/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Famed fantasy writer Neil Gaiman read and absorbed the stories of the Norse gods when he was young.  In a new book, "Norse Mythology," he retells them for a new generation.  Gaiman sits down with Jeffrey Brown to discuss the importance of keeping the stories -- and the gods in them -- alive.

"How powerful stories can change the world for the better" PBS NewsHour 3/17/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Stories are weapons, for good or ill, says writer Derek Thompson.  Society is bound by the common stories we tell, whether it's about who we should trust and admire, or who we should fear and look down on.  Thompson, author of the recent book “Hit Makers: How Things Become Popular,” offers his humble opinion on the powerful stories we need to be passing on.

NOBEL PRIZE - For Literature Goes to Bob Dylan

"American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in literature" by Larisa Epatko, PBS NewsHour 10/13/2016

He's gotten a presidential honor and performed for a pope.  Now musician Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize in literature.

When naming Dylan as the recipient on Thursday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said he was granted the award “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

Dylan, 75, has performed his unique blend of guitar, insightful lyrics and what some might consider inscrutable vocals for more than 50 years.

“He is a great poet in the English-speaking tradition and he is a wonderful sampler, he embodies the tradition.  And for 54 years he's been at it and constantly reinventing himself,” said Sara Danius, permanent secretary at the Swedish Academy, after the announcement.  Watch her full interview, where she compares Dylan to the ancient Greek poets.

Dylan's early songs such as “Blowing in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin” represented the civil rights era of the 1960s.  He famously switched to performing on electric guitar, one of the first among the nation's leading folk musicians, at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

“It's a pivotal moment in rock ‘n' roll history,” said Elyse Luray of PBS' History Detectives, which explored the whereabouts of Dylan's guitar, in a 2012 PBS NewsHour interview.  “After Dylan plugs in and goes electric, we start seeing the movement of blues coming into rock ‘n' roll.  And at the same time he's changing, we have the Rolling Stones coming in and changing, we have Hendrix changing.”

Dylan writings include an experimental prose poetry collection called “Tarantula,” published in 1971.

In 1988, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio.  In addition to 11 Grammy Awards for his music, Dylan won an Academy Award in 2000 and Golden Globe the following year for best original song “Things Have Changed” from the movie “Wonder Boys.”

He is the first American to win the Nobel Prize in literature since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.

"Nobel honors Bob Dylan, bard for a changing world" PBS NewsHour 10/13/2016

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  By any measure, Bob Dylan is one of the most important and influential popular songwriters of his era.  Now he's also a Nobel laureate in literature, a choice that came as a surprise.  Jeffrey Brown talks to singer/songwriter James Taylor and others about the way Dylan's writing helped so many navigate a changing world.

LITERATURE - 'Leaves of Grass' as Work of Art

"Letter by letter, turning Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’ into a work of art" PBS NewsHour 7/25/2014

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  “I celebrate myself, and what I assume, you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” the famous first lines of a landmark of American literature, Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.”

Whitman was 36 years old when he self-published the first edition in 1855.  A trained printer, he personally hand-set some of the lines of type in the book.  Now Whitman’s work is being printed again, just as he did it in the 1800s, on movable type printing presses, the setting this time, in an old industrial building in San Francisco’s Presidio National Park, where the Arion Press is one of the country’s last fine book printers, and limited edition, handmade works are crafted from start to finish under one roof.

ANDREW HOYEM, Publisher, Arion Press:  The making of a book is a very, very complicated process.

JEFFREY BROWN:  The man who’s kept it all going for four decades is founder, publisher, and a poet himself, Andrew Hoyem.

ANDREW HOYEM:  We do what we do not to be quaint, but to use these techniques of letterpress printing, printing from metal types, because when the type is pressed into good quality paper, it creates an aesthetic effect you cannot achieve any other way.

NOBEL PRIZE - Literature Goes to Chinese Mo Yan

"Writer Mo Yan Wins Nobel Prize, Spurs Mixed Reaction from Fellow Chinese" (Part-1) PBS Newshour 10/11/2012

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded today. Because it went to a Chinese writer, it stirred unusual interest and reaction.

The official announcement came in Stockholm, Sweden.

PETER ENGLUND, Permanent Secretary, Swedish Academy: The Nobel Prize in literature for 2012 is awarded to the Chinese writer Mo Yan, who, with hallucinatory realism, merges folktales, history and the contemporary.

JEFFREY BROWN: The 57-year-old Mo was recognized for popular short stories and novels based on life in rural China, including "Red Sorghum" and "The Garlic Ballads."

Many ordinary Chinese hailed the choice.

ZHENG QINGCHENG, China (through translator): I am proud of him as Chinese. I saw the news just now. The Nobel Prize is a world-class prize. He is great. I am so happy for him.

JEFFREY BROWN: And the selection was a hit with the Chinese government, too. In a rare move, state-run television broke away from its newscast to announce the Nobel Prize.

The regime had shunned two previous Chinese laureates, jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Peace Prize in 2010, and Gao Xingjian, a critic of Beijing's policies who'd become a French citizen, won the literature prize in 2000.

In a turnabout, the selection of Mo drew fire from some dissidents, including the artist Ai Weiwei, who accused him of being too close to China's Communist Party. He said in a statement, "I think the Nobel organizers have removed themselves from reality by awarding this prize."

The Swedish Academy said it based its decision on literary merit alone and didn't consider reaction in the winner's homeland.

"For Mo Yan, a Case Study in the Politics of Being a Chinese Literary Figure" (Part-2) PBS Newshour 10/11/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Jeffrey Brown talks to Charles Laughlin of the University of Virginia and Xiao Qiang at the University of California, Berkeley about prolific writer and Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, whose detractors cite a cozy relationship with Chinese state media and a savviness about staying away from topics sensitive to the Communist government.

MEDIA - American Cultural Critics

"The Artists of Cultural Criticism: Remembering Robert Hughes and Judith Crist" PBS Newshour 8/7/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: As taste-makers, critics can reveal the best and worst in art and film -- from inspiration to distraction. Jeffrey Brown and New York Times' A.O. Scott remember two such critics: Robert Hughes, who spent three decades writing for Time Magazine, and Judith Crist, who championed a new wave of actors and directors in the 1960s.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): .... the critic speaks and sometimes roars. We remember two legends of the genre.

Art critic and historian Robert Hughes died Monday in New York after a long illness. He was 72 years old. A native of Australia, Hughes spent more than three decades as art critic for "TIME" magazine, and reached many millions more through his work on television.

His 1980 documentary "The Shock of the New" changed conceptions about 20th century art. It originated on the BBC and also aired on PBS. Later, Hughes wrote and presented "American Visions," another series that aired on PBS.

Here's an excerpt of Hughes discussing the work of the American painter Winslow Homer.

MEDIA - Modern SiFi Master Dies, Ray Bradbury

This is one of the writers that made me love to read when I was an adolescent. I've been a fan of SiFi and Fantasy ever since.

"Remembering Ray Bradbury and His 'Cautionary Tales'" PBS Newshour 6/6/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Ray Bradbury, author of classic books such as "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles," died Tuesday night at the age of 91. Jeffrey Brown and bestselling novelist Lev Grossman, who is also a book critic for Time magazine, discuss Bradbury's life, work and literary legacy.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): Ray Bradbury was a modern master who helped bring the genre of science fiction writing into the cultural mainstream. And it began as a young boy, with fairy tales.

MEDIA - Importance of Literature

"Peruvian Writer Mario Vargas Llosa on the Importance of Literature" PBS Newshour 6/1/2012

Excerpt

SUMMARY: Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the world's leading writers, speaks with Jeffrey Brown about his new book and how he folds history and contemporary politics into his writing.

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2010, Mario Vargas Llosa told his audience a story -- his own.

MARIO VARGAS LLOSA: Once upon a time, there was a boy who learned to read at the age of 5. This changed his life. Owing to the adventure tales he read, he discovered a way to escape from the poor house, the poor country, and the poor reality in which he lived.

JEFFREY BROWN: The acclaimed storyteller, one of the most celebrated writers in the Spanish-speaking world and beyond, learned from the tales of others.

MARIO VARGAS LLOSA: Reading was such an enrichment of my life. And it was that pleasure that I had as a very young reader probably that is the origin of my vocation.