Today I have three for you--three bits of book news for the space of one.
1.) Minneapolis writer Jack El-Hai's book, "The Lobotomist," a biography of Walter Freeman, which was published in 2005 and was made into a PBS "American Experience," has been optioned by HBO. They're working on a pilot, Variety reports.
"Robert Schwentke has been tapped to direct the HBO drama pilot 'The Lobotomist,' with Daniel Thomsen on board to write the script," Variety writer Stuart Levine writes. "Schwentke, who helmed 'The Time Traveler's Wife,' will also exec produce with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Killoran of Appian Way, Brad Fischer and Laeta Kalogridis of Mythology Entertainment, and Mike Medavoy. ... Inspired by the meteoric rise and fall of Dr. Walter Freeman, 'The Lobotomist' tells the story of one man's quest to change the world through a new, experimental brain surgery."
2.) A second Minnesota writer -- Polyxeni Angelis -- has been shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize. (Heid Erdrich was the first.) Angelis was born in Greece and came to the United States with her family in 1967. She has a degree from the University of Minnesota. You can listen to her shortlisted poem, "Mosaic," here.
3.) Anne Ursu's new book, "Breadcrumbs" -- a modern-day retelling of "The Snow Queen," with a sideways guest appearance by Joe Mauer -- has been named NPR's Backseat Book Club pick for December. Ursu lives in Minneapolis and is an author of books for adults as well as children. She teaches at Hamline University.
