Special Book Issue:

Writing is a central KWF focus and books an increasingly frequent result, with the University’s strong fiction/nonfiction writing programs playing an essential part. For the first time this year, we brought in a novelist, Valerie Laken, to meet several times with the informal, fireside group of Fellows and spouses/partners that was meeting regularly to discuss one another’s work. It seemed time for our first book issue.

A few weeks ago, we asked all alumni to tell us about what they’d published. Those who answered mentioned 55 books; doubtless there are more. They range from a murder mystery about a TV reporter who sees a body “Falling Off Air” to an analysis of why a ten-minute argument between two philosophers at Cambridge University had cosmic implications; from the history of hip-hop to the history of the Ottoman Empire. As with the rest of the program, spouses/partners are very much included, as noted in this issue, opened by Peter Osnos ’74, whose PublicAffairs Books has compiled a distinguished record of books by, about and for journalists.