Radiohead Releases Newspaper Along WIth New Album
In conjunction with its new album, King of Limbs, the band Radiohead will publish a newspaper, to be sold at 61 locations worldwide. The paper is called The Universal Sigh, and-like the band's last album-will be handed out free. Unlike the album, though, the single-issue tabloid will not be available digitally.
- Read the article in The Guardian.
Pritzker Architecture Prize Awarded To Portuguese Architect
The 2011 Pritzker Architecture Prize was announced this week. The $100,000 grant was awarded to the Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto de Moura. De Moura is well-respected in his field, particularly his designs for a stadium in the city of Braga, an office tower in Porto, and a museum in Cascais. He is not as well-known internationally-outside the world of architecture-as many previous winners of the Pritzker Prize; he is, however, the second Portuguese architect to be awarded the prize, after Alvaro Siza, who won in 1992. The Pritzker Prize takes its name from the Pritzker Family, the Chicago family who owns Hyatt Hotels and founded the Hyatt Foundation.
- Learn more about the Pritzker Prize.
Mexican-American Writer Wins PEN/Hemingway
An award in another medium, the PEN/Hemingway Award for a distinguished first book of fiction, was granted Sunday to the author Brando Skyhorse, whose novel in stories, The Madonnas of Echo Park, came out last year. The book tells the various stories of members of the largely Mexican-American neighborhood Echo Park, in LA. Skyhorse was presented with the award by the novelist Marilynne Robinson and Patrick Hemingway, Ernest's sole surviving son, at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
- Read the news item in the New York Times.
- Learn more about the PEN/Hemingway.
Smithsonian Withdraws Its Offer To Buy Two LA Murals
A insurance company in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles that was in the process of liquidating its assets was in negotiations to sell two murals from its lobby to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture-until Saturday, when the Museum rescinded its bid to buy them. The murals, which date from 1949, depict a variety of important moments in pre-midcentury African-American history. The Smithsonian withdrew its offer when it became clear that the building's new tenant, a nonprofit social services agency, wanted to keep the murals where they are. It is still unclear whether the murals will remain in their original LA home, or move to Washington, DC.
- Read the article in the LA Times.