
The book on Rosalyn Drexler
Go to an art show and read a book? Yes, you are invited to do so at “Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?’’ Indeed, it may help you understand what critic Hilton Als in a companion book with the same title calls the “passionate and surreal’’ voice animating Drexler’s work.
The retrospective exhibit at Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum is awash in neon-ish colors, dark domestic scenes, and imagery from old movie posters. On hand at the front desk are 16 novels and plays by Drexler that can be “checked out’’ during your visit.
A sculptor, painter, and collage artist, Drexler says she didn’t have any preconceived ideas about what she should be. Early in her life — she’s 89 now — she was a professional wrestler, a role immortalized in a series of silkscreen paintings by Andy Warhol. And her wrestling life formed the basis of her 1972 novel, “To Smithereens’’ (Dutton). Drexler won an Emmy for her work on Lily Tomlin’s first TV special. Under the pseudonym Julia Sorel, she wrote “Rocky’’ (Ballantine), based on the screenplay by Sylvester Stallone.
Her 1974 novel “The Cosmopolitan Girl’’ (Evans) is a satire about the relationship between a dog named Pablo and a woman named Helen Jones. Pablo confesses his love for Jones but eventually leaves her, explaining to her that “every dog must have his day.’’
The last day to see the exhibit, co-curated by Katy Siegel and Caitlin Julia Rubin, is June 5. Siegel edited the companion book, published by Gregory R. Miller & Co.
An the award goes to . . .
It’s literary award season. In late April Maine author Stephen King was honored at the 70th annual Edgar Awards, presented by the Mystery Writers of America. He received the best short story award for “Obits,’’ about a reporter whose obituaries kill people. The story was published in “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams’’ (Scribner), a collection of 20 tales.
Rhode Island writer Allen Kurzweil, author of “Whipping Boy: The Forty-Year Search for My Twelve-Year-Old Bully’’ (Harper), won the award for best fact crime book.
Also in April, former US Representative Barney Frank was honored by the Publishing Triangle, an association of lesbians and gay men in book publishing. His book “Frank: A Life in Politics from the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage’’ (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) was a winner of the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction.
“The Beetlebung Farm Cookbook’’ (Little, Brown) by Chris Fischer with Catherine Young won a James Beard Foundation Award for best book on American cooking. Fischer, who grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, cooked at Babbo and other top restaurants before returning home to work his grandparents’ Beetlebung Farm.
Rounding out the April awards are those given by the Boston Author Club. Alice Hoffman won the club’s Julia Ward Howe Award for her novel “The Marriage of Opposites’’ (Simon & Schuster), based on the life of Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro. M. T. Anderson was the winner of the Young Readers Award for “Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad’’ (Candlewick).
Coming out
¦ “The City of Mirrors’’ by Justin Cronin (Ballantine)
¦ “Only Humans Need Apply: Winners and Losers in the Age of Smart Machines’’ by Thomas H. Davenport and Julia Kirby (Harper)
¦ “The Sorcerer’s Daughter: The Defenders of Shannara’’ by Terry Brooks (Del Rey)
Pick of the week
David Lampe-Wilson of Mystery on Main Street in Brattleboro, Vt., recommends “Murder at the 42nd Street Library’’ by Con Lehane (Minotaur): “After a murder happens at New York Public Library’s 42nd Street branch, Ray Ambler, curator of the crime fiction collection, joins in the investigation. Appealing characters and intricate plotting make this first in a new series a fun read for mystery buffs.’’
Jan Gardner can be reached at JanLGardner@yahoo.com.