It’s Didion’s “Year”: Author honored for memoir of loss
New York – Joan Didion, whose memoir “The Year of Magical Thinking” is quickly becoming a classic portrait of grief, won the National Book Award for nonfiction Wednesday night.
Didion praised publisher Alfred A. Knopf for supporting her as she wrote her acclaimed best seller about the death of her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and the illness of her daughter, Quintana Roo.
In a minor surprise, William T. Vollmann won the fiction prize for “Europe Central,” an 800-page novel about Germany and the Soviet Union in the 20th century. E.L. Doctorow’s “The March” and Mary Gaitskill’s “Veronica” had been regarded as the leading contenders.
One of the world’s great poets, W.S. Merwin, won the poetry prize for “Migration,” which includes selections from 15 previous compilations. The young people’s literature award went to Jeanne Birdsall, whose debut novel, “The Penderwicks,” tells of four sisters and their widowed father.
Winners each received $10,000. Garrison Keillor hosted, and honorary medals went to Norman Mailer and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Mailer was introduced by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, who praised him extensively but couldn’t help pointing out his “almost comic obtuseness about women.”
The 82-year-old Mailer, recovering from heart surgery and limping to the stage on bad knees, responded: “I’m obtuse about women, but also wary of them.”
WASHINGTON
Ford issues 2 recalls on its 2005 vehicles
Ford Motor Co. recalled 220,000 vehicles from the 2005 model year Wednesday amid fire worries from a battery cable rubbing against the frame and concern that a fuel-tank strap could separate after tens of thousands of miles.
The recall linked to the cable involves more than 98,000 Ford Crown Victoria, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis sedans.
A second recall caused by the snapping of fuel tank straps involves more than 123,000 Ford Freestyle crossover vehicles, Ford Five Hundred sedans and Mercury Montego vehicles. The fuel tank could fall off after 100,000 miles.
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Lawmakers repeal their 2 a.m. pay raise
After it brought four months of abuse down on their heads, Pennsylvania lawmakers Wednesday repealed a pay raise they gave themselves in the middle of the night.
Gov. Ed Rendell signed the repeal legislation less than three hours after the state Senate approved it 50-0. It passed the House 197-1 on Monday.
Last July, the Legislature, acting at 2 a.m. without public notice or debate, raised the salaries of more than 1,300 public officials in all three branches of government 16 percent to 54 percent.
BELIZE
Colorado College student murdered
A college student attending Colorado College has been murdered in Belize, her scantily clad body found in a patch of bushes, authorities said.
The family of Julia Armstrong Minard, 20, arrived in the Central American country Tuesday and was awaiting word Wednesday from the medical examiner, who is conducting an autopsy, police in Belize said.
Belize newscasts said it appeared the student from Brooklyn, N.Y., entered Belize Nov. 10 through the border of Guatemala.
She was traveling with a group, reports said, then went off on her own and had befriended locals at a bar.
A Belize police spokesman said Wednesday that even though a suspect, Agripino Ical, 19, a local, was under arrest, it still was not clear what prompted the slaying.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan
Musharraf requests $5 billion in quake aid
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf appealed Wednesday for more than $5 billion in aid to rebuild the earthquake-ravaged north, but said his country will fend for itself if the world doesn’t deliver.
The appeal came as the United Nations warned again that thousands could die from cold, disease and hunger in the quake zone this winter and announced that Secretary-General Kofi Annan will tour there ahead of a key donors conference Saturday in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
MEXICO CITY
Bus-tanker crash kills at least 38 people
A crash involving a tanker carrying toxic ammonium chloride and a bus killed at least 38 people in the state of Sinaloa, federal police said Wednesday.
The crash occurred Tuesday evening near the city of Los Mochis, on a highway linking Mexico City and the border city of Nogales, police said.
Four people were injured.
Police said most of the victims appeared to have had burns and also foam around their mouths, signs that they had been killed by the ammonium chloride.
