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Boston Globe
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Paulette Jiles, acclaimed author of ‘News of the World,' dies at 82
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Ms. Jiles ranged widely in her writing, publishing poems and nonfiction books that reflected her upbringing in small-town Missouri and her 10 years in the Canadian Arctic, where she helped Indigenous communities set up low-power radio stations. She also wrote dystopian science fiction novels, including 'The Late Great Human Road Show' (1986) and 'Lighthouse Island' (2013), that imagined the aftermath of a nuclear disaster in Toronto and the struggles of a hyper-urbanized, drought-ridden America some 200 years in the future. Advertisement For the most part, however, she turned to the past, writing historical fiction that demonstrated what Ron Charles, the Washington Post book critic, once described as an 'interest in the way ordinary people, particularly young women, have coped with national trauma.' Advertisement In 'Enemy Women' (2002), her breakout novel, she traced the Civil War's destructive power by focusing on a single family in southeastern Missouri. Before the conflict began, she wrote, they 'lived an untidy life and were improvident and argumentative and content.' Within a few years, Union soldiers have burned down their house and arrested the family's widowed patriarch; the book's heroine, 18-year-old Adair, is soon arrested herself while trying to bring him back home. 'This is a book with backbone, written with tough, haunting eloquence,' Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times. The novel became a bestseller, buoyed in part by comparisons to Charles Frazier's 1997 prizewinner 'Cold Mountain.' Ms. Jiles continued to garner praise for books including 'Stormy Weather' (2007), about a Depression-era widow raising three daughters on a run-down Texas farm; and 'The Color of Lightning' (2009), a Civil War-era western inspired by the true story of Britt Johnson, a freedman whose wife and children were abducted in a Kiowa raid in Texas. At times, her books could read like elegies to a lost American frontier, where the grasses were 'all bent in various yielding flows, with the wild buckwheat standing in islands, stiff with its heads of grain and red branching stems.' But in general she focused less on landscape than on action, and on the way honorable men and women try to navigate a chaotic and often hostile world. With Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, the hero of 'News of the World' (2016), she created a gruff, battle-scarred septuagenarian who drew comparisons to classic western protagonists Rooster Cogburn of 'True Grit' and Captain Woodrow F. Call of 'Lonesome Dove.' Advertisement Kidd, a veteran of three wars, makes his living in 1870 Texas by traveling to small, isolated towns and reading the news - charging crowds a dime a head to hear him recount newspaper stories about distant shipwrecks, the Franco-Prussian War, or the newly ratified 15th Amendment. He eventually finds himself with a new job: taking Johanna, a 10-year-old girl whose parents have been killed in a Kiowa raid, to her closest remaining relatives, an aunt and uncle in San Antonio. The novel, a finalist for the National Book Award, was was adapted into a well-received 2020 movie, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass. 'In some ways Captain Kidd was speaking for me,' she told Texas Monthly in 2016. By reading the news - introducing audiences to far-flung places they may never be able to visit in person - Kidd was 'trying desperately to get these people to move into the world of imagination, which I think is as necessary to the human soul as food is to the body,' she added. 'What human being do you know who isn't put almost into a state of hypnosis when you bring up that phrase, 'Once upon a time'? All of a sudden, certain fibers in your body relax.' The second of four children, Paulette Kay Jiles was born in Salem, Mo., on April 4, 1943. Her father was an insurance salesman. In a 1991 memoir, 'Cousins,' she described him as an alcoholic who was in an almost 'perpetual rage.' Her mother was a painter who taught community art classes. Ms. Jiles majored in romance languages at the University of Missouri Kansas City, graduating in 1968. When her pacifist boyfriend moved to Canada to avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War, she went too, freelancing as a radio reporter for the CBC. Advertisement On the side she wrote poetry, publishing her first collection in 1973. The title poem, 'Waterloo Express,' was written from the perspective of a sardonic, train-riding wanderer: … I bet you think I'm running away from home or a man who never done me wrong. I bet you think I'm twenty, with the fragile soul of a wild fawn. Well, I used to think so too, but the job didn't pay much and anyhow I never liked the taste of wages. The poem was reprinted in her 1984 collection 'Celestial Navigation,' which won a Governor General's Award, one of Canada's top literary prizes. After a stint working on community radio stations with Cree and Ojibwe communities in the far north, she taught creative writing at the now-defunct David Thompson University Centre in British Columbia. In 1989, while camping in Missouri, she met Jim Johnson, a retired Army colonel who dropped in to help her start a fire. He looked, she later wrote with affection, like 'a cowboy demon.' They married a few years later and moved to San Antonio, in Johnson's home state, where they bought and restored a 19th-century stone house. The couple divorced in 2003 but remained close. A sister is her only immediate survivor. After the divorce, Ms. Jiles decamped to the Hill Country. She didn't own a television ('the lighted screen is a narcotic,' she said) but she became a prolific blogger, providing updates about her life and work. A 2020 Texas Monthly profile noted that her blog 'makes clear that she disapproves of all kinds of things - 'young people,' Kindles, political correctness, Europe's decision to admit large numbers of Middle Eastern refugees, the best-selling thriller 'Gone Girl ,' cancel culture, and other manifestations of modern liberalism." Advertisement She also rode horses and played the tin whistle in a local bluegrass band. But for the most part she lived a solitary life, plugging away on books including 'Chenneville,' another Civil War-era novel that she published in 2023. 'People ask me, 'Don't you get lonely up there?' And I say, 'I'm living with 25 characters in every one of my books,'' she said in a video interview for her publisher, William Morrow. 'When I walk away from it I need to get away from it absolutely and completely. The horses take me away from this world of the imagination.'
Scotsman
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
World premiere of Renée Zellweger film is massive for Edinburgh
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... It is a truth universally acknowledged that Renée Zellweger brought the 1990s fictional heroine Bridget Jones, previously confined to the printed page, to life in truly spectacular style in the film series. Along with stellar performances in films like Cold Mountain and Jerry Maguire, it made her one of Hollywood's biggest stars. So the news that her directorial debut, an animated short film called They, will have its world premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival in August is 'a really big coup', as the EIFF's director Paul Ridd rightly said. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The world premier of Renée Zellweger's directorial debut will be held in Edinburgh (Picture: Dia Dipasupil) | Getty Images What's more, it was Zellweger's representatives who got in touch with the festival, rather than the other way around. Given it wasn't that long ago that it seemed the annual event had collapsed, this represents a real turnaround in its fortunes.
Sydney Morning Herald
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Without realising, I started to live as a character in one of my books
I was living in the Southern Highlands of NSW when I wrote my first novel, Echo Lake, inspired by the misty forests, cosy pubs and antique shops I had grown to love. But circumstances forced me to leave for a few years, and I always longed to return. Recently, I got my wish. The stars unexpectedly realigned and I was able to move back to the Highlands in time for publication of Echo Lake's sequel, Whisky Valley. On the drive down from Sydney, my car piled high with clothes, knick-knacks and books, I felt like my main character, Rose McHugh, who had found a little wooden cottage surrounded by bushland and birdsong, finally realising her dream. While her cottage was in Berrima, I found one in nearby Burrawang. Like Rose's house, mine is surrounded by native and exotic trees, the latter turning orange, red and yellow in the glorious peak of autumn. And, like Rose, I now wake up to the sound of black cockatoos and whipbirds, often muffled by the fog that settles over the low hills and valleys. But am I living in the world of my books or are my books merely an extension of me? One of the great pleasures of reading is travelling to captivating destinations. Whether the Japan of James Clavell's Shogun, the rural American south of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, or the islands of Ann Cleeves' Shetlands mysteries, my favourite books are ones set in places with their own unique magic. When I first came to the Highlands, I felt the kind of unique magic I craved as a reader and decided it would be even more fun to explore as a writer. Which is when I started becoming Rose. Loading When creating her, I approached Rose the same way I approached the setting for the novels. I wanted her to be compelling, inviting – someone readers might like to spend time with. She needed to be warm, but with a dark side, down-to-earth but eccentric, vulnerable without being pathetic. I also endowed Rose with some of my own quirks of character: a passion for bushwalking, an obsession with the films of Alfred Hitchcock and an addiction to cinnamon buns. I thought I was on pretty firm ground. As I wrote, Rose's actions were usually predictable, which is unsurprising considering I invented her, but sometimes she would go off-piste. My fingers would tap away on the keyboard and I'd stare in shock as Rose did something I hadn't planned. At first, I was unsure about letting her deviate from my outline, but I learnt to follow my instinct. Or rather, to follow Rose.
The Age
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Without realising, I started to live as a character in one of my books
I was living in the Southern Highlands of NSW when I wrote my first novel, Echo Lake, inspired by the misty forests, cosy pubs and antique shops I had grown to love. But circumstances forced me to leave for a few years, and I always longed to return. Recently, I got my wish. The stars unexpectedly realigned and I was able to move back to the Highlands in time for publication of Echo Lake's sequel, Whisky Valley. On the drive down from Sydney, my car piled high with clothes, knick-knacks and books, I felt like my main character, Rose McHugh, who had found a little wooden cottage surrounded by bushland and birdsong, finally realising her dream. While her cottage was in Berrima, I found one in nearby Burrawang. Like Rose's house, mine is surrounded by native and exotic trees, the latter turning orange, red and yellow in the glorious peak of autumn. And, like Rose, I now wake up to the sound of black cockatoos and whipbirds, often muffled by the fog that settles over the low hills and valleys. But am I living in the world of my books or are my books merely an extension of me? One of the great pleasures of reading is travelling to captivating destinations. Whether the Japan of James Clavell's Shogun, the rural American south of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, or the islands of Ann Cleeves' Shetlands mysteries, my favourite books are ones set in places with their own unique magic. When I first came to the Highlands, I felt the kind of unique magic I craved as a reader and decided it would be even more fun to explore as a writer. Which is when I started becoming Rose. Loading When creating her, I approached Rose the same way I approached the setting for the novels. I wanted her to be compelling, inviting – someone readers might like to spend time with. She needed to be warm, but with a dark side, down-to-earth but eccentric, vulnerable without being pathetic. I also endowed Rose with some of my own quirks of character: a passion for bushwalking, an obsession with the films of Alfred Hitchcock and an addiction to cinnamon buns. I thought I was on pretty firm ground. As I wrote, Rose's actions were usually predictable, which is unsurprising considering I invented her, but sometimes she would go off-piste. My fingers would tap away on the keyboard and I'd stare in shock as Rose did something I hadn't planned. At first, I was unsure about letting her deviate from my outline, but I learnt to follow my instinct. Or rather, to follow Rose.
Fox News
06-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'This Is Us' star Chrissy Metz left Hollywood after two decades, says she found a 'better quality of life'
After over two decades in Los Angeles, "This is Us" actress Chrissy Metz is embracing life in Nashville, Tennessee. "I moved to Nashville," the 44-year-old actress and singer told People magazine in a new interview. "I was in LA for 21 years, but my family is in Florida, where I'm from, and during the pandemic, I could drive to them from here. It's just a better quality of life here. Everything is 15 minutes away, and it's just so much less stress." "There's a lot going on," she added. "There's obviously great music, great food. I grew up in the South, so I'm used to sort of that hospitality—it feels more communal here. In L.A. it was always like, 'Oh, you have an audition? What's it for? Oh, you have an audition? What for?' It was all very dog-eat-dog." Lately, Metz – who starred alongside Mandy Moore, Justin Hartley, Milo Ventimiglia and Sterling K. Brown in the series from 2016 to 2022 – has been focusing on her career in music and the upcoming release of her new children's book, "When I Talk to God, I Talk About Feelings." "I think we're coming into this age of mental health awareness and just talking about our feelings in real ways," she told the outlet. "And so I wondered, could we preemptively strike and get the kids to name their feelings and then express their feelings and have the confidence to even do that?" Metz isn't the only celeb who has been open about their retreat from Hollywood. Renée Zellweger recently reflected on her six-year hiatus from Los Angeles, Zellweger, who found fame starring in movies like "Jerry Maguire" and "Cold Mountain," was featured on the cover of British Vogue's February 2025 issue and explained that there was one specific reason she decided to leave the spotlight in 2010. "Because I needed to. I was sick of the sound of my own voice." "When I was working, I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, listen to you. Are you sad again, Renée? Oh, is this your mad voice?' It was a regurgitation of the same emotional experiences," she told the outlet. Prior to her return to Hollywood in 2016, Zellweger "wrote music and studied international law." She also "built a house, rescued a pair of older doggies, created a partnership that led to a production company, advocated for and fundraised with a sick friend and spent alot of time with family and godchildren and driving across the country with the dogs." "I got healthy," Zellweger explained. Fox News Digital's Janelle Ash contributed to this post.
