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Author Terry McMillan will be reading at the Seattle Public Library on Monday. 

A SRoB portrait of TIME magazine correspondent Jay Newton-Small, author of Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works. 

Author and activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore for the Seattle Review of Books Portrait Gallery

Here's a gouache on paper illustration of author and poet Sherman Alexie for the Seattle Review of Books Portrait Gallery

                  Funny how things happen without consciously deciding that this is what will happen...
     I decided to update my long  overlooked blog and post some new work and realized
that I seem to have spent much of the past two years painting animals!
Here are some of my recent pieces, lots of animals...but there a few images to be painted of nothing but people and  there is a gnome-y sort of fellow which is kind of a person!!!!
                   Working on two companion pieces to Mammals right now, Farm Animals and Snowmen...which are, again, sort of like people!

Animal Characters

Bringing Home the Tree

Sleeping Pussywillow Ladies ( Fox's Surprise Birthday )

Fox ( Fox's Surprise Birthday )

Fox's Birthday Cake ( Fox's Surprise Birthday )

Deer ( Fox's Surprise Birthday

The Countess

Lautrec Toulouse

The Party

Cici

Mammals

Mexican Sour Gherkins, seed pack art Hudson Valley Seed Library

A portrait of Sonny Liew for The Seattle Review of Books.

Mal De Fleur for Seattle Review of Books. 

Ava DuVernay, the director behind Selma, will take the helm of a movie based on Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. Farrar, Straus & Giroux first published this Newbery Medal-winning children’s book back in 1963.

Here’s more from The Chicago Tribune: “The story follows children as they travel through time and visit strange worlds in order to find their missing scientist father…A Wrinkle in Time is the first book in L’Engle’s Time Quartet series that also includes A Wind in the Door, Many Waters, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet.”

According to The Wrap, Jennifer Lee, the screenwriter behind Frozen, has signed on to write the script. Disney has scheduled filming to begin later this year. (via Deadline)

What if Donald Trump sat on the Iron Throne and ruled over Westeros? One YouTube creative, known as huw parkinson, decided to produce a hilarious piece called “Winter is Trumping.”

The video embedded above features the Republican presidential candidate interacting with Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and the men of the Night’s Watch. The season six premiere episode of Game of Thrones will air on April 24.

Click on these links to watch HBO’s first teaser and the second teaser. For more parody humor, follow these links to watch the “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Trump” video and a clip from the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show.

Actually DEADPOOL was going to host back in the 90s, but then this happened. Thank god Tom Hanks was available.https://t.co/7pyPEMysdY

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) February 20, 2016

Andrew Stege, a fan of the Deadpool film adaptation, has launched a Change.org petition. He hopes to encourage producer Lorne Michaels, actor Ryan Reynolds, and NBC to allow the “Merc with a Mouth” to host an episode of Saturday Night Live.

So far, the petition has drawn more than 72,000 signatures. Recently, Reynolds responded with a tweet (embedded above) that claims Deadpool was “going to host back in the 90s, but then this happened.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Reynolds and his alter-ego have been making waves at the box office — the R-rated film grossed a record-breaking $132.7 million over its debut weekend, giving it one of the best showings ever for a superhero film.” Click on these links to watch an IMAX trailer, a teaser trailer, the red band version of the first trailer, and the second trailer. (via A.V. Club)

Ann Shoket has signed a deal for a nonfiction book with Rodale Books. She (pictured, via) has become well-known as the former editor-in-chief of Seventeen magazine.

Marisa Vigilante, a senior editor, negotiated the deal with Brandi Bowles, an agent at Foundry Literary + Media. Michelle Phan, a make-up expert and YouTube star, has agreed to write the foreword. The release date for The Big Life: Find Your Confidence, Live Your Dreams, and Get Everything You Ever Wanted – On Your Own Terms has been set for Winter 2017.

According to the press release, this book “is specifically tailored to millennial women who are changing what it means to be powerful and successful in the world—for everyone. Forever. The book will help them sort through the complicated emotions that come with being young, hungry and ambitious.”

The world has been mourning the passing of Harper Lee. President Barack Obama (pictured, via) wrote a post on Facebook to praise the To Kill a Mockingbird author.

Here’s an excerpt from Obama’s post: “Ms. Lee changed America for the better. And there is no higher tribute we can offer her than to keep telling this timeless American story – to our students, to our neighbors, and to our children – and to constantly try, in our own lives, to finally see each other.”

Many members of the publishing industry have also spoken out in remembrance of Lee including HarperCollins publisher Michael Morrison, literary agent Andrew Nurnberg, and Amazon Books editorial director Sara Nelson. Do you have a favorite quote from To Kill a Mockingbird or Go Set a Watchman?

The CW has cast two actors for the Riverdale television series pilot. Cole Sprouse will play Jughead Jones and Lili Reinhart will take on the role of Betty Cooper.

Archie Comics COO Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has agreed to write the script. He will serve as an executive producer along with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter, and Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater.

Here’s more from the press release: “The show will focus on the eternal love triangle of Archie Andrews, girl-next-door Betty Cooper, and rich socialite Veronica Lodge, and will include the entire cast of characters from the comic books—including Archie’s rival, Reggie Mantle, and his slacker best friend, Jughead Jones. Popular gay character Kevin Keller will also play a pivotal role. In addition to the core cast, Riverdale will introduce other characters from Archie Comics’ expansive library, including Josie and the Pussycats.”

Steven Spielberg served as a narrator for First Book’s “Share the Magic of Storytelling” piece. The video embedded above features references to Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, The BFG.

Here’s more from a First Book blog post: “Disney has donated a record 50 million books to First Book. To celebrate this milestone, Disney, ABC and First Book invite you to join the fourth annual Magic of Storytelling campaign through March 31.”

Spielberg directed a film adaptation based on Dahl’s novel. The theatrical release date has been set for July 01, 2016. Click here to watch the first movie teaser.

Lisa Lucas has been appointed executive director of The Board of Directors of the National Book Foundation, the organization responsible for the National Book Awards.
Lucas will succeed Harold Augenbraum who revealed that he was stepping down last March.

Lucas will become the third executive director in the Foundation’s history.
Lucas comes to after serving as publisher of Guernica, a non-profit digital magazine focused on art and politics. Prior to Guernica, Lucas served as director of education at the Tribeca Film Institute.

The executive search firm Spencer Stuart conducted the search for Lucas and a search committee of the National Book Foundation Board oversaw the process. This team included: chairman David Steinberger, the board’s vice chair Morgan Entrekin, CEO and Publisher of Grove Atlantic; Reynold Levy, President of The Robin Hood Foundation; Carolyn Reidy, President and CEO of Simon and Schuster; Calvin Sims, President and CEO of International House; and Strauss Zelnick, founder of Zelnick Media Capital.

“We went through an exhaustive search process,” stated David Steinberger, president and CEO of The Perseus Books Group and Chairman of the National Book Foundation, “and we could not be more pleased with the outcome. Lisa Lucas is a dynamic leader who has served as a passionate advocate for literature and has built an impressive track record of accomplishment in the not-for-profit world across theater, film and literature.”

Bruce Springsteen has signed a deal with Simon & Schuster. The international release date for his autobiography, entitled Born to Run, has been scheduled for Sept. 27.

The legendary rock star has been working on this book for the past seven years. Springsteen first began to write down his life story after performing with the E Street Band at the 2009 Super Bowl halftime show.

Here’s more from the press release: “In Born to Run, Mr. Springsteen describes growing up in Freehold, New Jersey amid the ‘poetry, danger, and darkness’ that fueled his imagination. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song ‘Born to Run’ reveals more than we previously realized.”

This week's portrait for the Seattle Review of Books is Judy Blume. 

Here's a recent commissioned piece. The simple brief: a landscape of hope, meditation, emergence.

Taraji P. Henson will play the mathematician Katherine Johnson in the Hidden Figures movie. In the past, the actress (pictured,via) was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the film adaptation of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

According to Variety, the story for this film adaptation comes from Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly. HarperCollins will publish this nonfiction book on Sept. 6.

Here’s more from The Hollywood Reporter: “Ted Melfi will direct the film about a group of black women who provided NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program’s first successful space missions. Fox is planning to release the film Jan. 13, 2017, to coincide with the Martin Luther King holiday weekend.” (via Bustle)