LOS ANGELES – Taylor Swift is having quite the month.

Just as “Red,” her latest opus of lovelorn anthems, opened to massive first-week sales numbers, the country-pop phenom has been tapped to co-host the Grammy nomination special, the Recording Academy announced on Monday.

Swift will co-host the CBS special with LL Cool J. The exhaustively titled CBS special, “Grammy Nominations Concert Live: Countdown to Music’s Biggest Night,” will be held in Nashville.

This is the first time the telecast will be held outside of Los Angeles in its five-year history.

Country singer/songwriter Luke Bryan and pop-rockers Maroon 5 are slated to perform, with additional acts and presenters expected to be announced.

Swift, a six-time Grammy winner herself, is the last artist associated with country music to win the album of the year award with her 2008 breakout disc, “Fearless.”

Advertisement

The concert/news conference will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Dec. 5 at 10 p.m.

Swift also recently announced a North American tour, which will hit stadiums and arenas in 2013.

Latest from ‘Kite Runner’ author due on May 21

NEW YORK – Khaled Hosseini’s next novel will be a journey across time and space.

The author of the million-sellers “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand Splendid Suns” has finished his third book, “And the Mountains Echoed.”

Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) and publisher of his first two novels, announced Monday that “And the Mountains Echoed” comes out May 21.

Advertisement

“I am forever drawn to family as a recurring central theme of my writing,” Hosseini, the Afghan-born author and physician, said in a statement. “My earlier novels were at heart tales of fatherhood and motherhood. My new novel is a multi-generational family story as well, this time revolving around brothers and sisters, and the ways in which they love, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for each other. I am thrilled at the chance to share this book with my readers.”

Penguin President Susan Petersen Kennedy is one of the few people to have read the novel. She said during an interview Monday that “And the Mountains Echoed” would take place “in different parts of the world” and, as with his previous books, offers “such a clear experience and characters you can identify with even if their lives are very different from your own.”

“He really opens you up to what it means to be human,” she said.

Hosseini, 47, is one of the world’s most popular authors, with his first two books selling more than 38 million copies. “The Kite Runner,” his debut, came out in 2003 and became a word of mouth sensation, spending two years on The New York Times’ best-seller list. “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” a 2007 release, topped the Times’ hardcover list.

Faulkner heirs: Film infringed on copyright

JACKSON, Miss. – William Faulkner wrote that the past is never dead. His heirs say their copyright to that phrase is very much alive.

Advertisement

The author’s literary estate is suing Sony Pictures Classics for using a paraphrase of that line in Woody Allen’s 2011 film, “Midnight in Paris.” It’s also suing Northrop Grumman Corp. and The Washington Post Co. for using a Faulkner quote in a newspaper ad by the defense contractor.

The first lawsuit says Sony infringed on the copyright when actor Owen Wilson slightly misquoted the line from Faulkner’s “Requiem for a Nun.” He said, “The past is not dead! Actually, it’s not even past.” The second lawsuit makes similar claims.

‘Anderson Live’ on its death bed

LOS ANGELES – “Anderson Live,” the daytime talker from CNN news personality Anderson Cooper, won’t be getting a third season from Telepictures, the syndicated division of Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. executives starting telling stations on Friday of the decision not to renew the series.
Cooper joined the daytime fray in 2011.

His most recent week averaged just 1.45 million viewers – putting him behind heavyweights such as “Dr. Phil” and even newbies “Katie” and “Steve Harvey.”

– From news service reports

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.