Kurt Vonnegut news stories on Newser

Unpublished Vonnegut Novella Goes to Kindle

John Johnson — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:01:36 CDT

A treat for fans of the late Kurt Vonnegut: When he was working in the PR department of GE in the 1940s, Vonnegut tried to pitch a novella called Basic Training to two of the big magazines of the day. The Saturday Evening Post and McCalls passed on it. The...

Vonnegut Protégé Will Share His Wisdom

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:53:26 CST

Aspiring novelists, Kurt Vonnegut has some advice for you: “Write a play.” It’s easier. That, and other nuggets of wisdom, will be available for the first time when Vonnegut’s private correspondence with one of his students is published in April, the New York Post reports. Loree Rackstraw—the author of...

Critic John Leonard Dead at 69

M. Morris — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:15:55 CST

Critic and author John Leonard died last night after a long battle with cancer. Leonard, whom Kurt Vonnegut once called "the smartest man who ever lived," was 69. A brilliant but not flashy stylist, an unapologetic liberal, and a mentor to countless younger writers, Leonard worked at various times for...

Kurt Vonnegut Dies at 84

Greg Atwan — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 09:09:13 CDT

Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most popular novelists of the 20th century, died yesterday at 84 in Manhattan. Defying genres, he wrote on everything from the firebombing of Dresden to alien abduction—and that was just Slaughterhouse-Five.