Rev. Jerry Falwell has passed away. He wrote Building Dynamic Faith about 12 years ago. He was a critical influence in American religion and politics, though I doubt I am following his lead exactly.

Update: Larry Flint had kind words to say about Falwell yesterday. “My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. He would visit me in California and we would debate together on college campuses. I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling.”

Publishers Weekly asks author Annie Dillard, “Isn’t it hard to kill off your own characters and writing?”

I’ve made the decision many times. Of course, I always save them in a file. And then I got to the part that was really interesting: shaving the book by the syllable. If there was a three-syllable word, I’d say, is there a two syllable word for this, etc. That was really fun.

Dillard has a new novel coming in June called, The Maytrees.

Author Salman Rushdie gets a few words on book reviewing in between jokes on The Colbert Report. I like Colbert’s solution to finding good books: if it’s good, he featured it on his show.

As you pray for peace and the advancement of the gospel of Christ around the world today, you may be interested in knowing about a TV show coming up.

The late journalist Steven Vincent, murdered in Iraq for being a light in the darkness, will be the subject of David Brancaccio’s NOW on PBS tomorrow night.

Dr. John Stott, 86, has announced he will retire from public ministry this summer.

John Stott Ministries

What luck! There’s a Charles Dickens theme park in Kent, England. “If it’s done right, it can exploit precisely the kind of thing that made Dickens popular in his own day,” one man says.

George Grant passes on an irony with some Chesterton fans.

Author Bret Lott (Jewel, A Song I Knew By Heart) is to receive The Denise Levertov Award on May 8, 2007, at the Seattle Art Museum. He is the fourth to receive this honor. “The Levertov Award is presented annually in May to an artist or creative writer whose work exemplifies a serious and sustained engagement with the Judeo-Christian tradition,” reports Image Journal.

In related news, literary awards are important cues for readers who might not notice or hear of a book otherwise, according to Maya Jaggi. She writes, “Good fiction is a dialogue between story and reader, to which a reader brings not only personal history but imaginative experience of other books. Judging is as much about being open to others’ readings as trying to persuade them of your own.”

Sometimes when you hear someone has boarded his flight to the great beyond, you are surprised it hasn’t happened already. Famous authors get that wrap often, as I understand, often accused of death or something like it before settling into their terminal bed. Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughterhouse-Five and many other books, had the honor of being just such a famous author. I’m sure many high school and college students thought he had been dead for a while now, along George Orwell (1903-1950), William Golding (1911-1993), Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), and J.D. Salinger (1919-?? He’s not dead yet??)

Now the students’ mistake has been corrected. Vonnegut died of brain injuries last night in New York. I need to read some of his work. He wasn’t all bad, so I hear.

Author Glenn Lucke points out personal story from that great poli-blogger La Shawn Barber. Yesterday, La Shawn blogged on some history teachers who don’t want to offend students who can’t handle the truth about 20th Century history.