A set of first editions of Shakespeare’s plays could fetch $6 million at auction

April 24, 2025

LONDON (AP) — A set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s collected works is expected to sell for up to 4.5 million pounds ($6 million) at auction next month. Sotheby’s auction house announced the sale on Wednesday, Shakespeare’s 461st birthday. It said the May 23 sale will be the first time since 1989 that a set of the First, Second, Third and Fourth Folios has been offered at auction as a single lot. The auction house estimated the sale price at between 3.5 million and 4.5 million pounds. After Shakespeare’s death in 1616, his plays were collected into a ...

Book publishers see surging interest in the US Constitution and print new editions

April 24, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — When Random House Publisher Andrew Ward met recently with staff editors to discuss potential book projects, conversation inevitably turned to current events and the Trump administration. “It seemed obvious that we needed to look back to the country's core documents,” ...

A new Netflix film features a hurtling Japanese bullet train with a ticking bomb

April 24, 2025

TOKYO (AP) — The highspeed bullet train says Japan as much as Godzilla, sushi and Mount Fuji. And it takes center stage in Shinji Higuchi’s new film, “Bullet Train Explosion,” which premiered on Netflix yesterday. Higuchi, the director of the 2016 “Shin Godzilla” (or “New ...

Music Review: Willie Nelson is ageless singing Rodney Crowell songs on ‘Oh What A Beautiful World’

April 24, 2025

It’s fun to hear Willie Nelson sing such words as “ninja,” “fishmonger” and “absinthe,” which are among the many pleasures found in the songbook of influential country songwriter Rodney Crowell. “Oh What A Beautiful World” is Nelson’s latest album devoted to the songs of a specific songwriter, and in Crowell, he’s interpreting a kindred spirit. While Crowell has a slightly different lyric vocabulary, both are Texans with a deep love of Hank Williams. The pairing — great songs and a great singer — works beautifully. The album will be out Friday, just before ...

‘A story within a story’: Author Alan St. Jean visits Lock Haven Catholic School

April 17, 2025

LOCK HAVEN — When author Alan St. Jean visited Lock Haven Catholic School in February of this year, they discovered he was there for more than just a visit. At the end of his stay, St. Jean presented the school with hundreds of books containing a message about faith, love and hope ...

CU-Lock Haven to perform with Respasz Band

April 17, 2025

LOCK HAVEN — The Commonwealth University-Lock Haven band will be performing a Celebration Concert with the Respasz band on Thursday, April 24, beginning at 7:30 p.m., at the Price Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public. The Respasz Band, the oldest continuing community band in America, will be performing with 55 of their musicians. The CU- Lock Haven group will perform the following numbers: 1. “Dominion” by Randall D. Standridge 2. “Tripwire” by Jarod Hall 3. “Havana Nights” by Randall D. Standridge Then the Repasz Band will perform: 1. "Choose ...