Author and The Rachel Maddow Show host Rachel Maddow has won the John Steinbeck Award.

Previous recipients included Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Arthur Miller, Studs Terkel and Garrison Keillor. Maddow is the third woman to receive the prestigious award and the first recipient under the age of 40.

Thomas Steinbeck, son of the great John Steinbeck, had this statement in the release: “My father would have adored Rachel Maddow … Listening to Rachel Maddow is like listening to Walter Cronkite. We have that kind of trust in her. When I watch Rachel Maddow, I feel like I’m part of an alliance. I hope she’s in it for the long haul, because we really need her.”

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Celebrated author and illustrator Russell Hoban has passed away. He was 86-years-old. He published both adult works and children’s books.

In children’s publishing, Hoban became especially famous for his Frances picture book series; he published a total of seven titles starring the temperamental badger.

According to The New York Times, Hoban preferred not to illustrate his own picture books; a majority of the Frances titles featured the drawings of his first wife Lillian Hoban. On the adult side, Hoban wrote and published the popular science fiction novel Riddley Walker. It went on to win the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel in 1982.

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