The childhood home of musician and civil rights activist Nina Simone will be indefinitely preserved.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, in partnership with the World Monuments Fund and Preservation North Carolina, secured permanent protection of the singer-songwriter's childhood home in Tryon, the trust announced. The legal agreement binds all current and future owners to permanently protect the building's "authentic character."
Simone taught herself to play piano in the wooden cottage as a young girl in the 1930s, the National Trust said, and her music — which spanned several genres including jazz and R&B — helped define the civil rights movement. She died in 2003 at age 70.
Honorary National Book Award
Walter Mosley is receiving an honorary National Book Award, cited for dozens of books that range from science fiction and erotica to the acclaimed mystery series that has followed the life of Los Angeles private detective Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins. The 68-year-old Mosley, whose works include the novels "Devil In a Blue Dress" and "Down the River Unto the Sea" and the nonfiction "Twelve Steps Toward Political Revelation," has won the medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, which has been given to Toni Morrison, Robert Caro and Arthur Miller, among others. The National Book Awards are presented by the nonprofit National Book Foundation.
Sued: Kevin Spacey was sued by actor Anthony Rapp and an anonymous man, both of whom accuse Spacey of sexual offenses against them in the 1980s when they were about 14 years old. Nearly three years ago, Rapp accused Spacey of having made a sexual advance toward him when he was underage, the first in a series of sexual misconduct accusations against Spacey that halted his acting career. The lawsuit, filed in New York, includes new allegations that Spacey sexually assaulted a teenage boy whom he met in an acting class in Westchester County in the early 1980s.
Baby No. 5: It's a party of five for Alec Baldwin and his wife, Hilaria Baldwin. The couple on Wednesday announced the arrival of a baby boy, their fifth child together. "He is perfect and we couldn't be happier. Stay tuned for a name," Hilaria Baldwin said on Instagram.
New album: Bruce Springsteen will release a new rock album that he recorded in his New Jersey home studio with the E Street Band. The Boss said "Letter To You" was recorded in just five days.
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