Writing workshop

Writing workshop

YOUNGSTOWN — Pig Iron Literary & Art Works will hold its monthly Work in Process creative writing workshop Wednesday at Pig Iron Press, 26 N. Phelps St. The session will run from 7 to 9 p.m. with Jim Villani of Pig Iron Press as facilitator. Writers of all ages and ability are welcome. The cost is $3; reservations are not required. For more about the organization, its workshops and other activities, call (330) 747-6932.

Rawi Hage wins literary prize

DUBLIN, Ireland — Beirut-born writer Rawi Hage won one of the world’s most lucrative literary prizes Thursday for his debut novel “De Niro’s Game,” about two childhood friends who take different paths to survive amid civil war in the Lebanese capital.

Five judges from Ireland, Britain, Spain and the United States selected Hage for the $155,000 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. His work beat 136 other books from 45 countries, all works published in English in 2006. All the books had been nominated by libraries worldwide.

Hage, 44, fled war-torn Beirut in the early 1980s, studied at the New York Institute of Photography and settled in 1991 in Montreal, where he has built a career as a photographer and essayist.

Connery to unveil memoir at Scottish book festival

LONDON — Sean Connery will offer the first public glimpse of his memoirs at this year’s Edinburgh Book Festival, organizers announced. The former James Bond star, a high-profile Scottish nationalist, will launch “Being a Scot,” written with Scottish filmmaker Murray Grigor, on Aug. 25, his 78th birthday.

Connery lives in the Bahamas and has said he will not reside in Scotland until it gains independence from the United Kingdom.

Festival director Catherine Lockerbie said other James Bond-themed events would be held at the festival to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of the fictional spy’s creator, Ian Fleming.

The Edinburgh event is one of Britain’s leading literary gatherings, and runs alongside jazz, comedy and performing arts festivals in the Scottish capital each August.

Among the 800 authors appearing at the Aug. 9-25 festival are Salman Rushdie, Louis de Bernieres and Margaret Atwood.

Combined dispatches