newsmakers

newsmakers

Town marks 50 years post-Faulkner

OXFORD, Miss.

Five decades after his death, William Faulkner still draws literary pilgrims to his Mississippi hometown, the “little postage stamp of native soil” he made famous through his novels.

Oxford is commemorating the 50th anniversary of Faulkner’s death Friday with several events, including a tag-team reading of his novel, “The Reivers,” beginning about daybreak.

Roughly 25,000 people a year visit Faulkner’s antebellum home, Rowan Oak, where they can see his handwritten outline for the 1954 novel, “A Fable,” on the office walls.

A life-sized bronze statue of the 1949 Nobel laureate sits in front of Oxford City Hall, and it’s a favorite spot for tourist photos.

Faulkner and his wife are buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery, north of the town square, and fans pay tribute by pouring bourbon on the gravesite.

Frank Ocean reveals first love was a man

NEW YORK

Frank Ocean says he feels like a free man: The acclaimed singer has revealed on his website that his first love was a man.

He wrote Wednesday on his Tumblr page that he fell in love at 19 with a friend whom he spent two summers with.

Ocean’s self-released “nostalgia, ULTRA” was named as one of the best albums of 2011 by some critics.

He also was prominently featured on Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne” album last year. He is part of the hip-hop collective Odd Future led by Tyler, the Creator, who is known for using anti-gay epithets in his lyrics.

Tyler is expressing support for Ocean on Twitter — in typical crude fashion.

Associated Press