French Connection

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Date: October 16, 2006

SPOTLIGHTING MARILYN MONROE, DEMETRIE KABBAZ,

MAMIE VAN DORAN, TONY CURTIS, XAVIERA HOLLANDER,,

CHARLES MANSON, SYLVIA MILES, AND A GREAT MANY MORE!

PARIS, FRANCE (October 16, 2006) - French Connection, publisher of the world-renowned anthology series Van Gogh’s Ear, is delighted to announce the much-anticipated release of the masterpiece the series has been building up to since its début: VAN GOGH'S EAR: THE CELEBRITY EDITION (French Connection; $19US). The Lay-Down Date for this addictive like no other book is Monday, November 27, 2006. Made for an increasingly demanding and fast-paced world, this astoundingly diverse compendium is alive with multifaceted realities that can be experienced in any order, allowing a great way to take a quick immediate break and be instantly transported into many and varied emotions. Featuring celebrities, poets, novelists, cultural icons, political activists, and artists from every corner of the globe, VAN GOGH'S EAR: THE CELEBRITY EDITION is a fully illustrated 280-page odyssey that transcends color and culture through the uncensored pens of over a hundred talents from all walks of life. Even just a few minutes of reading this most original and timeless collection can keep your thoughts continually re-visiting it.

Aficionados of the ultimate sex goddess will especially be pleased to discover the real, living, breathing, feeling person that was Marilyn Monroe in never-before-revealed memories by people who actually knew her, such as her personal masseur, Ralph Roberts; her Some Like It Hot co-star, Tony Curtis—whose paintings of Marilyn are also included; bosom Blonde Bombshell Mamie Van Doren; and Actor’s Studio friend John Gilmore. Plus there are fascinating insights from Norman Mailer and respected Marilyn biographer Sarah Churchwell, not to mention nudes by Demetrie Kabbaz (famous for his international Marilyn art exhibitions), and a never-before-published one-act play by Joyce Carol Oates that brings to life Marilyn’s posing for the controversial nude calendar.

If that’s not enough, Serbian poet Gojko Bozovic puts us in a bomb shelter during the bombings in Belgrade; Lynette S’phiwe Hlongwane wraps us in the skin of a young person in South Africa’s townships, where a gun is put in your hands and you’re ordered to kill those you consider your friends; Quentin Crisp, in his final prose piece “What Does It Mean To Be Human?”, probes the human condition; Xaviera Hollander brings to nightmare reality her traumas in a Japanese prison camp, shedding light on the human will to survive even the harshest conditions; Charles Manson, in “What You See In Me Is Your Soul” (which appears with a scan of his actual writing), expresses his concern about what’s happening to the planet, as well as his feelings on the subject of media abuse; and Patricia Nell Warren, author of best-selling novel The Front Runner, warns about the negation of free speech and the rise of fascism in the USA today in her powerful “An Impassioned Thanksgiving in America.”

VAN GOGH'S EAR: THE CELEBRITY EDITION will be launched via prestigious readings and events organized in major cities throughout the world, such as Chicago, Toronto, Paris, London, San Francisco, New York, and Sydney. Distribution in the USA, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Australia will be extensive.

VAN GOGH'S EAR: THE CELEBRITY EDITION

Lay-down Date: (Monday) November 27, 2006

Edited, with introduction by Ian Ayres

Publisher: French Connection

First Edition, Illustrated

Format: Softcover

RRP: $19US

280 pages, 0.14 x 5.5 x 8.2 inches, 24 illus.

Genre: Anthology

ISBN 2-914853-07-6

Around the World in the English Language

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