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Dutch writer Harry Mulisch has often been cited as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but his work is not well known in the United States. In his latest novel, Siegfried, Mulisch envisions a world in which Hitler has a son who is part Jewish. Frank Browning profiles the author.

Eric Lander was sworn into office last June, but earlier this week he resigned from his position as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

A growing number of TV series are now available on the DVD market. Television shows on DVD make up a reported 10 percent of all DVD sales and rake in $1.5 billion, a rise of roughly 60 percent over the previous year. TK Arnold of Video Store magazine says more than 3,300 titles are currently available. Hear NPR's Michele Norris and Arnold.

Cardiff-based Yolk Recruitment Ltd. is taking its more than 50 employees on an all-expenses-paid vacation to the island of Tenerife in April. The four-day trip will reportedly cost more than $135,515.

NPR's Steve Inskeep interviews Tobias Wolff, author of Old School. Set in a prep school attended by many young, would-be writers, the work raises themes of personal identity and literary integrity. It's the first full novel from the author of This Boy's Life.

Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition movie critic Kenneth Turan reviews Elf. Turan thinks that this elf is no turkey. And even though it's weeks before Thanksgiving, Turan says this movie has enough Christmas cheer to spare.

James Carter, the lead singer of "Po' Lazarus," the opening song on the Grammy award-winning soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, died Nov. 26. He was 77. Folk music collector Alan Lomax recorded Carter singing "Po' Lazarus" in 1959, while the latter worked on a chain gang at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. NPR's Bob Edward has a remembrance.

Critics have rarely embraced Stephen King as a serious writer. But the prolific novelist, best known for his horror stories, is about to enter some serious company. The National Book Foundation is honoring the best-selling author with a lifetime achievement award whose previous recipients have included Arthur Miller, Eudora Welty and John Updike. King discusses the award and his writing with NPR's Susan Stamberg.

The Barbarian Invasions, winner of the "Best Screenplay" and "Best Actress" awards at this year's Cannes International Film Festival, opens in U.S. theaters. Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition movie critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

Charlotte Renner reports on the filming of an HBO movie based on Richard Russo's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Empire Falls. The film, which describes life in a dying New England mill town, has brought a jolt of prosperity to the real-life mill town of Skowhegan, Maine.