Book notes

NEW YORK -- The wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is writing a memoir.

Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House Inc., says it will publish Jenny Sanford's "inspirational memoir" in May 2010.

The publisher says Sanford "will grapple with the universal issue of maintaining integrity and a sense of self during life's difficult times."

The book is currently untitled, and financial terms were not disclosed.

Mark Sanford was once a rising star in the Republican Party. He acknowledged in June that he had a yearlong affair with an Argentine woman he called his soul mate.

Jenny Sanford moved out of the governor's mansion in August, but she and her husband have said they're trying to repair their marriage.

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NEW YORK -- Author, playwright and political commentator Gore Vidal will receive an honorary National Book Award medal this fall for "Distinguished Contribution to American Letters." Vidal is known for such best sellers as "Burr" and "Lincoln," and for the play "The Best Man."

Award organizers also announced that Dave Eggers, 39, will be presented the "Literarian Award" for community service. Eggers, whose books include "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," helped found 826 Valencia, which works with young people to develop writing skills, and has centers based in San Francisco, New York and several other cities.

The ceremony for the National Book Awards, now in their 60th year, will be held Nov. 18. Author-comedian Andy Borowitz will host.

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NEW YORK -- Three poets, two fiction writers and a nonfiction writer have won $25,000 prizes given annually to emerging women authors.

Poets Vievee Francis, Janice Harrington and Heidy Steidlymayer; fiction writers Lori Ostlund and Helen Phillips; and nonfiction writer Krista Bremer are this year's recipients of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Awards.

Previous winners of the award, founded in 1995, include ZZ Packer and Lan Samantha Chang.