Mohsin Hamid leads the first announcement of writers attending the 2015 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. The Pakistani author is a big-draw card courtesy of his acclaimed novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist, with the film adaptation hitting the big screen last year. Others on the way are The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series creator Alexander McCall Smith, the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and the American young-fiction author Lauren Oliver. This year's event, which concluded on Saturday, featured Joanne Harris, Jojo Moyes and Pankaj Mishra. – The National staff
Halle Berry to launch TV production company
The actress Halle Berry is set to launch a TV production company named 606 Films. "606 Films is named for the anti-paparazzi bill, Senate Bill 606, which Halle fought so hard for and won, when no one believed it could be achieved. It truly informs the spirit of our company – making dreams possible, one bill at a time," Berry's production partner, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, said in a statement. Reports suggest Berry decided to start her own production company after enjoying the process while serving as an executive producer on Steven Spielberg's new TV series Extant, in which she also stars. – IANS
Pakistani actress Sana Khan dies in road accident
The Pakistani actress Sana Khan has died in an accident near Looni Kot in Pakistan, around 30km from Hyderabad, a media report said. Sana and her husband, the actor Babar Khan, were on their way from Karachi to Hyderabad in a car when the vehicle, driven by Babar, went out of control on Friday. Babar, who married Sana in December last year, is said to be in a critical condition. – IANS
Katie Holmes is back on TV
Katie Holmes is heading back to TV to star in a new show from the PS I Love You director Richard Lagravenese. The 35-year-old will play the philanthropist wife of Rufus Sewell's character in the yet-untitled series, which will film in New York later this year. The Batman Begins star has not held a starring role in a TV series since Dawson's Creek ended in 2003. Her last television stint was a two-episode appearance on How I Met Your Mother in 2013. – IANS
First Filmfare Awards for eastern India
Almost 60 years after the Filmfare Awards were first introduced, the honour will make its eastern India debut on March 29, the organisers said on Saturday. The Vivel Filmfare Awards 2013 will provide a national platform to recognise Bengali, Assamese and Oriya films. "Films from the region will be in the spotlight," said the Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee. "There has been a resurgence in Bengali cinema in the last seven to eight years," said Tarun Rai, the chief executive of Worldwide Media, the publishers of Filmfare magazine. There will be 21 awards for Bengali films and four each for the Oriya and Assamese film industries. – IANS