Jill Paton Walsh explores basic human concerns--love, death, and maturation--in novels that appeal to readers of all ages. In addition to the historical novels for which she is best known, she has written two realistic contemporary novels, two futuristic...

Author of over thirty books for young readers and a dozen titles for adults, Jill Paton Walsh is noted for her works which deal realistically with life, death, and maturation. While her novels vary widely in terms of genre and style, Judith Atkinson of T...

The more light a torch gives, the shorter it lasts....

Originally, a torch was a portable source of fire used as a source of light, usually a rod-shaped piece of wood with a rag soaked in pitch and/or some other flammable material wrapped around one end. Torches were often supported in sconces by brackets...

Proposals to take the torch relay through Taiwan and Tibet for the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be evaluated this month by the IOC, a run that would take the race through politically charged territory.Beijing organizers will present the proposed route to the International Olympic Committee...

Mia Farrow joined genocide survivors in a torch-lighting ceremony Wednesday at a Rwandan school where thousands died in a 100-day frenzy of killings in 1994.The 62-year-old actress, whose screen credits include "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Purple Rose of Cairo," is leading an Olympic-style torch relay...

China is ready to hold the Olympic torch relay without Taiwan, meaning the 85,000-mile route _ billed as the largest on record _ may bypass the breakaway island with which China has disputed sovereignty for almost 60 years.Taiwan suddenly backed out of the ballyhooed relay...

The improper use of a cutting torch ignited an underground methane gas explosion that killed five coal miners last year, and the mine operator was fined $336,000 for the violations, federal investigators said late Thursday.The Mine Safety and Health Administration met with the miners' family...