Gayle Feldman and Kai Bird on Bennett Cerf,
the Art and Essence of biography, and What Publishing Has Lost
Bennett Cerf put James Joyce on American bookshelves, charmed Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow, published Faulkner, Dr. Seuss, Cormac McCarthy, and Ayn Rand. He was also the wisecracking panelist half of America watched on Sunday nights on “What's My Line”. Yet, ask anyone under 60 who Bennett Cerf was, and you'll likely get a blank stare.
That puzzle had consumed Gayle Feldman for more than two decades, and the one she answered in Nothing Random: Bennett Cerf and the Publishing House He Built, her sweeping new biography of the co-founder and animating spirit of Random House.
Speaking at the Silurians Press Club luncheon on March 18, Feldman discussed her odyssey with
Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize winning biographer of J. Robert Oppenheimer (American Prometheus). Their conversation moved fluidly between literary history, investigative sleuthing, and the endurance required to bring a major biography to life.
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Journalism and AI
Love it or fear it,
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly being integrated in newsrooms around the world. Here you will find links to articles, clips and videos that will be updated from time to time to help better understand this accelerating trend.
"I tested
ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude
on the Iran war — and one AI fed me fake news."

To stress-test three of the leading models — Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini — Tom's Guide designed seven prompts centered on a rapidly evolving, high-stakes scenario: the March 2026 US-Israeli strikes on Iran.
About Silurians, by Silurians
The Irrefutable power of Community Reporting

By Adam Stone
On July 12, 2025, The New York Times published a front-page story “UnitedHealth’s Campaign to Quiet Critics,” which included an account of the insurer’s apparent attempt to chill my Westchester County-based investigative reporting....This mega-corporation wanted to silence my local watchdog news outlet—emphasis on local.
Reporter’s Tenacity Unravels – and Helps Chronicle – Her Family’s Wartime Secrets

By Karen A. Frenkel
My training is as a science writer and technology journalist and producer.... I transitioned to narrative nonfiction with the Family Treasures Lost and Found project, which includes my recently published memoir and tie-in documentary. .Both chronicle my investigative quest to fill gaps in the survival stories of my Polish Jewish parents and sole surviving grandfather.
This Optimistic ʻSilurian Newbieʼ Is Grooming The Next Generation of Journalists

By Cathi Steele
I’m a Silurian newcomer, relatively speaking, as I was accepted into this esteemed press club in July 2025. Like you, I’m concerned about—and sometimes downright distraught over—the perilous climate in which journalists and media find themselves.
And yet, I see a future of possibilities.







































































