brine

The phrase “No school, Foster Glocester!” has earned its originator, legendary WPRO morning personality Walter “Salty” Brine, a spot in the newly created Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame. The inaugural Class of 2008 also includes Rhode Island’s talk radio pioneer Sherm Strickhauser; Charlie Jefferds; WHJY’s Paul and Al (Paul Fuller and Al Matthews), sportscaster Chris Clark, longtime voice of the Providence College Friars; Arlene Violet; Gene DeGraide and Chuck Stevens.

Induction ceremonies and a dinner are set for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 22, at Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet. Tickets are $50 (a table of 10 for $450) and may be purchased by calling (401) 781-9199. Proceeds will benefit A Wish Come True. For more information, check out the RIRHOF website at www.rhodeislandradiohalloffame.org.

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There’s more good news for Rhode Island-raised author Jhumpa Lahiri. According to The New York Times, Lahiri’s latest book — a short-story collection titled Unaccustomed Earth — will debut at No. 1 on the paper’s fiction bestseller list on Sunday, April 20. That’s an honor rarely accorded to a work of serious fiction, let alone a collection of short stories. Then again, maybe it’s not surprising. After all, Lahiri’s first story collection, Interpreter of Maladies, won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.