It probably was not officially included in...

It probably was not officially included in the wedding vows, but one wifely duty for the First Lady of El Salvador is the promotion of her husband’s forthcoming autobiography. In the United States recently to accept a humanitarian award, Ines Duran de Duarte was at least as eager to talk about “Duarte: My Story” (Putnam’s), by her husband, Napoleon, with Diana Page, scheduled for publication in October. Of the book, thought to be the first such autobiography written by a head of state while still in office, the wife of the president of the smallest, most densely populated country in Central America said: “I think the book will be valuable in the United States. People here read about El Salvador and talk about El Salvador, but many do not really know what is going on in El Salvador.” The book will help his image, she believes: “Everyone will know who is President Duarte.” Having served as her husband’s unpaid editor, of sorts (“at the beginning, he started telling me to help him--all those years that he forgot the dates, the months when things happened”), Ines Duarte may be ready to move on. “I don’t know,” she said, “maybe some day I will write my book. . . .”

NAME GAMES: In December, 1980, a Page 1 story in The New York Times announcing Ronald Reagan’s nomination for the post of ambassador to the United Nations was accompanied by a photograph. However, the woman portrayed was not Georgetown University Prof. Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, but Jean Kirkpatrick, founder of Women for Sobriety and its “New Life” program. Recently, on a TV call-in talk show, the mistaken identity syndrome resurfaced. A caller was eager for Jean Kirkpatrick’s views on the election of Kurt Waldheim as president of Austria. With diplomacy befitting her last name, the author of “Goodbye Hangovers, Hello Life” (Atheneum) gently told the caller she thought maybe she was better equipped to talk about women and alcoholism.

OUT OF AFRICA (CONT’D): Warner Books and Heritage Entertainment have joined in an agreement to develop a book and motion picture about naturalist Dian Fossey. Famous for her efforts to save the mountain gorillas of Africa, Fossey was found murdered last December at her isolated research station in Rwanda. At the time of her death, Fossey, author of the best-selling “Gorillas in the Mist,” about her 15 years of observation and research, was engaged in a bitter struggle with poachers who had killed several of the gorillas. Her death is believed linked to the illegal trade in animal souvenirs and live animals as zoo specimens. Farley Mowat (author of “People of the Deer,” “Never Cry Wolf,” “A Whale for the Killing” and other books concerned with animal preservation) will write the book about Fossey. It is scheduled for publication in hard cover early in 1987.

GETTING CLUBBY: Book-of-the-Month Club senior editor Phyllis Robinson was ecstatic recently when a member from Phoenix wrote asking how to set up a book club. Robinson turns out to have been a book group member for 12 enthusiastic years. Her suggestions: Five to eight people is the ideal size, providing diversity without being unwieldy. Regular meetings--say, once a month--are critical. So is open-mindedness about subject matter and type of reading material: fiction, biography, poetry and plays, the classics and the moderns. Formal discussion papers are optional, but it should be decided in advance whether the group will take a formal or informal approach. Finally, the objective is to take the obligation seriously, enjoy each other’s company and have fun.

FAMILY MATTERS: Maxwell Perkins had five daughters. So does Gabrielle Burton. But Charles Scribner’s Sons insists that is not the reason Burton, author of “Heartbreak Hotel” (due from Scribner’s in October) was chosen winner of the 1985 Maxwell Perkins Award. On the other hand, the heroine of “Heartbreak Hotel” has five daughters. And Burton is at work on a novel about another mother of five daughters, the ill-fated Gold Rush-era pioneer Tamsen Donner. But then there is Betsy Rapoport, Burton’s editor at Scribner’s, to break the pattern. Rapoport is one of a mere four daughters.

THE POSTMAN WINS PRIZE: David Brin’s “The Postman” captured the John W. Campbell Award for the best science fiction novel of 1985. Brin, a resident of San Diego, became the 13th winner of the Campbell award, presented annually at the University of Kansas’ Campbell Conference for science fiction buffs. He beat out Kurt Vonnegut’s “Galapagos.” Greg Baer’s “Blood Music” and Keith Roberts’ “Kiteworld” tied for third. Brin previously garnered the Nebula and Hugo awards for his third novel “Startide Rising” (1983). “The Postman” takes place in a post-nuclear America; a man happens upon a postman’s uniform and undelivered mail and this discovery leads to the rebuilding of civilization.