Literary agent John Taylor “Ike’’ Williams tells us that President John F. Kennedy’s nephewStephen Kennedy Smith is editing an illustrated book of his uncle’s most memorable speeches with essays by those whose lives were affected by them. It will feature such luminaries as the Dalai Lama, Kofi Annan, Angela Merkel,Douglas Brinkley, Drew Faust, President Barack Obama, Robert Redford, and Conan O’Brien. The project was represented by Williams of the Kneerim & Williams Agency and will be published by HarperCollins in May. . . . In other publishing news, Casey Sherman and Michael J. Tougias, authors of the book-turned-Disney-movie “The Finest Hours,’’ have a new book coming out next fall. Titled “Above and Beyond,’’ it tells the story of the top secret missions of two American U-2 pilots at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis (one the most trying times of JFK’s presidency) on Oct. 27, 1962, which became known as “Black Saturday.’’ The book has been acquired by Public­Affairs.