use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;


my @things_to_sort = (
                   { author => 'bart', title => 'skateboarding' },
                   { author => 'lisa', title => 'postmodernism' },
                   { author => 'marge', title => 'hairstyles' },
                   { author => 'lisa', title => 'THIS BOOK FIRST' },
                   { author => 'homer', title => 'donuts' },
                   { author => 'bart', title => 'coolness' }
                  );

my ($first) = grep { $_->{title} eq 'THIS BOOK FIRST' } @things_to_sort;
my @sorted = 
    sort { $a->{title} cmp $b->{title} } 
        grep { $_->{author} eq $first->{author} } @things_to_sort;

push @sorted, 
    sort { $a->{author} cmp $b->{author} or $a->{title} cmp $b->{title} }
        grep { $_->{author} ne $first->{author} } @things_to_sort;

print Dumper \@sorted;