I have always loved to catalog presentation copies of books—those given as a gift from one person to another, usually with a signature or inscription. They represent a tiny piece of the people involved, and allow me to feel a connection to some of my favorite authors. Gabriel García Márquez’s library was no exception. [Read more…] about Gabriel García Márquez’s republic of letters
literature
Of grieving and goshawks: An interview with H is for Hawk’s Helen Macdonald
Helen Macdonald is the author of H is for Hawk (Grove Atlantic), out this month in paperback. H is for Hawk landed on more than 25 book of the year lists and was an instant New York Times bestseller. Macdonald, a falconer and naturalist, writes about training a goshawk as a challenge to [Read more…] about Of grieving and goshawks: An interview with H is for Hawk’s Helen Macdonald
African American artists and writers in the Limited Editions Club
The stories I selected span three decades and show (Zora Neal) Hurston’s diversity in writing styles and subject matter. I created my illustrations from fragments of fabric, paper and faded photos. The layering of images, patterns and textures evoke the feeling of memory and old tales retold. So they become, like the stories, “Bookmarks in the Pages of Life.”—Betye Saar, artist’s afterword to Bookmarks in the Pages of Life [Read more…] about African American artists and writers in the Limited Editions Club
Fellows Find: Manuscripts reveal internal battles of Civil War novelists writing outside the “moonlight and magnolias” school
Dr. Niall Munro, Senior Lecturer in American Literature at Oxford Brookes University, was a fellow at the Ransom Center during the summer of 2015. His research was supported by the Fred W. Todd Southern Literature Endowment Fund. Munro is at work on a book entitled “Our only ‘felt’ history”: American modernism and the Civil War. While at the Ransom Center, Munro accessed the collections of Evelyn Scott and Stark Young. [Read more…] about Fellows Find: Manuscripts reveal internal battles of Civil War novelists writing outside the “moonlight and magnolias” school
Author T. C. Boyle on campus for a night of literature and discussion
The Michener Center for Writers at The University of Texas at Austin presents acclaimed author T. C. Boyle at the University’s Avaya Auditorium on Thursday, November 19, at 7:30 p.m. The event is held in conjunction with The Texas Institute for Literary and Textual Studies (TILTS) public forum, exploring the placement of environmentalism within the humanities. Boyle will be reading a fictional work rooted in the environmentalist themes presented by the TILTS symposium. [Read more…] about Author T. C. Boyle on campus for a night of literature and discussion
Celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Things They Carried
2015 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. [Read more…] about Celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Things They Carried