American Writers

Author Maya Angelou hosts the 2000 annual conference for the Children's Defense Fund in March 2007.

35 Who Made a Difference: Maya Angelou

By singing of her own hardships, she has given strength to others

35 Who Made a Difference: Wendell Berry

A Kentucky poet draws inspiration from the land that sustains him

None

One Writer's Garden

In Jackson, Mississippi, preservationists are restoring the verdant retreat that sustained novelist Eudora Welty

None

Walden's Ripple Effect

One hundred fifty years after its publication, Henry David Thoreau's meditation remains the ultimate self-help book

None

Seeing Sylvia Plath

A new movie rekindles curiosity about the poet's life, love and suicide at age 30

Mark Twain (in 1906) "simply never, never goes stale," says editor Harriet Smith. If all goes well, annotating Twain's letters should be completed by 2021.

Keeping Up with Mark Twain

Berkeley researchers toil to stay abreast of Samuel Clemens' enormous literary output, which appears to continue unabated

None

Land Shark

In his noir satires, novelist and eco-warrior Carl Hiaasen ravages those who dare to desecrate

"Hitch your wagon to a star," wrote Emerson, whose Concord, Massachusetts, residence (c. 1900) is now a museum, Emerson House.

Still Ahead of His Time

Born 200 years ago this month, Ralph Waldo Emerson had some strange ideas about the natural world. Recent research suggests they might even be true

Maya Angelou by Ross Rossin, 2013.

Growing Up Maya Angelou

The famed writer discusses her childhood, her writing and the importance of family

None

Southern Comfort

Traveling back roads, brothers Matt and Ted Lee track down authentic foods for mail-order customers hankering after a taste of the Deep South

Seabiscuit

Betting on Seabiscuit

Laura Hillenbrand beat the odds to write the hit horse-racing saga while fighting chronic fatigue syndrome, a disorder starting to reveal its secrets

None

Prince of Tides

Before "ecology" became a buzzword, John Steinbeck preached that man is related to the whole thing

None

Writer of the Purple Prose

Zane Grey went West, fell in love with the desert and redefined the modern cowboy novel

None

Zora Neale Hurston: Out of Obscurity

Both praised and scorned in her day, this flamboyant writer of the Harlem Renaissance is attracting new generations of literary fans

A Noble and Absurd Undertaking

The Federal Writers' Project gave Depression-era writers a second chance...and America its first comprehensive self-portrait

None

The Life and Resurrection of Alexandre Dumas

The grandson of a Haitian slave, he became the most famous author in France; now, his rousing Romantic novels are enjoying renewed popularity

None

Review of 'Tales My Father Never Told'

Page 13 of 13