American Writers

The old county courthouse in Monroeville, Alabama will soon be just one of the town's many To Kill a Mockingbird-themed attractions.

Lawyer Wants to Make Harper Lee’s Hometown a Haven for Tourists

Monroeville, Alabama, could change with a proposed Harper Lee Trail

Portrait of Jack London by Arnold Genthe

The Short, Frantic, Rags-to-Riches Life of Jack London

Jack London State Historic Park, home to the rough and tumble troublemaker with a prolific pen

Ellen Willis in upstate New York in 1970

One of the First Female Rock Critics Battled Sexism and Obscurity To Document the 1970s

Willis was The New Yorker’s first pop music critic, but to her, everything was open for criticism

Some of the performers are circus-trained, adding authenticity to the aerial acrobatics displayed.

“Call Me Ishmael” Is the Only Melville Tradition in This Innovative Presentation of “Moby Dick”

Visceral, kinesthetic, cinematic, aural and psychological, Arena Stage’s new show about the 19th-century novel is a 21st-century experience

James Welch is featured on today's Google home page in honor of his birthday.

Google Makes Ledger Art to Celebrate Legendary Native American Author James Welch

In an exclusive interview with Smithsonian.com, artist Sophie Diao talks about what inspired today's Google Doodle

A legal rumpus threw the author's epic book collection into question.

Legal Dispute Over Maurice Sendak’s Epic Book Collection Gets Wild

A legal rumpus has concluded—but have concerns about the author's legacy only just begun?

These Women Reporters Went Undercover to Get the Most Important Scoops of Their Day

Writing under pseudonyms, the so-called girl stunt reporters of the late 19th century played a major role in exposing the nation's ills

This book of Grimm's Fairy Tales is entirely written using words with one syllable.

Channel Childhoods Gone By With This Digital Archive of Victorian Children’s Books

From nursery rhymes to religious lectures, this digital archive shows how kids read in a bygone age

People sit on a roof waiting to be rescued after Hurricane Katrina

Eleven Years After Katrina, What Lessons Can We Learn Before the Next Disaster Strikes?

Author and playwright John Biguenet offers his thoughts on the narrative of destruction

The Powerful Objects From the Collections of the Smithsonian's Newest Museum

These artifacts each tell a part of the African-American story

Langston Hughes' Harlem brownstone: Cultural remnant or great place for a Starbucks?

The Fight to Preserve Langston Hughes’ Harlem Home From Gentrification

A new kind of Harlem renaissance is threatening the home of one of America's greatest poets

Is it disrespectful to sell a literary great’s remains—or is the stunt worthy of Capote himself?

Love Truman Capote? Buy His Ashes

Is the sale of Capote’s earthy remains a gauche publicity stunt or an act worthy of the audacious author?

The lone Lorax tree in Scripps Park, La Jolla.

Visit the Original Lorax Tree in Dr. Seuss's San Diego

Check out these Seuss-related sites in Theodore Geisel's adopted hometown

Sarah Winnemucca, the first Indian woman to write a book highlighting the plight of the Indian people.

Sarah Winnemucca Devoted Her Life to Protecting Native Americans in the Face of an Expanding United States

The 19th-century visionary often found herself stuck between two cultures

Tucked inside the campus of Indiana University, the Lilly Library is your one-stop shop for rare cultural treasures

See the Gutenberg Bible, 32,000 3D Mechanical Puzzles and a Lock of Edgar Allen Poe’s Hair at This Rare Library

Curiosity is a credential at Indiana University Library’s Lilly Library

The Rolling Stones performing live at Summerfest, Milwaukee, on 23 June 2015

For Rolling Stones Fans, This Book Is a Dream Come True

Journalist and author Rich Cohen first covered the Stones on tour in the 90s. Now he revisits that trip and the band’s epic history

Sarah Josepha Hale was the 19th century's answer to Oprah.

Five Fascinating Details About the Media Mogul Who May Have Written 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'

Everywhere that Sarah Josepha Hale went, success was sure to go

Sanora Babb with unidentified migrant workers

The Forgotten Dust Bowl Novel That Rivaled "The Grapes of Wrath"

Sanora Babb wrote about a family devastated by the Dust Bowl, but she lost her shot at stardom when John Steinbeck beat her to the punch

Harper Lee didn't like publicity.

Listen to a Rare Interview With Harper Lee

“[A]ll I want to be is the Jane Austen of South Alabama,” she told radio host Roy Newquist in 1964

This photograph of Harper Lee was taken in 1961, one year after she wrote for the Grapevine.

Five Things to Know About Harper Lee

The spunky and eloquent author is dead—but her legacy lives on

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