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Fiction

E.Y. “Yip” Harburg's sketch for the lyrics of “Over the Rainbow"

Want to See the Original Lyrics for ‘Over the Rainbow’? All You Need Is a Library Card

The Library of Congress has acquired a collection of musical manuscripts and other rare artifacts connected to “The Wizard of Oz”

Wildlife officials in Oregon are using drones with speakers to deter wolves from attacking cattle.

Drones Are Blasting Iconic Argument From ‘Marriage Story’ to Scare Wolves Away From Cows in Oregon

Scarlet Johansson and Adam Driver’s charged dialogue is playing from speakers attached to drones as wildlife officials get creative in their efforts to stop wolves from killing cattle

Auctioneum book specialist Caitlin Riley found the volume with other unremarkable texts on a shelf.

Cool Finds

Rare First-Edition Copy of ‘The Hobbit’ Found in English Home Sells for Nearly $60,000

Experts found the volume while appraising the items in a home in Bristol, England. Only a few hundred copies are thought to survive

When Dan Pelzer died on July 1, he had logged 3,599 books that he’d completed between 1962 and 2023.

This Man Kept a Meticulous List of All 3,599 Books He’d Read Since 1962. When He Died, His Family Published It Online

Dan Pelzer, who died on July 1 at age 92, is having a viral moment after his relatives shared his 109-page log featuring every single book he finished over more than 60 years

Participants in the Jane Austen Regency Costumed Parade in Bath, England, in 2017

Jane Austen Never Loved Bath—but Bath Loves Jane Austen. Now, the City Is Exploring Why the Novelist Was So Unhappy There

To celebrate the author’s 250th birthday, a new exhibition spotlights her complicated relationship with the English city where she set parts of “Persuasion” and “Northanger Abbey”

The Brontë children were born near this fireplace, pictured mid-renovation.

You Can Now Visit the Small House Where Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë Were Born

The newly renovated Brontë Birthplace in Bradford, England, was the three sisters’ home until 1820, when the family moved to a nearby parsonage

Behind the scenes of "Down the Mine," the pilot episode of "Thomas & Friends"

Cool Finds

You Can Now Watch the Long-Lost Thomas the Tank Engine Pilot Episode for the First Time Ever

Created in 1983, the five-minute episode introduced the signature elements of “Thomas & Friends,” including Ringo Starr’s soothing narration and hand-crafted model trains. But for decades, it collected dust in the archives

The two eagle sculptures—including one with the wizard Gandalf riding on its back—have soared over visitors at Wellington International Airport in New Zealand for more than a decade.

Say Goodbye to This Massive ‘Hobbit’-Themed Sculpture of Gandalf Riding an Eagle

For more than a decade, the eye-catching artwork had hung from the ceiling of Wellington International Airport in New Zealand, where “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” were filmed

E.H. Shepard illustrated a map of the Hundred Acre Wood for A.A. Milne's The World of Pooh (1957).

See the Imaginative Illustrations on the Endpapers of Children’s Books Like ‘The World of Pooh’ and ‘Blueberries for Sal’

A new exhibition celebrates the often-overlooked endpapers of more than 50 works of children’s literature ranging from the mid-20th century to the present day

Robert Caro, seen here in 1990, worked on a novel based on his time as a newspaperman.

We Rediscovered Robert Caro’s Abandoned Novel About an Intrepid Journalist Buried in His Archives

A deep dive into the legendary biographer’s papers leads to the surprising revelation of a work he has all but forgotten

Flannery O'Connor with peacocks in the driveway of her family home at Andalusia Farm in 1962

Flannery O’Connor Wanted to Shake Her Readers Awake. Her Family Wanted Her to Write the Next ‘Gone With the Wind’

This year marks the writer’s 100th birthday. Through fiction anchored in her Southern background and Catholic faith, O’Connor revealed how candid confrontations with darkness lead to moments of reckoning

Mark Rylance (left) and Damian Lewis (right) as Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII in "Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light"

Based on a True Story

The Real Story Behind ‘Wolf Hall’ and the Fall of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s Most Controversial Adviser

Based on Hilary Mantel’s novel “The Mirror & the Light,” the last installment in the acclaimed television series chronicles the last four years of the statesman’s life

Harper Lee on the porch of her parents' home in Monroeville, Alabama, in 1961

Eight Never-Before-Seen Short Stories by ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Author Harper Lee Will Be Published This Year

After Lee’s death in 2016, typescripts of her early fiction were discovered in her New York apartment. The previously unseen drafts offer new insights into her creative development

Some authors say that reading piles of books just to write blurbs for friends and colleagues is an overly time-consuming process that adds little value.

Are ‘Gripping,’ ‘Brilliant’ Book Blurbs on Their Way Out?

In a provocative essay, a major publisher announced that its authors will no longer be required to solicit glowing reviews for their book jackets, arguing that blurbs don’t reflect a title’s true merit

A recently discovered trove of Winnie-the-Pooh materials found new homes in the United States and the United Kingdom after selling at auction.

Cool Finds

Man Finds Rare Trove of Winnie-the-Pooh Drawings and Manuscripts in His Father’s Attic

The papers connected to author A.A. Milne—including original drafts, illustrations, letters, poems and corrected proofs—sold at auction for more than $118,000

Zora Neale Hurston wanted to tell the world about the "real ... historical Herod, instead of the deliberately folklore Herod."

Why Was Zora Neale Hurston So Obsessed With the Biblical Villain Herod the Great?

The Harlem Renaissance author spent her last years writing about the ancient king. Six decades after her death, her unfinished novel has finally been published for the first time

The eye on the coin does not have lashes and is designed to resemble a camera lens.

George Orwell Gets His Own £2 Coin Featuring an All-Seeing Eye

Inscribed with quotes from “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” the Royal Mint’s latest release honors the author on the 75th anniversary of his death

The Charles Dickens Museum is celebrating its anniversary by displaying rare books, artworks, letters, artifacts and other unique historical objects connected to the 19th-century author.

See Charles Dickens’ Rare Manuscripts, Teenage Love Letters and a Copy of ‘David Copperfield’ That Traveled to Antarctica

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Charles Dickens Museum in London is staging an exhibition of historic objects that shed light on the writer’s life and legacy

A suitcase containing Ernest Hemingway's early writings was stolen in 1922. The exhibition imagines what his first novel might have looked like.

None of These Books Exist. An Inventive New Exhibition Asks: What If They Did?

“Imaginary Books: Lost, Unfinished and Fictive Works Found Only in Other Books” spotlights more than 100 texts written (or invented) by the likes of Shakespeare, Byron and Hemingway

The stone marked with the name "Ebenezer Scrooge" is located in a graveyard at St. Chad’s Church in Shrewsbury, England.

Vandals Destroy Ebenezer Scrooge’s Fictional Tombstone Featured in a Film Adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’

Located in an English churchyard, the stone was inscribed with the name “Ebenezer Scrooge” for the 1984 movie. Police are investigating the vandalism, which occurred earlier this month

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