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Literature

Inside the library at Trinity College, where Stoker was a student.

Halloween

Explore the Dublin Destinations That Inspired ‘Dracula’

Follow in the footsteps of Bram Stoker and see how his hometown inspired him to write his famous horror novel

The ponies of eastern Maryland and Virginia, seen here in 2002, were made famous in the book "Misty of Chincoteague."

American South

The True Story of Misty of Chincoteague, the Pony Who Stared Down a Devastating Nor’Easter

The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 was a horse of another color

This girl is off to a good start

Growing Up Surrounded by Books Could Have Powerful, Lasting Effect on the Mind

A new study suggests that exposure to large home libraries may have a long-term impact on proficiency in three key areas

Sans Forgetica is the Typeface You Won’t Forget

This “memory-boosting” font is stylized with a left-leaning slant and gaps in each letter meant to encourage your eyes to linger longer

The first volume of the delightful children's series by author Michael Bond appeared on October 13, 1958.

The Much-Loved Paddington Bear Turns Sixty

Celebrating the October 1958 publication of A Bear Called Paddington, Smithsonian Libraries takes a look at several pop-up books

A postage stamp printed in Norway showing an image of Alfred Nobel, circa 2001.

Commentary

Should the Nobel Prizes Take a Year Off?

An award designed to go to those who benefit all humanity has a history of prejudice and controversy

A modern retelling of the classic arrives in theaters September 28, while director Greta Gerwig plans another remake of the film for late 2019.

Why Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women’ Endures

The author of a new book about the classic says the 19th-century novel contains life lessons for all, especially for boys

The NYPL's Insta Novels are available via Instagram.

Fall Down the Rabbit Hole With the New York Public Library’s Instagram Version of Classic Tales

Featured texts include ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ ‘The Metamorphosis’ and ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’

New Research Suggests Dr. Seuss Modeled the Lorax on This Real-Life Monkey

Facial recognition software refreshes the classic book’s message on conservation

Cover of a propaganda comic book, 1947. During the Cold War, book publishing and popular culture became an ideological battleground.

This Cold War-Era Publishing House Wanted To Share American Values With the World

Funded by the U.S. government, Franklin Publications was viewed as pushing imperialist propaganda

The Adventurous Writer Who Brought Nancy Drew To Life

Mildred Wirt Benson helped invent the fictional teen sleuth who became a generational role model

Annual forest fires blaze on the floor of Yosemite Valley, California in 2015.

What Is the Future of Fire?

Geologist Andrew C. Scott reconstructs the sites of past blazes to look at our relationship with this elusive element

Joe, the "fat boy" from the Pickwick Papers.

The Case for Charles Dickens, the Science Communicator

A new exhibition dives into the Victorian novelist’s passion for science

Josiah Henson as a young man at left, and at right, at age 87, photographed in Boston on June 17, 1876

The Story of Josiah Henson, the Real Inspiration for ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’

Before there was the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, a formerly enslaved African-American living in Canada wrote a memoir detailing his experience

Mrs. Jane Loudon’s The Ladies' Flower-Garden of Ornamental Greenhouse Plants (1848)

A Botanical Wonderland Resides in the World of Rare and Unusual Books

The Smithsonian’s librarian and antiquarian Leslie Overstreet time travels, sharing centuries of horticultural splendors

Ideal Bookshelf 651: Coming of Age

How “Young Adult” Fiction Blossomed With Teenage Culture in America

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, books like The Outsiders and The Chocolate War told stories that dealt with complex emotions and social realities

Robert Bly, one of the poets who scored in the top ten for dynamism.

New Research

Analysis Breaks Down the Annoying “Poet Voice”

It’s not just you; poets also read their works aloud with long pauses, weird cadences and almost no emotion

Isaac Bashevis Singer by Yousuf Karsh

Trending Today

Scholar Finds New Isaac Bashevis Singer Story

“The Boarder,” which is published for the first time in the New Yorker, was discovered while going through the prominent writer’s vast archives

George Cruikshank’s impression of Dickens’ dystopia

How Charles Dickens Imagined a Westworld-like Robot Theme Park Back In 1838

The writer’s dystopia, populated by ‘automaton figures,’ was surprisingly modern

A lithograph by French caricaturist J. J. Grandville depicts the torture of too much noise.

Why Are We Always Searching For “A Quiet Place?”

Perhaps the real monster is not noise, but instead our own intolerance of unwanted sounds

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