Literature

Libraries across the country are sharing their most checked-out books of 2023.

Public Libraries Reveal the Most Borrowed Books From 2023

Titles that appeared on multiple lists include "Lessons in Chemistry," "Spare" and "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow"

Works entering the public domain this year include Steamboat Willie, J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan, A. A. Milne's The House at Pooh Corner and Virginia Woolf's Orlando.

Mickey Mouse and Many Other Beloved Creations, Including Peter Pan and 'Mack the Knife,' Are Now in the Public Domain

Almost a century after the cartoon mouse made his first appearance, he finally belongs to everyone—sort of

The writer Raymond Chandler in 1954

Rare Poem by 'Big Sleep' Author Raymond Chandler Found in a Shoebox

A magazine editor rediscovered the work among the papers his family donated to the University of Oxford

Example predictions of smell-related objects from the object detection models developed by the Odeuropa project computer vision team. Image credits: J.P. Filedt Kok, 2007, 'Floris Claesz. van Dijck, Still Life with Cheeses, c. 1615', in J. Bikker (ed.), Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.8296 (accessed 23 October 2023 11:21:47).  

A New Encyclopedia Explores Europe's Smelly History

Odeuropa is an online database of scents from 16th- to early 20th-century Europe culled from historical literature and art

Fialka's reading group in Venice, California, in 2008

A Book Club Began 'Finnegans Wake' in 1995. After 28 Years, It Finally Reached the End

The group meets once a month to talk about one or two pages of the bewildering James Joyce novel

Leo Lionni with profile cut outs, c. 1970

How Children's Book Author Leo Lionni Urged His Readers to Be Change Makers

The multidisciplinary artist wanted us to imagine how we can shape society and uplift our communities

Jane Austen's signature is on the title page of the book.

Jane Austen's Annotated Copy of 'Curiosities of Literature' Is For Sale

The novelist used a pencil to underline roughly 15 passages from the text by Isaac D'Israeli

A portrait of William Shakespeare at the edge of space in a still from the short film Lovers and Madmen

Shakespeare's Portrait Travels to Edge of Space

The stunt was planned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Bard's First Folio

Detail of the rediscovered "fiend" in Joshua Reynolds' painting The Death of Cardinal Beaufort (1789)

Hidden Demon Revealed in the Shadows of a Joshua Reynolds Painting

Conservators have restored the malignant spirit, which generated controversy among 18th-century audiences

Charlotte Brontë’s attraction to the strange and horrific was an early vehicle for her love of storytelling.

An Early Charlotte Brontë Story Speaks to the Author's Lifelong Fascination With the Supernatural

The 1830 account details an eerie encounter with a stranger who predicted the death of the writer's father

Shakespeare may have performed on floorboards recently discovered at a theater in England in 1592 or 1593.

Did Shakespeare Perform on These Newly Discovered Floorboards?

A historic theater in England claims to have found the Bard’s only surviving stage

Norwegian writer Jon Fosse is the recipient of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Jon Fosse Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature for Work Probing 'Human Anxiety and Ambivalence'

The dramatist and author is the first-ever laureate in the prize's history to write in Nynorsk, a written form of the Norwegian language

A new collection of works by and about Phillis Wheatley includes a rare handwritten manuscript of the poet's 1773 poem titled "Ocean."

The Smithsonian Acquires Major Works by and About Phillis Wheatley

The stunning trove of texts sheds new light on Wheatley, the first African American to publish a book of poetry

The statue of the Little Prince outside Villa Albertine’s Fifth Avenue headquarters

New 'Little Prince' Statue Sits Near Central Park and Gazes Up at the Stars

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote and illustrated much of the beloved novella while living in the city in the 1940s

English writer Virginia Woolf in June 1926

Virginia Woolf Scorned Fashion but Couldn't Escape It

A new exhibition investigates the Bloomsbury Group's relationship with clothing, accessories and sartorial social norms

Chairs sit ready for the attendees of the ceremony recognizing 2020 and 2021 Pulitzer Prize winners.

Why the Pulitzer Prizes Are Expanding Eligibility to Non-U.S. Citizens

The prestigious awards will soon be open to permanent residents and those who call the U.S. their "longtime primary home"

Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Mary Welsh, on a trip to Kenya in 1952

Ernest Hemingway and His Wife Survived Two Plane Crashes Just One Day Apart

The novelist recounted the harrowing ordeal in a letter, which just sold for $237,055 at auction

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The Revolutionary Influence of the First English Children’s Novel

"The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes" told the tale of a bold heroine who forged her own path

The 6.5-inch-long sketch of Pooh and Piglet is signed “E.H. Shepard 1958.”

Forgotten Winnie-the-Pooh Sketch Found Wrapped in an Old Tea Towel

A rediscovered drawing of the iconic children's book character and his friend Piglet could sell for thousands at auction

André Morin as John Derwent and Katherine Gauthier as Kate Derwent in The Shadow of a Doubt

A Lost Edith Wharton Play Debuts on Stage for the First Time

After more than 100 years, the renowned writer's script resurfaced in a Texas archive

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