Writers

The poem was discovered by researcher Leah Veronese.

'Politically Repurposed' Copy of Famous Shakespearean Love Sonnet Discovered Inside a 17th-Century Poetry Collection

The rare handwritten copy of "Sonnet 116" features several additional lines, which may have been an attempt to insert British royalist ideas into the romantic ode, according to researchers

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

Gertrud Eysoldt as Salome in a Berlin production of Oscar Wilde's notorious play, circa 1902

Why Oscar Wilde's Play About a Biblical Temptress Was Banned From the British Stage for Decades

"Salome," a one-act tragedy by the Irish playwright, terrified the Victorian public with its provocative depiction of a teenage girl whose lust for a man quickly morphs into bloodlust

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

Best known for her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar and poetry collections The Colossus and Ariel, Plath sourced much of the fodder for these great works from the troubled last years of her life.

When This Brilliant Author Died, She Left Behind a Legacy of Grief, Haunting Poetry and Surprising Resilience

Modern accounts of Sylvia Plath’s renowned work and legacy seek to highlight the author’s resilience through a decade-long journey of depression

Despite gaining national renown after “The Raven” was published in 1845, Edgar Allan Poe never enjoyed great financial success.

Discover Why 'The Raven,' Edgar Allan Poe's Narrative Poem About a Distraught Lover and a Talking Bird, Remains an American Classic

Published on this day in 1845, the work used alliteration, internal rhyme and repetition to draw in readers, lending it a dark and melancholic tone

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

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

A Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application submitted by James Lambert

Can You Read This Cursive Handwriting? The National Archives Wants Your Help

Anyone with an internet connection can volunteer to transcribe historical documents and help make the archives' digital catalog more accessible

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

An 1889 photograph of author Horatio Alger (right)

This Author, Famous for His Rags-to-Riches Stories, Forever Shaped How We Talk About the American Dream

Horatio Alger's repetitive stories reached their true popularity and became synonymous with social mobility largely thanks to retellings after the writer's death

An Olivetti Studio 46 typewriter that belonged to Octavia E. Butler. As the author recalled: "I wrote my first ten books on a manual typewriter."

In Her Inventive and Prescient Stories, Octavia Butler Wrote Herself Into the Science Fiction Canon

On her beloved typewriters, the literary legend mapped out a course for the future of the genre

Works entering the public domain include The Sound and the Fury, the first recordings of Rhapsody in Blue, Popeye, Tintin and The Broadway Melody.

Happy Public Domain Day! Popeye, 'Rhapsody in Blue,' 'The Sound and the Fury' and Thousands of Other Captivating Creations Are Finally Free for Everyone to Use

On January 1, 2025, copyrights will expire for books, films, comic strips, musical compositions and other creative works from 1929, as well as sound recordings from 1924

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in West Germany following his deportation from the Soviet Union in February 1974

Discover the Story Behind a Legendary Exposé of the Brutality of the Soviet Union

Published on this day in 1973, "The Gulag Archipelago" drew on Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's experiences as a political dissident in a prison camp, but it left him deported and stateless for the next two decades

Happiness "lights up" similar areas on both modern and ancient body maps, with the exception of the liver, which was more significant for the ancient Mesopotamians.

Ancient Texts Reveal How Mesopotamians Felt Emotions—From Happiness in the Liver to Anger in the Feet

Researchers found that ancient Mesopotamians associated body parts with emotions, just as we do—but they discovered some hilarious differences

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

Machiavelli's The Prince was written in 1513 and printed in 1532.

A Rare First-Edition Copy of Machiavelli’s Notorious Political Treatise 'The Prince' Heads to Auction

This copy of the 16th-century text is owned by a private collector. Until recently, historians weren't aware that it existed

William Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson were among the well-known poets with works included in the new study.

ChatGPT or Shakespeare? Readers Couldn't Tell the Difference—and Even Preferred A.I.-Generated Verse

A new study suggests people might like chatbot-produced poems for their simple and straightforward images, emotions and themes

Officers display the weapons used in the November 15, 1959, killings of the Clutter family.

Inside the Brutal Murders That Inspired a Foundational Work in the True Crime Genre

Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" documented the killings of a family of four in rural Kansas on this day in 1959

First-edition Jane Austen novels in a special display case at her former home

See Rare First-Edition Copies of Jane Austen's Novels at the Cottage Where She Wrote and Revised Them

A new exhibition at the author's home in Chawton, which has never previously displayed all six first-edition books together, is part of preparations for the author's 250th birthday celebrations

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