Posts by author
Jill Haberkern
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The Lost Books of the Science of Judaism
They’ve traveled the world for more than half a century, in the suitcases of antiques dealers and in the collections of academic institutes. Now important books from the Science of Judaism collection, curated by a Jewish librarian at the start…
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Story Time: Danielle Evans
It’s Friday. What better way to relax than to let someone read to you. Watch author Danielle Evans read her short story, “Wherever You Go, There You Are,” from NPR headquarters.
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Banned Books Welcomed Home
Controversial books once banned in Egypt and Tunisia are starting to appear again in stores. Cairo’s Tahrir Square, now famous as the site of tense political protests, will soon be the site of a large book fair. “Everyone around the…
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Neko Case’s Muscle Car-‘Splosion!
What’s better than going for a ride in Neko Case’s car? Winning it in a raffle, of course. And if that raffle benefits a good cause? Well, that’s one very thoughtful Mercury Cougar.
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Diagnosing Genius
Frederick Chopin wrote music in the grip of vivid hallucinations, possibly caused by temporal lobe epilepsy. Countless artists – Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath, William Blake, and Lewis Carroll, to name just a few – have also been diagnosed with…
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Pick-Up Lines and Library Fines
Finally a social science experiment attempting to answer the age-old questions: “Can Atlas Shrugged find love with the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test? Is attraction possible between a Jonathan Franzen reader and a die-hard Elizabeth Gilbert fan?” Speed dating at the library might…
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Skating with Beethoven
In 1927, the book The House Without Windows was called “almost unbearably beautiful.” The author, Barbara Follett, was only 13. When Barbara was lonely, the child prodigy would pretend that “that Beethoven, the two Strausses, Wagner, and the rest of…
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The Writers of the Future
While many wonder about the future of printed books, author Lauren Groff imagines those books’ future writers. In one of her many visions, she tells us, “The writer of the future will crouch in wind-swept aeries miles above the electronic…
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This is Solidarity
Author V.V. Ganeshananthan reflects on her choice to attend the 2009 Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka, just 500 kilometers from violent conflict. Ganeshananthan explains why she “refused to disappear” despite a boycott of the festival organized by Reporters Without…
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Memory, Reason and Imagination
Books once belonging to Thomas Jefferson, our most bibliophilic president, have turned up at Washington University in St. Louis. The books were part of Jefferson’s retirement library, so-called because he started the collection after donating 6,700 books to the Library…
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Monstrous Poetry
Poets in Wisconsin are turning monstrous. The writer-artists behind the Monsters of Poetry reading series in Madison have been busy making self-portraits and collages that depict themselves — and the very idea of poetry — as the beastly, macabre stuff…
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Big Change to the Man Asian Literary Prize
The shortlist for the Man Asian Literary Prize has been announced, but the bigger news is a change to prize’s eligibility requirements. For the first time, books must have been written or translated into English. This is a complete reversal…