A new article on Open Culture examines the fascinating friendship between Mark Twain and Helen Keller, two of the 20th century’s most revolution-minded popular authors. Twain was taken with Keller from their first meeting, and made it a personal mission to support her education and career. The two shared a love of the political underdog, […]
...moreColm Toíbín, author of On Elizabeth Bishop, has a lovely long reflection at the Guardian about Bishop’s friendship with Thom Gunn, and the parallels in the artists’ life and work. Bishop and Gunn both shied away from writing about mentally ill mothers and queer relationships for most of their lives, although Gunn addressed both in the 1990s. […]
...moreRumpus interviews editor Rebecca Rubenstein has an awesome interview with Cheryl Strayed (a.k.a. Dear Sugar), Lidia Yuknavitch, and Suzy Vitello at BuzzFeed Books. They discuss how they make and sustain amazing and inspiring literary friendships amid the chaos of writing, day-to-day life, and everything else in between. Here’s a quote from Strayed: I think one […]
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In September of 1932, just hours after his uncle’s funeral, twelve-year-old Ray Bradbury was walking down the familiar streets of Waukegan, Illinois when he spotted a carnival tent on the shores of Lake Michigan. The night prior, young Bradbury had witnessed a spectacle inside, the amazing Mr. Electro confined to his chair, holding steady while […]
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