The following is an excerpt from the third chapter of Collecting, Curating, And Researching Writers' Libraries, A Handbook, edited by Richard Oram and Joseph Nicholson (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014). This chapter deals with the role of the bookseller; other chapters deal with the roles of librarians, curators, and researchers, with accounts of some libraries, a list of authors' libraries preserved i... [more]

A friend clued us in to this blog post on Flavorwire. The giggly, gleeful Ginsberg at age 16 is especially charming. Photos [more]

Kurt Vonnegut offers his top eight tips for writing a short story in the following video. After the jump, see more writing tips from Henry Miller, George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, and William Safire. Video and other lists via OpenCulture Henry Miller (from Henry Miller on Writing) 1. Work on one thing at a time until finished. 2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to “... [more]

As a lifelong student of literature, there has always been one question about symbolism that has persistently nagged me, especially when reading critical theory: Did the author really mean that? In some texts, symbolism is so intricate and seamless that it seems hard to believe its use could not have been a conscious decision by the author. In other instances, I've found that some claims made in c... [more]