James Tilly Matthews was delusional. He believed that secret gangs of people were operating across London, using a bizarre machine called the “Air Loom” to control his thoughts and those of others from a distance. According to Matthews, this device emitted “magnetic fluids” to manipulate minds and was being wielded by spies to influence political decisions. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Gorey said, “I write about everyday life.” His work reminds us that death is a major fact of existence. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Malinda Russell wrote A Domestic Cookbook: Containing a Careful Selection of Useful Receipts for the Kitchen in 1866. We know sadly little about her, says Rafia Zafar, a retired professor at Washington University in St Louis, Mo., who contributed a foreword to the new edition. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
With a name like Clementine Paddleford, she should have been unforgettable. So why don’t you know who she is? Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
This year, fans of the British romantic novelist Jane Austen are celebrating 250 years since her birth. In her homeland of England, residents are expecting a tourist boom. Watch video
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
There’s No Turning Back follows eight young women living in a convent-boarding house in Rome, most of whom are studying at the university. They come from different backgrounds, have different desires and goals, and make different choices, yet they are united in the task of finding their way in the world. “It’s as if we’re on a bridge,” one of the girls says. “We’ve already departed from one side and haven’t yet reached the other. What we’ve left behind we don’t look back at. What awaits us is still enveloped in fog. We don’t know what we’ll find when the fog clears.” Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
Tom Robbins, whose cosmically comic novels about gargantuan-thumbed hitchhikers, stoned secret agents and mystic stockbrokers caught hold of millions of readers in the 1970s counterculture, died on Sunday at his home in La Conner, Wash. Read more
One of literature’s most ancient traditions is under threat. Authors are thrilled. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
‘The Human Authored initiative isn’t about rejecting technology — it’s about creating transparency, acknowledging the reader’s desire for human connection, and celebrating the uniquely human elements of storytelling,’ guild CEO Mary Rasenberger said in a statement Wednesday. ‘Authors can still qualify if they use AI as a tool for spell-checking or research, but the certification connotes that the literary expression itself, with the unique human voice that every author brings to their writing, emanated from the human intellect.’ Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
We asked 10 writers to share slices of their literary lives in New York. Read more
(We earn a small commission if you click above and buy the book at Bookshop.org)
