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One of the most enduring stories of the modern era, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit remains one of the most popular stories in the English language and its publication in 1937 sparked a creative explosion in the genre of speculative fiction, paving the way for its sequel The Lord of the Rings and numerous adaptations for…
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Saturday, March 12th 2022 marks the centennial birthday of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century, Jack Kerouac. “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who…
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In celebration of Black History Month, we invite you to browse some of the rarest, earliest, and most important works of African American literature currently in our collection. The earliest book published by an African American, Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, was published in 1773, three years before American…
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Celebrated annually during the final week of September, Banned Books Week was launched in the 1980s, following the highly popular 1982 American Booksellers Association BookExpo America trade show in Anaheim, California which showcased over 500 banned books. The week-long event spotlights both current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools, celebrates the…
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One of the most celebrated figures of the Harlem Renaissance, poet, novelist and social activist Langston Hughes is widely considered one of the most important American writers of the 20th century. Through his poetry and fiction, Hughes sought not only to portray the experience of working-class blacks in America, but redefine, expand, and celebrate African…
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International bestselling writer Haruki Murakami is best known for his magical realist novels that explore issues deeply rooted in the human experience. He has often been criticized by Japanese literary circles for being ‘un-Japanese’ because of the heavy influence of Western literature on his writing style. Opposing the Japanese ideal of the strong, independent…
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One of the most awarded American authors of his generation, Philip Roth created some of the most provocative novels exploring American identity through a masterful blending of realism and fiction. Born in Newark, New Jersey on March 19, 1933 Roth attended Bucknell University and later earned a master’s degree in literature from the University of…
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Today, Tuesday, January 19, 2021, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of great American novelist Patricia Highsmith, best known for her classic psychological thrillers Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley. Born in Fort Worth, Texas on January 19, 1921, Highsmith had a troubled relationship with her mother and was sent to…
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English writer and philosopher Aldous Huxley wrote nearly fifty books throughout the course of his lifetime, including his most famous novel, Brave New World, which painted a nightmarish vision of a dystopian future, and The Perennial Philosophy, the apex of his exploration of philosophical mysticism. After graduating from Balliol College, Oxford with an undergraduate degree…
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Listed by Guinness World Records as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, the “Queen of Crime” Agatha Christie published sixty-six detective novels and fourteen short story collections throughout the course of her lifetime which sold more than two billion copies. A master of suspense, plotting, and characterization, in her prime, Christie was rarely out…
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