4 Key Responsibilities of Writers According to Philip Pullman

Illustrations by Nathan Gelgud

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Sailor's rape confession uncovered in 17th-century journal | Art and design | The Guardian

A 17th-century sailor’s confession about a rape, of which he became so ashamed that he sought to cover it up for ever, has been exposed by conservation workers who discovered the note hidden under a rewritten version in his journal.

The confession went unseen for more than 300 years because the sailor pasted his second account so neatly over the top of the original that scholars missed it. 

More: The Guardian

Animated stories by Nick Cave, Gary Numan, Will Oldham, Tom Waits, Laura Marling & more!

Stories for Ways and Means features original “grown up” children’s story collaborations by thirty songwriters. It’s being published by the long-running indie record label Waxploitation. The project lends support to several non-governmental organizations and nonprofit groups aiding children’s literacy causes around the world.





Read more:Dangerous Minds

The Communist Manifesto: A Graphic Novel

On the 170th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx’s and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto, British graphic novelist Martin Rowson has produced an illustrated adaptation. Apart from a few pages of prose, the whole work is presented in the style of a graphic novel.

Via Boing Boing

Regency rendezvous: inside the world of Jane Austen fandom

A shot from Alejandra Carles-Tolra’s Where We Belong series.
Photograph: Alejandra Carles-Tolra

"Sophie Andrews discovered the true extent of Austen fandom online. She started her own blog, and visited the Jane Austen festival in Bath, where she met a group of like-minded people and formed the Jane Austen Pineapple Appreciation Society. “We organised a picnic towards the end of the festival, and two of us said, a bit offhand, wouldn’t it be fun if we all had a house party together?”

Read More: The Guardian

Abridged Fairy Tales

 Wrong Hands

Novel Outfits

How do you choose an outfit for a fictional character? Kevin Kwan, Jasmine Guillory, Jenny Han, and more explain why they dress their characters they way they do.

More : Vox

The Great American Read Returns

The PBS series explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels.

More: Book Marks

Mary Shelley's Handwritten Manuscript of Frankenstein

"Who invented cyberpunk, that vivid subgenre of science fiction at the intersection of "high tech and low life"? Some put forth the name of William Gibson, whose 1984 novel Neuromancer crystallized many of the elements of cyberpunk that still characterize it today, even if it wasn't the first example of all of them. And who, for that matter, invented science fiction? Brian Aldiss, a sci-fi writer and a respected scholar of the tradition, argued for Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein."

Read more: Open Culture

Fifty Books and Fifty Covers

AIGA and Design Observer’s 50 Books | 50 Covers competition, which reviews and awards the best of book and cover designs published within the past year, has announced the winning cover and winning book selections.

More: Design Observer

Wallace Stevens vs. Ernest Hemingway, Key West, FL 1936

Australian poet Kevin Densley used Peter Brazeau's oral biography, Parts of a World:Wallace Stevens Remembered  as a source for his poem.

GREAT LITERARY FISTFIGHTS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY:
WALLACE STEVENS VS. ERNEST HEMINGWAY, KEY WEST, FLORIDA,
1936
Kevin Densley 

Hemingway's sister came back from a party,
told Ernest that Wallace Stevens
had called him something bad.
He-man Ernie bristled, declared
he'd find that Stevens and sort him out.
He got to the party. A scuffle ensued
between Ern and tipsy Wally.
Big Ernie knocked even bigger Wal
a couple of times to the ground.
With the only punch he landed, Wal
broke his hand on Hemmy's jaw.
Now in spite of his reputation, Ern
wasn't much of a fighter.
He liked the low blow, the sneak punch,
picked on those (like Wal)
unschooled in the fistic arts.
Anytime he encountered
a man who could really box,
Ernie dropped like a sack of coal.
In his bout with Wallace Stevens, it's clear
the poet, ethically, won on points.

Kevin Densley, July 20, 2018Link

The Animated Mind of Oliver Sacks, a Feature-Length Journey Into the Mind of the Famed Neurologist

A first look at a documentary feature that takes us inside the mind of the man who revolutionized the way we think about the human mind:  world-renowned author and neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks.



Via  Open Culture

As Told by Teachers

As Told By Teachers is a collection of stories aimed at students working towards their GCSE English Language exam – that is the gold standard of first language general education in England and a qualification which is attempted by most of the population, either at 16 years of age or beyond.

Download the anthology here. It's free, the way I like it.

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How Tolstoy Jumpstarted the Vegetarian & Humanitarian Movements in the 19th Century

Leo Tolstoy is remembered as both a towering pinnacle of Russian literature and a fascinating example of Christian anarchism, a mystical version of which the aristocratic author pioneered in the last quarter century of his life. After a dramatic conversion, Tolstoy rejected his social position, the favoured vices of his youth, and the dietary habits of his culture, becoming a vocal proponent of vegetarianism in his ascetic quest for the good life.

Read more here