As The Globe Burns

"On this day in 1613, The Globe playhouse, of which Shakespeare was part-owner, burned down. The fire started during a performance of Shakespeare's Henry the Eighth (also called All This is True) when sparks from a cannon set off to announce the King's entrance in Act I ignited the thatched roof, destroying the building in an hour."

100 best holiday reads

"Choose from a rich haul of novels and thrillers (including two prizewinners) or fill your mind with the sharpest new nonfiction"

Daily Routines of Writers

Daily Routines is endlessly fascinating for those who work at home sometimes and can't shake off a guilty feeling that sitting in your pyjamas at noon eating a Lion Bar is not the way to Get Things Done. Nonsense!

Seen at Fed by Birds

Beating Hearts

I was recently sitting in the back of a cab with a boy, the radio on. A commercial began with a woman telling her husband in a teasing, sexy voice that she had something that would excite him. Instead of a trip to Turkey or a pair of handcuffs and a paddle, the item was revealed to be a new set of curtains. The man playing the husband sounded bemused at best. Although it was just another poorly produced local radio ad, dread crept in. I imagined myself finding sexual pleasure in textiles made of synthetic fabrics, yelling at my husband for not picking up his socks, and wearing only practical underwear for the rest of my life. I turned to the boy and without explaining myself announced, “I never want to get married.”The Smart Set

Honbachi

Honbachi (book pot) by graphic design agency Tokyo Pistol.
Via Double Takes

Searching for Thomas Pynchon

In a 1978 article for New Times (not to be confused with the alternative weeklies published by Village Voice Media) titled “Pieces
of Pynchon,” author Robert Goolrick recounted his efforts to locate
reclusive novelist Thomas Pynchon. Goolrick answered a few questions about the genesis of the story, its aftermath, and his thoughts about Pynchon’s seclusion.Read more

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On Chesil Beach

Ian McEwan is one of my favourite authors. His novel Saturday may have been the best thing I read last year. On Chesil Beach is a slim volume, more of a novella really. Edward Mayhew and Florence Ponting have just been married and are spending their honeymoon in a small hotel on the Dorset seashore. They are deeply in love. Edward looks forward with great anticipation to the consummation of the marriage (this is after all 1962). Florence is fearful and disgusted by the very idea of sex.
They have an awkward dinner served in their room. Edward has no inkling of Florence's fear and the sexual endeavour is a dismal life changing failure. In between we learn more about Edward and Florence and what brought them together.
The story harkens back to a distant time on the cusp of the sexual revolution that changed everything. This a tiny novel about romance, poor communication, stubborn youth and bad decisions all placed in sharp focus by McEwan's penetrating insight into what resonates beneath the surface in relationships.

Happy Birthday Naked Lunch

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the original publication of Naked Lunch, by William S Burroughs. Given the book's ongoing influence it goes without saying that this is a significant milestone. However, when the book first appeared in Paris in 1959 (mistitled as The Naked Lunch) on the small Olympia Press, it had little impact. Because of this, perhaps a more important anniversary is that of the novel's first US publication in 1962. For that's when Burroughs's controversial drug-and-sex-fuelled classic truly burst into the limelight, both because it was recognised by large numbers of critics and readers as a breakthrough piece of literature and also because of a series of obscenity trials it inspired. More

Bloomsday

Bloomsday, the annual celebration of Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses, is a fine day to remind yourself of his genius. Test your knowledge with our 16 questions for 16 June


Bloomsday Quiz
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'Madame Bovary goes interactive' by Brigid Grauman | Prospect Magazine May 2009 issue 158

Thanks to an unprecedented international collaboration between scholars and volunteers, we can now trace the development of Flaubert's masterpiece online, draft by draft.
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Nick Asbury Copywriter

Corpoetics is a collection of ‘found’ poetry from the websites of well-known brands and corporations. I visited various company websites, found the closest thing to a Corporate Overview, then set about rearranging the words into poetry.

KPMG

I am strong.
I am vibrant.
I am committed to a vision.

I am tremendous.
I am quality.
I will lead people to excellence.

I am delighted.
I am respected.
I am very greatly valued.

What am I?
I am the best.

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Writers recall the book that for them best captures somewhere special in the UK

Longing in Lyme Regis, mystical adventures in the Highlands, Bateman's Belfast, poetry in Abersoch - as more of us are spending our summer holidays in the UK, we asked writers to recall the book that for them best captures somewhere special on our shores.

Literary Lesson: Authors, Poets Write the News

It was on an average Wednesday that a very serious Israeli newspaper conducted a very wild experiment. For one day, Haaretz editor-in-chief Dov Alfon sent most of his staff reporters home and sent 31 of Israel’s finest authors and poets to cover the day’s news.

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Book Ring

"A ring that is a book or a book turned into ring ... there ' always to the hand' to write thoughts,messages, notes, telephones ... etc." by Ana Cardim
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"Smell Of Books"

"Smell Of Books", a spray fragrance that comes in four scents, including 'Scents Of Sensibility' and (ugh) 'Crunchy Bacon' has arrived for those of you who enjoy reading e-books but miss the 'real book' smell.

JD Salinger sues over unauthorised sequel to Catcher In The Rye

JD Salinger, author of the acclaimed American novel Catcher In The Rye, has gone to court to try to block the publication of an unauthorised sequel written by a fan calling himself John David California.