Five Fascinating Facts about Children’s Literature

We’ve often posted about children’s literature and the fascinating facts behind some of the most popular children’s authors, such as Lewis Carroll and Charles Kingsley. Now, as part of our Five Fascinating Facts series, we’d like to offer you five of the most interesting things about all of children’s literature.

Read more

Five Fascinating Facts about John Steinbeck

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

John Steinbeck (1902-68) is one of the major writers of American literature. His novels and short stories, which include Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, and East of Eden, are some of the most remarkable works of twentieth-century fiction. But what are some of the most intriguing and curious facts about John Steinbeck, about his life, work, and legacy?

Read more

Five Reasons Everyone Should Know Ernest Dowson

What’s the connection between wine, poetry, Gone with the Wind, and soccer? In a couple of previous posts, on George Meredith and Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, we’ve endeavoured to find five interesting things about two of Victorian literature’s neglected figures. Now it’s the turn of Ernest Dowson – decadent poet. Some of these are particularly surprising. 1. … Read more

Guest Blog: Landscape and Literature

In this guest post, Professor Roger Ebbatson talks about his new study of landscape in literature of the period 1830-1914, and sketches out some of the key links between people and their environment in this pivotal period in British history. In examining the ‘spaces’ of literary production in the nineteenth century my new book, Landscape … Read more