Ralph Ellison on Race
Ralph Ellison believed fiercely in the American project and in the centrality of black people to it.
7 Pieces of Expert Writing Advice
Great fiction-writing advice and commiseration from novelists that we dug out of the JSTOR vaults for you procrastinating, er, research pleasure.
The Man Whose Snowy Day Helped Diversify Children’s Books
Jack Ezra Keats's 1962 book The Snowy Day featured an African-American protagonist, a first for a full-color children’s book.
The Origins of Human Speech: More Like a Raven or a Writing Desk?
Language is the cognitive faculty that separates humans from other animals, but interjections have often been equated with the primitive cries of animals.
The Real-Life Story Behind Number the Stars
An interview with Lois Lowry reveals that the popular children's novel Number the Stars was based on a true story of resistance to the Nazis.
Summoning 17th-Century Scholars: Researching The Weight of Ink
Author Rachel Kadish tells us about how she used JSTOR to research her fascinating, complex new novel, The Weight of Ink.
An Artist of the Floating World: Two Interviews with Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro, an English novelist, won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. His work deals with topics like national identity, memory, and trauma.
How 19th Century Women Were Taught to Think About Native Americans
In nineteenth-century American women's magazines, Native American women were depicted as attractive, desirable, and pious.
Celebrate Banned Books Week
The last week of September is Banned Books Week, when the American Library Association calls our attention to works that have been censored.
Stephen King’s Prophetic Early Work
King of Horror Stephen King celebrates his 70th birthday. Will he finally get the respect he deserves from academia and the culture industry?