Green Island: A novel by Shawna Yang Ryan

“Green Island” Sheds Light on Taiwan’s Tumultuous Past

Shawna Yang Ryan's "Green Island," explores the 2-28 massacre, in which tens of thousands of Taiwanese were killed by Kuomintang troops in 1947. 
The Firebrand and the First Lady Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice By Patricia Bell-Scott

Pauli Murray: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Brilliant (Black, Feminist, Queer, Trailblazing) Friend

Patricia Bell-Scott's new book explores the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Pauli Murray, the poet and civil rights activist. 
Rushdie at Pen America/Free Expression Literature, May 2014. © Ed Lederman/PEN American Center

Is the Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie Real?

$600,000 dollars have been added to the original fatwa against Salman Rushdie. But Khomeini's declaration may not have been a real fatwa after all.
The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth McKenzie

How Life in the Age of Conspicuous Consumption Can Drive You Nuts

Elizabeth McKenzie's "The Portable Veblen" concerns a character named Veblen, a woman who feels keenly the ideas of the great economist.  
Jaipur Literary Festival

Dispatch from Jaipur Literary Festival 2016: The Greatest Literary Show on Earth

The JLF brings together writers from all over the world for readings, lectures, discussions and celebration at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur, India. 
Harper Lee

Harper Lee and #BlackLivesMatter

Lee's novel has been criticized for its depictions of race, but the questions it raised continue to resonate in an America where racial animus persists. 
Reporters holding out recording devices and microphones to their subject

The Linguistics of Mass Persuasion Part 2: Choose Your Own Adventure

How politicians use language to manipulate the public and sway them toward particular world-views. 
Cover of English Renaissance Poetry: A Collection of Shorter Poems

Revisiting John Williams, Novelist and Editor

Today marks the publication of English Renaissance Poetry, an anthology of poems selected by the novelist John Williams. 
Harper Lee

To Debate a Mockingbird: The Literary Legacy of Harper Lee

Is To Kill a Mockingbird a literary juggernaut or a failed book?
Image taken from page 5 of 'Sense and Sensibility'

Jane Austen and Adaptation

In The Atlantic on Sunday, Devony Looser discussed the 20-year-old film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility.