Homer Simpson

Fanf–kingtastic and Edumacational: The Case of English Infixation

From shiznit to wel-diddly-elcome, the evolution of infixation in English language.
Gunter Grass

Gruppe 47: The Group That Made Günter Grass

How did Günter Grass go from child soldier to literary titan? Part of the answer lies in the history of literary group Gruppe 47.
Poet Claudie Rankine

Claudia Rankine Nominated for Poetry and Criticism Awards by National Book Critics Circle

Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric, was the first book to be nominated by the National Book Critics Circle for both poetry and criticism.
Eduardo Galeano

Eduardo Galeano 1940-2015

A historian of Latin America, and a victim of two dictatorships, Galeano was also inevitably a historian of the colossus to the north.
A group of friends laughing happily as they spend time outdoors in the sun

All the Young Dudes: Generic Gender Terms Among Young Women

The linguistics behind gender neutral terms among young women.
Students looking for books in a school library

A Brief History of Young Adult Fiction

Before there such a thing as "YA," librarians struggled not just to define a genre, but to figure out how to get books in the hands of young readers.
Stick figure drawing on an irate office worker

More on Internet Neologisms: Rage Quitting is a Thing

More on internet neologisms: pairing together a (negative) mood word with a verb to produce a semi-productive compound.
Table Flip

All the Feels: the Morphology of Reaction Gifs

From visual emojis depicting simple emotional states, it's a short step to emotion or reaction gifs, used to respond in playful ways to online discussions.
Advertisement for King Lear starring Derek Jacobi

Streaming Shakespeare in the Twenty-First Century

What does "live theatre" truly mean when it's broadcast to cinema screens? And how does streaming Shakespeare stack up to the theatrical version?
Hellen Keller and Mark Twain in side by side black and white photographs

History’s Other Odd Couple: Mark Twain and Helen Keller

Helen Keller and Mark Twain's unusual friendship.