Tagged Literature
Remembering Toni Morrison, 1931–2019
When I first read The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison , at 15 years old, I knew it would haunt me. The story fed my soul—I was shocked at its lovely, yet stinging taste, but realized I had always been craving it. Never had my struggle…
George Orwell in Context
Talking animals, pigs rising to power, a full-fledged government on a farm, and a revolution against an alcoholic farmer serve as the backdrop of George Orwell’s 1945 novel Animal Farm . Confused? Trust me, there’s…
ReJoyce! Bloomsday Returns to The Rosenbach
The Rosenbach 's annual Bloomsday festivities will be held on Sunday, June 16, falling on Father’s Day this year! What is Bloomsday? Bloomsday is an annual event where the world celebrates Leopold Bloom’s…
We Celebrate Him: Walt Whitman at 200
I celebrate myself — When lilacs last — I contain multitudes — O Captain! my Captain! What other U.S. poet’s work can be recognized by so few words—and by so many people—as that of the self-proclaimed…
The Mystery of Missing Persons
Many things go missing – overdue books, keys, socks in the dryer – but none of those can compare with the gravity of when a person simply disappears. Approximately 90,000 people are missing at this very moment in the United…
Book Donation to Recognize and Celebrate Polish Literature
The Free Library was fortunate to recently receive a donation of books by Polish authors that were translated into English, along with books in Polish for both adults and children. The books were donated by the Polish Book Institute , a…
Immersive Multimedia Experience Breathes New Life into the Frankenstein Mythos
Even if you’ve never read Mary Shelley ’s groundbreaking novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus , you’ve certainly heard of the stiched-together monster the teenage mother invented during a drizzly 1816 summer…
Break Out Your Garlic Necklaces and Wooden Stakes for Bram Stoker's Bday!
by Michelle Sheffer Today marks Irish writer Bram Stoker ’s 171st birthday. Author of Dracula —the inspiration for many a nightmare and pop-culture meme over the past two centuries—Stoker compiled and wrote his iconic…
Shakespeare In the World Lecture Series
The Fool in King Lear advised "Speak less than thou knowest" – but it's good the speakers at this year’s Shakespeare in the World lecture series aren’t following his advice. If you’re …
Join The Rosenbach for a Marathon Reading of Moby-Dick!
If you’ve ever joined our friends at The Rosenbach for Bloomsday , you know how fun (and slightly surreal) it can be to hear a book read aloud over an extended period of time. Well, the next Bloomsday may be several months off…
An American Author in Paris
"For two centuries," writes The New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik in the preface of his 2004 collection Americans in Paris: A Literary Anthology , "Paris has been attached for Americans to an idea of happiness, of good…
Shakespeare in the World Lecture Series: Love and Conflict in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Lecture will be in room 406. There is an Internet meme that suggests that Romeo and Juliet is not a love story but rather a brief relationship between two teenagers that causes multiple deaths. But do the lovers cause the deaths or are…
Our Five Senses: A Family Friendly, Interactive Exhibition On Display until February 1, 2020
Our Five Senses connects the science of the senses with the mind and the literary experience. Unique materials in the exhibition cross three centuries of human discovery. Visitors will learn about their identity, perceptions, and…
Shakespeare in the World: Shakespeare and the Violated Body
Lecture is in room 406. Carol Chillington Rutter suggests that while bodies in texts may disappear, “Material bodies in the theatre remain in view.” Traumatized bodies in literature or criticism can be skipped over or even…
Chestnut Hill Library Contemporary Book Group
This group meets on selected Wednesdays. For more information and to reserve a copy of the month's selection, please contact the library at 215-685-9290. Upcoming book selections are: June 19: Mad, Bad Dangerous to…
Charles Dickens: Part of the Hands-on History Series at The Free Library, Parkway Central
Charles Dickens: Part of the Hands-on History at The Free Library, Parkway Central Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was one of the most successful writers of the nineteenth century, achieving international fame during his own lifetime. The…
Salman Rushdie | Quichotte
Auditorium sold out; in-house simulcast tickets still available In conversation with novelist and musician Wesley Stace “One of the major literary voices of our time” ( San Francisco Chronicle ), Salman Rushdie is…
Chestnut Hill Classics Book Group
Join us the first Thursday of the month at 10:30 a.m. Today we'll be talking about Persuasion by Jane Austen.
André Aciman | Find Me
In conversation with Gary Kramer, a writer and film critic based in Philadelphia André Aciman is the author of the nationwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name , a novel that chronicles the bittersweet love story of a teenage boy…
First Monday Writer's Group
Are you a writer who needs some motivation and encouragement? We can provide this, as well as technical skills and information that can direct you towards completing tasks for publication and discovery. A great…
Monday Poets | Zach Savich, Poetry Students, and Alumni from University of the Arts
Zach Savich Poetry Students & Alumni from University of the Arts
Deirdre Bair | Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me
Deirdre Bair won the National Book Award for her “blockbuster biography” of Samuel Beckett, “the best introduction to an enigmatic giant of 20th-century literature” ( Christian Science Monitor ). Her other…
Chestnut Hill Library Contemporary Book Group
This group meets on selected Wednesdays. For more information and to reserve a copy of the month's selection, please contact the library at 215-685-9290. Upcoming book selections are: June 19: Mad, Bad Dangerous to…
Shakespeare in the World: Shakespeare’s Wonder Women
Lecture is in Room 406. In his first letter from the New World in 1493, Christopher Columbus described the women of the island Matremonio as Amazons from classical myth. By Shakespeare’s time, these women-warriors had become…
Author Talk: Nathaniel Popkin
Nathaniel Popkin’s book summons the electric dimensions of racial conflict, sexual liberty, and economic collapse during America’s post-Vietnam urban meltdown. Set against the backdrop of 1976 Philadelphia, The Year of…
Chestnut Hill Classics Book Group
Join us the first Thursday of the month at 10:30 a.m. Today we'll be talking about Pnim by Vladimir Nabokov. Upcoming selection: December 5th - Persuasion by Jane Austen
First Monday Writers Group
Are you a writer who needs some motivation and encouragement? We can provide this, as well as technical skills and information that can direct you towards completing tasks for publication and discovery. A great…
Creative Writing Club
Need an outlet for your writing skills or share a poem? Come join us for our weekly writing group! Program for teens ages 12-18 only. Contact TeenCenter@freelibrary.org or call 215-686-5395 for more info. Follow @FLPTeenCenter…
Chestnut Hill Library Contemporary Book Group
This group meets on selected Wednesdays. For more information and to reserve a copy of the month's selection, please contact the library at 215-685-9290. Upcoming book selections are: June 19: Mad, Bad Dangerous to…
Author Talk: Thomas H. Keels
In Designing for the Dead: Art and Architecture at Philadelphia Cemeteries , Thomas H. Keels explores how the birth of the rural cemetery in Philadelphia provided local designers with a novel outdoor laboratory where they could exhibit…
Shakespeare in the World Lecture Series: Shakespeare and the Supernatural
Lecture will be in room 406. Shakespeare’s plays are full of supernatural elements and entities, but how did these fantastic spectacles appear on stage during Shakespeare’s time? What did Shakespeare’s fairies look…
Poetry in Translation
Take pleasure in reading poets from other languages and cultures.
Poetry - Novels in Verse
Poetry with special appeal for tweens and teens.
Poetry - Great Contemporary Poetry
Selections from the Literature Department.
Research in Context *
Discover reliable and trusted information on a variety of topics to support middle school student research for government, U.S and world history, geography, literature, sciences, and social issues. Research In Context offers…
NewsBank Hot Topics
Trending news and hot topics for your next assignment! Hot topics covers Current Events, Business & Economics, Civics, Government, & Politics, Social Issues, Science, Technology & Health, Sports, Arts & Literature, and People in the News.
LitFinder *
Discover literature content from more than 150,000 full-text poems, 840,000 poem citations and excerpts, 7,100 full-text short stories and novels, 3,800 full-text essays published in the 16th-20th centuries, 2,400 full-text speeches, and…
Literature Criticism Online
This extensive compilation of literary commentary represents a range of modern and historical views on authors and their works across regions, eras, and genres. Covers Children’s, Classical, Contemporary, Drama, Poetry, Shakespearean,…
Kids InfoBits *
Elementary students in kindergarten through grade five will find age-appropriate content covering a broad range of educational topics such as animals, arts, geography, health, literature, people, social studies, technology, etc. Kids…
InfoTrac Student Edition *
High school students will have access to age-appropriate content from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering a wide range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political…
Gale Literary Sources (formerly Artemis)
Cross-search all of Gale’s literature databases from a single digital space to find biographies, primary sources, contextual reference, and criticism. Includes Dictionary of Literary Biography, Something About the Author, LitFinder,…
Books & Authors *
Discover fiction and non-fiction books that match your interests! Books and Authors (powered by Gale's popular What Do I Read Next? series) is for readers from every level of reading proficiency and enables users to explore the endless…
America's Historical Imprints
Explore the nation’s past in unprecedented ways. Includes books, pamphlets, broadsides and other scarce printed material, centuries of American history, literature, culture, and daily life, and extensive indexing and full bibliographic…
Academic OneFile *
More than 18,000 peer-reviewed journals and more than 9,200 in full text Full text of The Economist ranging from 1988 to the present, with no embargo Full text of The New York Times from 1985 to present, updated daily Full text of The…
Edwidge Danticat | Everything Inside
In conversation with Glory Edim, author and founder of Well-Read Black Girl In “fiercely beautiful” novels, memoirs, and essay collections brimming with “enchantments and surprises” ( Los Angeles Times ), Edwidge Danticat bears witness…
Téa Obreht | Inland
In conversation with Sara Nović, author of Girl at War and A merica is Immigrants The Tiger’s Wife , Téa Obreht’s bestselling debut novel, won the 2011 Orange Prize and was a National Book Award finalist. A “graceful commingling of…
Richard Russo | Chances Are . . . with Amy Hempel | Sing to It: New Stories
Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for his novel Empire Falls , Richard Russo is acclaimed for capturing the “foolishness of this lonely world, but also the humor, friendship and love that abide” ( San Francisco Chronicle ). His novel…
Jennifer Weiner | Mrs. Everything
“One of the biggest names in popular fiction” ( USA Today ), Jennifer Weiner is the beloved number-one New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels—including Good in Bed , All Fall Down , and In Her Shoes , which was…
Esi Edugyan | Washington Black
Esi Edugyan’s novel Half-Blood Blues , the story of a World War II–era mixed-race jazz band’s abducted star trumpeter, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, among other honors. She is also the author of another novel, The Second…
Nicole Dennis-Benn | Patsy with Rebecca Makkai | The Great Believers
Here Comes the Sun , Nicole Dennis-Benn ’s debut novel about a young Jamaican struggling to protect her sister and village as she experiences feelings for another woman, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the…
James Ellroy | This Storm
In his bestselling L.A. Quartet mysteries and the Underworld USA trilogy, James Ellroy “has vigorously redefined the well-shadowed turf of contemporary crime fiction” ( Atlanta Journal Constitution ). He is also the author of the Lloyd…
Rick Atkinson | The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777
Rick Atkinson won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for An Army at Dawn , the first volume in his Liberation trilogy, a “densely researched but supremely readable” ( New York Times Book Review ) history of the Allied victory in World War II. His…
Eve Ensler | The Apology
One of Newsweek ’s “150 Women Who Shake the World” and the Guardian ’s “Top 100 Women,” Tony Award–winning playwright Eve Ensler is a performer, activist, and author. Her phenomenon The Vagina Monologues has been published in nearly…
Tommy Orange | There There: A Novel with Rachel Kushner | The Mars Room
“Masterful. . . . A devastating debut novel” ( The Washington Post ), Tommy Orange ’s There There has been lauded as a new American treasure by some of the country’s greatest writers and esteemed publications. A New York Times…
Lorene Cary | Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century
“A powerful storyteller, frankly sensual [and] mortally funny" ( New York Times ), Lorene Cary is the author of the novels Pride , The Price of a Child , If Sons, Then Heirs , and the memoir Black Ice . A senior lecturer in creative…
Susan Choi | Trust Exercise: A Novel with Myla Goldberg | Feast Your Eyes
Excavating the hidden corners of the human heart and acclaimed for their “nuance, psychological acuity, and pitch-perfect writing” ( Los Angeles Times ), Susan Choi ’s novels include the Asian American Literary Award-winning The Foreign…
Julia Alvarez | In the Time of the Butterflies: 25th Anniversary Edition
In conversation with Concepción de León , the digital staff writer for the Books desk at The New York Times . She also writes "El Espace," a news and culture column for Latino . A “one-woman cultural collision” ( Los Angeles Times Book…
Richard Blanco | How to Love a Country: Poems
Richard Blanco made history four times at Barack Obama’s second presidential inauguration: He was the first immigrant, the first Latino, the youngest person, and the first openly gay person to be the U.S. inaugural poet. Exploring…
Robert A. Caro | Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing
In conversation with Dick Polman , "Writer in Residence" at the University of Pennsylvania, national political columnist at WHYY News and contributor to The Atlantic Standing at “the summit of American historical writing” ( Washington…
Barry Lopez | Horizon
Barry Lopez won the National Book Award for Arctic Dreams , a “rich, abundant, vigorously composed” ( Boston Globe ) meditation on his travels in the barren but beautiful far North. His other work includes Of Wolves and Men , Crow and…
Nathan Englander | Kaddish.com with Thomas Mallon | Landfall
Nathan Englander is the author of the story collections For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank , a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story…
Darius James | Negrophobia: An Urban Parable
In conversation with Gene Seymour, contributor to The Nation and former film critic and jazz columnist for Newsday . He has written for Bookforum , CNN.com, and The Washington Post . Author and spoken-word artist Darius James’s 1992…
Don Winslow | The Border
The author of numerous international bestselling crime novels, Don Winslow is the recipient of dozens of awards and spots on myriad best-books-of-the-year lists. These books include The Winter of Frankie Machine , The Force , and…
Sigrid Nunez | The Friend: A Novel with Keith Gessen | A Terrible Country: A Novel
Sigrid Nunez won the 2018 National Book Award for The Friend , “a penetrating, moving meditation on loss, comfort, memory” (NPR) in which a woman is forced to adopt her deceased best friend’s Great Dane. The recipient of a Berlin Prize,…
Bestsellers
Find out about the latest bestsellers from many well known resources.