Children and #39;s laureate and Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson writes a poem in protest at planned library closures across the country.

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Historian finds many of literature and #39;s best-known names in the London streets of Dickens and #39;s teenage years Bill Sikes and Scrooge are among the most well-known characters in English literature but rather than being figments of Charles Dickens and #39;s imagination, their names were derived from real people – and new research has pinpointed the writer and #39;s sources of inspiration. The thug from Oliver Twist, the …

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A photogenic Westchester suburb with high-profile residents is also known for its art museum and a performing arts center.

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This week and #39;s we pair Thomas Sayers Ellis and #39;s and #34;Or, and #34; with a 2011video and article from the and #34;Race Remixed and #34; series, and #34;In Strangers and #39; Glances at Family, Tensions Linger. and #34;

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I have read David Copperfield many times now, and every time I pick it up again I think, Oh, it can’t be as good as I remember. It’s the story of a young boy who overcomes adversity and grows up to be a writer. That’s about the most cliché first-novel idea around. Except David Copperfield [...]

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JOURNALIST, former MP and Government Minister, Chris Mullin will be talking about the events which led to the wrongful conviction of just about all of the people convicted of the main IRA bombings in the mid-1970’s at the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society public lecture tomorrow.

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In a Chinese Court, Poetry Is Used as Evidence of and #39;Inciting Subversion of State Power and #39;

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A dozen women in black chadors crowd the home of a mourning widow and her unwed daughters.

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An actor known for his far-right views takes up his position as director of a prominent Hungarian theatre amid controversy and protests in the streets of Budapest.

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As the 200th anniversary of the birth of author Charles Dickens approaches, events are being held around the world to mark the occasion, reflecting the widespread popularity of his work.

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A Japanese journalist defends his book in which the out-of-favour half-brother of North Korea and #39;s new leader criticises the communist state.

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The final in our series of inspiring self-help audiobooks is Norman Vincent Peale and #39;s The Power of Positive Thinking. Mobile users – please visit the desktop site.

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Although I have been a pioneer in promoting the concept of e-books, I have been stunned by the vast explosion of self-published books.

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Read a line from a William Shakespeare play and notice the cadence with which you speak. All of those breaths and pauses from the commas and semicolons spread seemingly sporadically within the flowery language are not just for theatrical drama; they may be the source of Shakespeare and #39;s genius.

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Everyone knows that famous first sentence. And before I read the novel, I assumed it was a meaningless series of hyperboles. Imagine my mortification to find that it is, in fact, a model first sentence, one for the ages.

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Oxford professor of poetry attacks Duffy and #39;s praise of text language, and compares hers to Mills and Boon Carol Ann Duffy might have won numerous literary awards and become the country and #39;s first female poet laureate, but Oxford professor of poetry Geoffrey Hill has nevertheless compared her writing to that of a Mills and Boon author. Hill, who frequently earns the sobriquet of the English language and #39;s …

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For decades after Dickens’ death, Pickwick remained his most beloved book.

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For decades after Dickens’ death, Pickwick remained his most beloved book.

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Dickens and #39; shortest novel is very taut, and occasionally some sharp little passage arrives that reminds you of his more expansive greatness.

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English and Scottish literature have always been complicated hybrids, and separating the nations won and #39;t change that Just before Alex Salmond gave the Hugo Young lecture , I received an email from the Scottish government announcing their plan to make it compulsory for every schoolchild doing and #34;English and #34; in Scotland to study at least one and #34;Scottish text and #34;. Although Robert McCrum wrote, a propos of the …

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If Scotland gains full autonomy, its literature won and #39;t be far behind and and #39;British and #39; writing will look rather thinner as a result Last night, as I listened to Alex Salmond give a cunning and subversive account of his plans for Scottish independence, in the Hugo Young lecture , it occurred to me that if the politics of the United Kingdom becomes fragmented, then culture will surely follow. The …

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A PRODUCTION of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Macbeth plays at Hertford Theatre next week.

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I cried when Paul Dombey died, but I wasn’t the only one. When the fifth installment of Dombey and Son was published in 1847 — the chapter in which the fragile young heir to the great Dombey import-export firm breathes his last — the entire nation of England was apparently prostrated by grief. William Thackeray, [...]

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Shakespeare and #39;s Tempest shapes the 2012 ceremonies

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Honestly, little Oliver and #39;s a bit dull. The novel’s best side is its dark side, and Dickens knew it.

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An asylum-seeking playwright and her husband are freed from a detention centre after a last-minute reprieve from deportation.

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The Exeter Northcott will be hosting Shakespeare’s The Comedy Of Errors in May.

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This week, we pair Maxine Kumin and #39;s and #34;Which One and #34; with a Science Times essay by Natalie Angier, and #34;The Creature Connection. and #34;

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When Charles Dickens began writing his first novel—in 1836, the year before Victoria took the throne—the literacy rate in England was less than 50 percent. By the end of her reign, in 1901, it was 97 percent. More than any writer of the time, Dickens helped close that gap. He did it by publishing stories [...]

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The New York Public Library creates an animation tool that allows users to bring thousands of digitized stereographs from its collection back to flickering, 3-D life.

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Charles Dickens wasn and #39;t just a stickler for the intricacies of plot and character development. Home decoration was also a lifelong obsession, writes Hilary Macaskill It was only when I read his article on wallpaper that I realised a hitherto unappreciated aspect of Charles Dickens: his interest in interior decor. Charles Dickens at Home, the book I was writing about the houses and areas where he …

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The astonishing results were achieved by children at Winifred Holtby School in the Bransholme district of Hull – an area where grades are usually below the national average.

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As Welsh lovers celebrate St Dwynwen and #39;s Day, Rachael Misstear shines a light on another Welsh romance which evokes the plot of a Jane Austen novel

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Ms. Krupp, an author and a contributor to “Today” on NBC, dispensed down-to-earth style tips for everyday women.

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Woodlawn Theatre partnership dissolving express-news Copyright 2012 express-news. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Updated 01:58 p.m., Monday, January 16, 2012 The Woodlawn Theatre is changing hands. Jonathan Pennington, who has leased the space and produced shows there since 2006, will be leaving after his production of and #34;Rent …

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It surely has been one of the strangest developments since the popular movement protesting the alleged falsification of elections took hold in Russia in early December.

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Jeanie O and #39;Haire, the dramaturg for the Royal Shakespeare Company, will succeed playwright Paula Vogel as chair of the Yale Drama School playwriting department.

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The JFK library releases the final 45 hours of recordings from Kennedy and #39;s secret White House tapes, covering the final months of his life.

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The network is forming an arm to create original e-books using work derived from other divisions of NBC Universal.

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Poet LLC, the largest U.S. corn- based ethanol producer by installed capacity, established a joint venture with Royal DSM NV (DSM) to produce cellulosic ethanol and license the technology to other plants in the U.S. and globally.

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The most underrated of Shakespeare’s many theatrical gifts—poetic, tragic, festive—is his tabloid mentality. Shakespeare knew the value of the sensational: ghosts, gore, and grievous bodily harm were all grist for his melodramatic mill. His plays were always aimed at two audiences: the court and . . . (Subscription required.)

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If Charles Dickens were as immortal as his writing, he would be celebrating his 200th birthday on 7 February. He may be – like Jacob Marley – as dead as a doornail, but culturally he and #39;s never been more alive, thanks to all of those timeless themes in his work. We are still wrestling with Orlick-style crime; punishment for men such as Sykes; daunting lawyers such as Jaggers; greedy industrialists …

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CliffsNotes Films has created a new animated and #34;edutainment and #34; series based on classic literature. What is your take on these and other products like them’

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We and #39;ll focus on the quirks, the marginalia, the backstory and the language — all the tiny touches that make his work entertaining and inventive and special, two centuries on.

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YORK musical theatre director Bev Jones reckons a smile may have saved his life at 71.

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Suggestions for fostering a meeting of the minds over classic and contemporary texts, to share ideas and bridge interpersonal or cultural gaps.

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Recovering from his pregnant wife’s murder at the hands of the Manson gang, Roman Polanski created an exceptionally bleak, bloody take on the Bard’s darkest tale. A teenaged Keith Chegwin had a small role!

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This week and #39;s Poetry Pairing matches William Butler Yeats and #39;s and #34;To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Nothing and #34; with an article about a Texas writer and artist, and #34;Novelist and His Hero Wonder, Will It Last’ and #34;

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King Richard III has 1,171 lines in the drama Shakespeare named for him. Kevin Spacey mangles just about every one of them, beginning with “Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this sun of York” right through “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” more than three hours later.

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The swirl of interest and celebrity around English-language Indian literature obscures a sad truth: What gets acclaim is skewed toward what can, and does, succeed in Britain and the United States.

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