Fellowships for creative writers are available on a two-year cycle with fellowships in prose available one year and fellowships in poetry available the next. Fellowships in prose (fiction and creative nonfiction) or poetry that enable recipients to set aside time for writing, research, travel, and general career advancement are available to published creative writers.
The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress invites people of all ages to discover the fascinating people, places and events that await you whenever you read.
We explore the art of fiction with a focus on the elements of craft. We feature new and republished fiction, critical pieces on craft, interviews, book annotations, and much more.
SuperSummary is an online resource that is committed to helping you get the most out of the books that you’re reading. We provide high-quality, in-depth study guides for a wide range of fiction and nonfiction titles.
A comprehensive collection of e-texts of all of Poe’s prose and poetical writings, from the original sources and with multiple versions as revised during his lifetime.
Other Resources
Academy of American PoetsPoets.org is produced by the Academy of American Poets. The site was launched in 1996, becoming the original online resource for poems, poets' biographies, essays about poetry, and resources for K-12 teachers.
American Writers - C-SPANC-SPAN's American Writers: A Journey Through History explores American history through the lives and works of American writers who have influenced the course of our nation. C-SPAN presents each program from a historic site associated with a writer's life and work. Every program features selected writers' novels, speeches, diaries, essays and life stories, creating a snapshot of American history.
Annenberg Learner's English Language Arts ArchivesAs part of its mission to advance excellent teaching in American schools, Annenberg Learner funds and distributes educational video programs – with coordinated online and print materials – for the professional development of K-12 teachers.
The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo EmersonOur mission is to promote to a global audience a greater understanding of
and appreciation for the life and work of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
GuruWork with the best freelance talent from around the world on our secure, flexible and cost-effective platform.
HathiTrust Digital LibraryHathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world.
HippoCampus English - Homework & Study HelpHippoCampus.org is a free, core academic web site that delivers rich multimedia content--videos, animations, and simulations--on general education subjects to middle-school and high-school teachers and college professors, and their students, free of charge.
Jack London Online CollectionLondon's fiction, nonfiction, journalism, plays, and even his original magazine appearances with illustrations, and other information.
MAPS: Modern American Poetry SiteMAPs contains poems by hundreds of different modern and contemporary poets, including several poets—among them women, minorities, and progressives—who previously had not been published in anthology form.
Mark Twain ProjectMark Twain Project Online applies innovative technology to more than four decades' worth of archival research by expert editors at the Mark Twain Project.
The Open Access Companion to the Canterbury TalesThe Open Access Companion to the Canterbury Tales (OACCT) is a volume of introductory chapters for first-time, university-level readers of Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The chapters have been created and edited by professional scholars of Chaucer, and all material is released open access and free of charge for classroom, scholarly, and personal use.
Perseus Digital LibraryPerseus maintains a web site that showcases collections and services developed as a part of our research efforts over the years.
Poetry FoundationThe Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience.
Poets' CornerThis collection covers roughly 7,000 works by about 800 poets.
Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks.
Representative Poetry Online (RPO)Representative Poetry Online, edition 6.0, is a web anthology of 4,800 poems in English and French by over 700 poets spanning 1400 years.
SFE - The Encyclopedia of Science FictionOur aim is to provide a comprehensive, scholarly, and critical guide to science fiction in all its forms. All entries are free online.
Studying Beowulf Index & GuideThe fourth edition of Electronic Beowulf 4.1 is a free, online version of Electronic Beowulf that supersedes all previous editions. The online edition is designed to meet the needs of general readers, who require a full, line by line, translation; of students, who want to understand the grammar and the meter and still have time in a semester to study and appreciate other important aspects of the poem; and of scholars, who want immediate access to a critical apparatus identifying the nearly 2000 eighteenth-century restorations, editorial emendations, and manuscript-based conjectural restorations.
UCLA Children's Book CollectionThe Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public.
The Walden Woods ProjectThe Walden Woods Project preserves the land, literature and legacy of Henry David Thoreau to foster an ethic of environmental stewardship and social responsibility …
The Walt Whitman ArchiveThe Walt Whitman Archive endeavors to make Whitman's vast work freely and conveniently accessible to scholars, students, and general readers.
Women Writers Resource Project- Emory UniversityThe Emory Women Writers Resource Project is a collection of edited and unedited texts by women writing from the seventeenth century through the early twentieth century.
Beowulf and the Anglo-SaxonsUsing 3-D animation, location footage, archive materials, and interviews, the Beowulf epic is examined in the light of the civilization that created it. It investigates the Anglo-Saxons' religious beliefs as well as their everyday life and suggests that, old as the poem is, it may have roots in an even more ancient fertility cult.
Dante's InfernoThis ambitious program, produced by the award-winning film director Peter Greenaway and internationally known artist Tom Phillips, brings to life the first eight cantos of Dante’s Inferno. Featuring a cast that includes Sir John Gielgud as Virgil, the cantos are not conventionally dramatized. Instead, the feeling of Dante’s poem is conveyed through juxtaposed imagery that conjures up a contemporary vision of hell, and its meaning is deciphered in visual sidebars by eminent scholars who interpret Dante’s metaphors and symbolism.
Decameron NightsThis 1953 film combines an adaptation of stories from Giovanni Boccaccio's bawdy medieval classic The Decameron with a storyline featuring the author himself. The film is known for its beautiful setting and overall visual appeal. Starring Joan Fontaine, Louis Jourdan, and Joan Collins. Directed by Hugo Fregonese.
Greek Drama: From Ritual to TheaterWhy do plays well over two millennia old still speak to audiences today? This program traces Greek theater from ancient harvest rites to the golden age of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Key scenes from Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus, Medea, and Lysistrata show how these works remain relevant by exploring the timeless themes of honor, class, gender, sexuality, and politics. Essential concepts such as catharsis, hamartia, and the use of masks and a chorus are discussed. Scholarly commentary by Helene Foley of Barnard College, Jeffrey Henderson of Boston University, Princeton University’s Robert Fagles, and Peter Meineck of NYU’s Aquila Theatre Company emphasizes the vitality of classical drama and the essential role it played in the everyday lives of the ancient Greeks
The Greek Dramatists: Aeschylus, Sophocles and EuripidesThe short-lived democratic system of Ancient Greece gave way to three major dramatists: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. This film examines the dramatist culture of Ancient Greece, the role its government played, and the freedom of speech delivered onstage; a brief overview of Greece’s early political history is given. The evolution of theater and drama were forever changed by the three tragedians studied. Listen to readings from each of the playwrights’ work.
Kurt Vonnegut: So It GoesIn this interview, Kurt Vonnegut—iconoclastic writer of science fiction and satire—discusses his family history, how he got his start as an author, his experiences in World War II, his obsession with the betrayal of humankind by science, and his vision of technology gone mad. Delving into the psyches of his characters, he even enters into a dialogue with his fictional alter ego, Kilgore Trout. Dramatizations and excerpts from Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, Cat’s Cradle, and Deadeye Dick bring the offbeat yet vivid world of Vonnegut’s stories to life.
Literary Classics - The OdysseyWritten by the Greek epic poet Homer during the 8th century BC, The Odyssey tells of the wanderings of Odysseus on his adventurous way back to Ithaca. This program explores the background to the author – a mysterious figure that some say was blind, others that he never existed at all. Whatever the truth, The Odyssey was radically different in style and content from anything else written at that time and its timeless themes and classic storyline continue to echo down the years.
Noh Theater: Tale of Genji ExcerptsThis program presents excerpts from the Japanese dance-drama Noh play Tale of Genji, from the 14th century, performed by Tatsuo Minagawa, Tei Ko, Shizu Nakamura, and Yuki Shimoda, with commentary by the leading Japanese scholar Donald Keene. The performance is in Japanese, with English explanation. As seen by Keene, Noh plays had a status, not unlike classic Greek drama. The Tale of Genji -- in form, a long novel -- has been compared to The Decameron, Tom Jones, or the work of Proust in its sweep of action and multiple characters.
The OdysseyContemporary Western society revolves around celebrity—and ancient Greek culture was no different, as this program demonstrates with perceptive comparisons of the two worlds. Scholarly analysis and splendid reenactments bring new life to Homer’s epic, giving it both a historical and personal context. For long-ago Greek listeners enraptured with famous warriors and athletes, Homer fashioned a subtle moral dilemma: can one pursue fortune and recognition without endangering a far more valuable treasure—namely, the love and stability of family? Clearly, The Odyssey still engenders sociologically relevant discussion.
The Tale of GenjiElegant and lyrical, The Tale of Genji—written by Murasaki Shikibu, considered by many to be the world’s first novelist—predates the seminal Don Quixote by an incredible 600 years. This extraordinarily beautiful program traces the plot, which centers on the romantic relationships of the noble hero Genji, through the panels of a series of illustrated hand scrolls dating from the early 12th century. The program explains both Genji’s adventures and the visual effects created by the paintings, decorated paper, and calligraphy of the scrolls, making accessible to Western audiences a formative work of Japanese culture and one of the milestones of world literature.
The Tale of Genji: Invitation to World LiteratureThis portrait of court life in medieval Japan follows the life and exploits of the great Genji. Written by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady of the Japanese court, it provides an insider's view of Japanese court life, the official and behind the screen. Art, clothing, and music from the time of the novel illustrate the obserations of authors Jane Smiley, Chiori Miyagawa, and more.
Women in Classical Greek DramaThey gave their names to some of the most memorable plays in Western history, and, thousands of years later, they are still very much a presence in contemporary culture. Who were the women of classical Greek drama? In this program, the presentation of powerful women in Medea, Antigone, and Lysistrata is contrasted with the circumscribed role of women in Athenian society by Princeton University’s Froma Zeitlin; Helene Foley, of Barnard College; Jeffrey Henderson, of Boston University; Robin Mitchell-Boyask, of Temple University; Mary-Kay Gamel, of the University of California, Santa Cruz; and Peter Meineck, producing artistic director of the critically and academically acclaimed Aquila Theatre Company. Film clips from notable productions support this in-depth discussion of women and their representation in ancient Greece.
Library Services
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