Books & Literary Life

Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.

The Artist Edward Gorey—and Pets—at Harvard

Winter exhibits at Houghton Library   

by Nell Porter-Brown

A Beloved Bengali Poet in Translation

A new book presents a mother and daughter’s final collaboration

by Lydialyle Gibson

Chapter & Verse: Who wrote...?

Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words

The "King of Palindromes"

Mark Saltveit and the art of the palindrome

by Nancy Walecki

Off the Shelf

Recent books with Harvard connections

Critique and Joy

Kevin Young’s anthology of African American poetry, from Phillis Wheatley to hip hop

by Elisa New

Origin Stories

Bow and Arrow’s mechanic, James Agee’s creative turbulence

by Primus VI

The Layered Histories in Black Family Keepsakes

Tiya Miles traces a mother and daughter’s story through a cotton sack.

by Juliet Isselbacher

Amartya Sen, a Memoir

The book covers the first thirty years of the Nobel-prize winning economist’s life.

by Sugata Bose

Re-remembering Juneteenth

Annette Gordon-Reed discusses her unusually personal book on the holiday.

by Lydialyle Gibson

Open Book: the case for commitment

Pete Davis expands on his Commencement address.