Books & Literary Life
Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.
The "King of Palindromes"
Mark Saltveit and the art of the palindrome
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.
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.
Namwali Serpell
The professor of English is also a novelist and a critic.
Off the shelf: Recent books with Harvard connections
Tax follies, Thomas Sowell, Donald Hall, and more
A Surfing Author’s Children’s Book
In the swim with Bonnie Tsui