Books & Literary Life
Literary criticism, author interviews, and book culture from within and beyond Harvard.
Tara Menon’s Debut Novel Combines Friendship, Grief, and Climate Disaster
The popular Harvard English professor published Under Water this spring.
Off the Shelf
Recent books with Harvard connections
Getting Close to the Past
A powerful public history of slavery in America
Namwali Serpell’s Novel-In-Progress
The acclaimed author and English professor will explore mourning and reunion in The Furrows: An Elegy.
Origin Stories
Bow and Arrow’s mechanic, James Agee’s creative turbulence
by Primus VI
Open Book: Hiding in a Tick Mattress
Wilfred Rembert’s escape from a lynching
A Beloved Bengali Poet in Translation
A new book presents a mother and daughter’s final collaboration
Chapter & Verse: Who wrote...?
Correspondence on not-so-famous lost words
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