Books & Literary Life

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

A whimsical illustration of a man balancing on a rooftop edge, wearing a suit and glasses.

The Artist Edward Gorey—and Pets—at Harvard

Winter exhibits at Houghton Library   

by Nell Porter-Brown

Photograph of downtown Yamhill, Oregon, with general store

“Tightrope,” by Kristof and WuDunn, reviewed by Allison Pugh

Americans diminished by “social poverty”

by Allison Pugh

Birder David Barrett pictured at Central Park

David Barrett reports on New York City’s birds

A quest to chronicle New York City’s avian community

by Nell Porter-Brown

The St. Louis, Missouri, skyline on the Mississippi River with the Gateway Arch visible, as seen from across the Mississippi River in East St. Louis, Illinois

Walter Johnson writes about “The Broken Heart of America”

Walter Johnson’s radical history of St. Louis

by Marina N. Bolotnikova

Posthumous portrait of astronomer Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin looking up and through a window, echoing Vermeer’s painting “The Astronomer”

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin

Brief life of a breakthrough astronomer: 1900-1979

by Donovan Moore

At Home with Harvard: The Literary Life

Our editors curate their favorite literary stories in Harvard Magazine.

photograph of Lizabeth Cohen

Lizabeth Cohen Bancroft Prize

The urban historian is honored—for the second time.

by John S. Rosenberg

Photograph by Ken Liu

Ghost Stories for the Apocalypse

Ken Liu’s speculative fiction on maintaining and transcending humanity

by Bennett McIntosh

Photograph of Emily Dickinson’s family home, The Homestead, an elegant wooden building

The Emily Dickinson Museum

Delving into the world of Emily Dickinson

by Nell Porter-Brown

German author Karl May dressed as his Old West hero, Old Shatterhand

Karl May, best-selling German novelist

Brief life of a myth-making writer: 1842-1912

by Eugene Stelzig

Photograph of the two actors on stage

Playwright Antoinette Nwandu, profiled

Playwright Antoinette Nwandu confronts race, religion, and her personal history.

by Olivia Schwob