Books & Literary Life

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

Woman with long hair, smiling, wearing a black sweater, in a textured beige background.

For This Poet, AI is a Writing Partner

Sasha Stiles trained a chatbot on her manuscripts. Now, her poems rewrite themselves.

by Lydialyle Gibson

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

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

Photo of a young boy reading a book

Excerpt from Bernard Bailyn, “Illuminating History”

An addiction to reading

A view of the Frank House study in 1940, with many books and examples of modern art from the 1930s

Recent books with Harvard connections

Recent books with Harvard connections