It would be easy enough to compile fascinating facts about the Brontë sisters each in her own right, but here we’ll look at the three together, since their lives were so intertwined.
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, acknowledged literary geniuses, were close in age and with few exceptions, preferred one another’s company above anyone else’s.
The three Brontë sisters all cherished literary ambitions from an early age, and despite lives that were cut short by illness, secured a prominent place in the English literary canon. Read More→
Toni Morrison, born Chloe Ardelia Wofford (1931 – 2019), was an American novelist, editor, essayist, and professor. Presented here are fascinating facts about Toni Morrison that offer a glimpse of what made her one of the most the powerfu voices in contemporary literature.
Morrison was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio, in a working-class family that inspired her love for Black culture.
Her work focused on the Black American experience. Notable works include The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1974), Song of Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), and Beloved (1987). She received an abundance of awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature (1993), the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and many others. Read More→
Come Along with Me is the novel Shirley Jackson (1919 – 1965) was working on at the time of her untimely death in 1965 at the age of forty-eight. This unfinished novel was collected in the book of the same title: Come Along with Me: Part of a novel, sixteen stories, and three lectures, and edited by Stanley Edgar Hyman, her husband at the time of her death.
Known for her stories and novels of psychological terror, including The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Jackson didn’t leave behind a huge body of work but what she did produce was hugely influential. Read More→
Toni Morrison (1931 – 2019) was an American novelist, editor, essayist, teacher, and professor. She was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her body of work examined the Black experience in America through great storytelling. Following is a selection of wise quotes by Toni Morrison on writing, living, and love.
Morrison was born and raised in Lorain, Ohio in a working-class African American family that influenced her love and appreciation of Black culture.
Morrison was a great influence on numerous writers, including National Book Award finalist Jamel Brinkley, best-selling author Julia Alvarez, prize-winning poet Saeed Jones, and many others. Read More→
Tuck Everlasting is a 1975 novel by Natalie Babbitt (1932 – 2016) about a young girl who stumbles upon a family with an incredible secret. The quotes from Tuck Everlasting that follow demonstrate how the book balances a sense of fun adventure with some truly thought-provoking concepts.
Originally intended for middle grade readers, it’s a gracefully written story that has resonated with readers of all ages. It explores the idea of eternal life, and its flip side, mortality.
When 10-year-old Winnie Foster inadvertently comes upon the Tuck family, she learns that they became immortal after drinking from a spring on her family’s property. Read More→
Natalie Babbitt (July 28, 1932 – October 31, 2016) was an American author and illustrator of children’s books, best known for Tuck Everlasting (1975).
Born in Dayton, Ohio, her first ambition was to be a pirate. By second grade, she decided that she wanted to grow up to be a librarian.
She discussed her aspirations in Anita Silvey’s The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators: “I might have made a pretty good librarian, but with my distaste for heavy exercise, I would probably have made a poor pirate.”
Read More→
Natalie Clifford Barney (1876 – 1972) was an American-born poet and novelist also known for her epigrams and pensées. Here you’ll find a selection of quotes by Natalie Clifford Barney on life and love, from a woman who lived and loved to the fullest.
Barney was an expat living the high life in early twentieth-century Paris where she presided over a famous literary salon.
Though she published ten critically acclaimed books, she seems to be equally remembered for her colorful personal life as one of the movers and shakers of the Parisian lesbian circles of the time. She also used the wealth and privilege she was born into as a means of promoting other talented writers and artists. Read More→
