Jazz out of an open window. Poems from the balcony. We’ve all seen the images of quarantined Italians sharing their solitude across deserted courtyards and empty streets from facing buildings. Some play a saxophone or piano, some join in spontaneous choirs of popular or patriotic … [Read more...]
1918: Mary McCarthy’s Personal Pandemic
As we all hunker down for COVID-19—from Seattle to Boston, South Africa to Switzerland—we’re haunted by stories of a similarly frightening influenza pandemic that swept the globe in 1918, just over a century ago. For Mary McCarthy, an important American novelist, essayist, and … [Read more...]
Taking Her Seriously: Bookwoman Beatrice Warde
Women’s History Month is far too short to celebrate all the important women who have helped shape our modern book culture. Authors, of course, but I’m thinking especially of women printers, publishers, typographers, illustrators, graphic designers, librarians, booksellers, … [Read more...]
Valentines? Room for Galentines and Palentines too
Valentine's Day, move over. Love's a big place. Plenty of room for Galentines and Palentines too. It’s easy to think of history as progressing ever forward, out of ignorance toward enlightenment. We snicker at the Victorians’ horror of exposed female anatomy (just try to swim … [Read more...]
Black History Through Historical Fiction
Black history is American history. What better way to learn more about Black history than through historical fiction? Novels open up the past as it was lived and felt, offering deeper truths and richer insights than factual narratives alone. In my Julia Kydd novels, I use … [Read more...]
