Category: Literature
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Jane Austen was born on this day
Jane Austen was born 239 years ago today at Parsonage House of Steventon, Hampshire. The youngest daughter of a clergyman, Austen initially began writing for the entertainment of her family and close friends. Her family’s movements saw her relocate to Bath and Southampton, before settling in Chawton where Austen penned what would become some of…
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Once upon a time: a short history of fairy tale
Nicola Weideling, Marketing Operations Manager, reviews Once Upon a Time: A short history of fairy tale by Marina Warner Fairy tales are woven into the fabric of our childhood. Either being read to us or reading them to ourselves, the stories enchant us as children and stay with us as adults. Little Red Riding Hood, the…
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Using design to engage readers of different ages
Book design is more than just putting text and image together on a page. Many people don’t realise it, but HOW text and images are put together are just as important as the content of the text and image by itself. A reader engages with content that is presented through a combination of fonts, colour palettes,…
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Robert Louis Stevenson was born on this day
Robert Louis Stevenson was born 164 years ago today in Edinburgh, Scotland. Born into a family of engineers and builders, Stevenson began engineering studies at Edinburgh University before switching to law. Instead of practicing in either field, he pursued literary aspirations in career that spanned nineteen years and crossed a wide range of genres including…
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Thrilling new YA fiction
Two unique, thought-provoking posts by two unique YA authors. The first is Night Runner by Carnegie Medal-winning Tim Bowler and the second is Replica by Australian writer Jack Heath. Writing Night Runner by Tim Bowler Night Runner is a fast-moving story and it came to me at a sprint. It’s about a fifteen-year-old boy called Zinny and the novel begins…
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Miguel de Cervantes was born on this day
Miguel de Cervantes was born 467 years (assumed) ago today in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid. Most famous for his comic masterpiece, Don Quixote, Cervantes also wrote Exemplary Stories, short stories that, like Don Quixote, defy the conventions of heroic chivalric literature and range from the picturesque to the satirical. To celebrate his birthday, here are five…