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Mary Shelley’s Birthday and 200 Years of Frankenstein

"I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves." -- Mary Shelley (August 30, 1797 - February 5, 1851)
National Frankenstein Day is celebrated on August 30, the birthday of the novel's author Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. Coincidentally, 2018 is the 200th anniversary of Frankenstein's publication, and this anniversary has been celebrated throughout 2018 with new books, movies and plays honoring Shelley's impact. Earlier...
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In Memoriam on Angelou’s Birthday

Today is the birthday of Maya Angelou, perhaps one of the most well-known Black American writers of the 20th century. Below is an excerpt of Angelou's In Memoriam entry in Contemporary Literary Criticism: volume 389.

Maya Angelou

1928-2014

(Pseudonym of Marguerite Annie Johnson) American autobiographer, poet, essayist, children’s writer, playwright, and screenwriter.

The following entry provides criticism of Angelou’s life and...

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Steinbeck’s Birthday: A Grapes of Wrath Entry Preview

Today is the birthday of 20th-Century American writer and Nobel Prize recipient John Steinbeck. Below is an excerpt from Children's Literature Review: Volume 195, featuring Steinbeck's 1939 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath.

The Grapes of Wrath

John Steinbeck

(Also wrote under the pseudonym Amnesia Glasscock) American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, short-story writer, and journalist. The following entry provides criticism of Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath...
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Writing on El Día de Los Muertos

Día de Los Muertos, Day of the Dead, is observed in Mexico on 2 November, the final day of a celebration that begins on Halloween. Though practices differ from city to city, the holiday is generally an opportunity to honor deceased loved ones, for whom families prepare ofrendas, or altars, which are decorated with candy skulls, marigolds, and incense. As the day proceeds, observance often...
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