If you would like to see similar content (3 short things, that are often educational but not limited to literature), sign up for my biweekly newsletter at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com. No paywalls, no spam. Just 3 brilliant things that are actually worth your time.

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché 

Be Natural is a documentary about the world’s first female cinematographer, Alice Guy-Blaché, a name whose role expanded to include studio owner and director, screenwriter, actress, producer, and occasional detective. (After all, if you want to catch the culprit stealing your scripts and floating them to other studios, it’s just one of those things you’ve got to do yourself.)  

As a 22-year-old secretary in France, Alice was invited along with her boss, Louis Gaumont, to preview the first equipment used in motion picture making. She fell in love with the technology, realized its potential for storytelling (as opposed to strict documentation) and went on to make over 1,000 films. She took it upon herself to learn the science behind these new cameras, and when she combined her efforts with her style of storytelling, it resulted in a host of new techniques, very much like Orson Welles’ Citizen Cane. 

Like many female artists, her work has been overlooked – to an extent that should make Hollywood historians turn rogue. Even worse, in the course of this documentary, we find out along with an elderly Alice herself, that her work has often been credited to the men she’d hired as assistants.

Be Natural follows documentarian Pamela B. Green’s first-hand efforts at tracing Alice’s relatives and others to see who might have scraps of this obscure but powerful woman’s work. Jodie Foster narrates this beautifully rendered, slapstick-hilarious at times, ultimately “wow!”-inducing film that should not be missed by anyone who has ever had a story in their head.  

The Lost King

The Lost King is an exceptional film that will rally the hearts of leisure learners everywhere. It is based on the real life story of Phillipa Langley, now known as “The Kingfinder,” not only to her children but also scholars the world over. 

Disappointed in her career and struggling with a chronic health condition, Phillipa dutifully attends a school production of Shakespeare’s Richard III. During the play, she relates to the character of the deformed king in such a meaningful way that she becomes consumed with learning more about him. 

She reads everything that she possibly can about the king, attends meet-ups at pubs and professional conferences, until the real Richard appears to her, prompting her to right a historical inaccuracy.

To do this, she must find his body. It is this decade-long, topsy-turvy, rollercoaster of a journey that constitutes most of the film. Tackling problem after unforeseen problem, Philipa’s efforts result in changing the formal historical narrative as well as acknowledgment by the British monarchy itself.   

For detail oriented underdogs, The Lost King is a riveting movie that succeeds in shedding a positive light on the phrase “doing your own research” while fully delivering on all the good feels. Script by Steve Coogan.

For Jane Austen Fans

I know that there are a number of Jane Austen fans here at DIY MFA, and so I thought it only appropriate to include some of the best Jane links I’ve found. 

First off, take a virtual tour of Jane Austen’s House (aka The Jane Austen Museum). Not only can you see where both Emma and Pride and Prejudice were penned, but narrations from Jane’s own letters provide a uniquely intimate dimension to this experience. The website offers a rich collection of “all things Jane”, including an essay overview and examples of her teenage writing.  

Next, spend a lunch break exploring these divine English manor houses and other prominent locations associated with Austen’s work.  While gorgeous and informative, it might take some playing around to see what buttons move you around. Using Firefox for Windows, I had to hold the left mouse key while simultaneously using left and right arrows to take a 360° whirl around the estates.  

Finally, if you need a good laugh or quick minute of gratitude for modern day plumbing, check out these hygiene procedures that Jane, as well as her characters, would have practiced. 

Links of Links

The following entries lead to lengthy lists of links. Click on anything below and open an intellectual buffet of free books, potential projects, and a treasure trove of culture that should serve your intellectual curiosity for years to come.

• Have a few mins and want to read a short story by a contemporary author? Go to LitHub’s no-need-to-register short story collection.

• In more of a mood to settle in with a book? Check out UpJourney’s roundup of all the places you can read or legally download free books.
  _{^{*They even have pages with high-end printable coloring books for the culturally minded.}}

• DIY for DIYers. This extensive list of open source software provides you with endless opportunities to add to your creative arsenal. If you want to make an interactive feature for your book, author website or simply see what is possible with current technology, this is the place to go.     

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post Leisure Learning: Filled with Love Edition appeared first on DIY MFA.

Since we love to hear from people who take both reading and writing seriously, please add your favorite or any overlooked scary works into the comments.  

Also, should you need something somewhat cerebral for your Oct. 31 proper, check out the extra links at the end, which are perfect for an evening’s worth of suspenseful, scholarly entertainment. 

Art Inspired By Edgar

This wouldn’t be a true ethereal round-up without featuring the Father of American Gothic literature, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s work set macabre imaginations on fire, influencing not only successive dark-hearted authors but also visual artists who jumped at the chance to explore the supernatural. Check out a slicing depiction of The Pit and the Pendulum, Manet’s stab at The Raven, and the otherworldly watercolors of Arthur Rackham in this compilation of the 25 most terrifyingly beautiful Poe illustrations. 

Fleshing Out Frankenstein

Can you imagine seeing how Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley fleshed out her masterpiece, Frankenstein? No need to imagine, thanks to the Shelley-Godwin Archive (S-GA), a joint collaboration between Harvard University, Oxford Bodleian, and other prominent libraries/cultural institutions dedicated to preserving the works of “England’s first literary family.” 

Witness the evolution of the actual Frankenstein manuscript – cross-outs, marginalia, and all – via Mary Shelley’s handwritten drafts. Prepare your human heart to shiver at the sight of these literary treasures! 

Haunting Horses

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is one of the most morbid yet beloved tales ever told this side of the pond. It is thanks to Washington Irving’s headless Hessian that horses have come to supply Halloween with a uniquely bucolic, spooky splendor.

Certainly, we can all picture the cape-wearing ghoul tormenting Ichabod Crane, but can you name the equine who made The Horseman’s murderous deeds possible? This infographic, courtesy of Mary’s Tack & Feed, will refresh your memory, as well as introduce other infamous literary steeds such as Sleipnir of Norse legend and more, aka The Spookiest Horses of Halloween. 

Lore Podcast

The Lore podcast is one of my all-time favorite podcasts. In a thirty-minute-or-less format, Aaron Mahnke (pronounced ~ “main-key”) does a terrific job of delving into lesser-known, rather macabre folklore as well as the historical events from which these grim legends may have arisen. The result is an episode of elegant, scary yet captivating storytelling that will leave you thinking long after a listen. 

Indulge that notion to dim the lights, grab some wine and have a notebook nearby while surrendering to any of the following: 

Episode 1 – “They Made a Tonic” (22:15)
This introduces listeners to the subject matter and tone of the series, most notably that lesser known legends are covered. Should you find the content a little too dark, Mahnke hosts a tamer version called Cabinet of Curiosities, which is perfectly acceptable to listen to in broad daylight. 

Episode 30 – “Deep & Twisted Roots” (29:58)
A vampire… in Connecticut?

Episode 41 – “Hole in the Wall” (27:10)
Covers the Paisley witches of Scotland. 

Episode 63: “Homecoming” (29:00)
H.H. Holmes’ “murder castle” in Chicago, where he made his own version of the 1893 World’s Fair. 

There are so many good episodes, complete with fog-filled music, that no matter which of the over 200 episodes you pick, it’s really hard to go wrong with any of them.  

Finally, please note that Lore is available as a visual series through Amazon and there are a number of Lore books that elaborate on the legends covered in the podcast. However, the podcast itself is many times better than either the show or even the books, so why not just go straight to the good stuff? 

Scary Stories To Keep Telling In the Dark

Over the past few years, the PEN Foundation of America has reported an uptick in books being banned from school libraries. As such, I felt it only appropriate to touch on the terrifying yet wonderful sleepless nights Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark brought to many of us die hard readers.

This Smithsonian Magazine article contextualizes the impact made by Alvin Schwartz’s literally haunting series as his books became some of the most banned titles of their time (ok, “my time” – the ‘80s and ‘90s). 

Were you aware that the ethereal, inky illustrations that still frighten some of us (ok, again, me specifically) were penned by an amateur, self-taught artist? Learn about how Schwartz personally picked this illustrator as well as why reading horror is different than watching it and more in this article, sure to give you chills of nostalgia.   

Should you want to make a night of it and keep rekindling these fright-filled fires, gather the family ‘round to watch not Guillermo del Toro’s version of Scary Stories To Tell in the Dark but the lesser known, yet more worthwhile Cody Meirick’s documentary Scary Stories, which relates how the author collected and assembled these legendary tales, all while his son thought his dad was wasting his life.*

(*Note: Now that he is an actual adult, Peter Schwartz has gotten his stuff together and since rescinded this position.)  

BONUS: CELEBRATE LIKE A SCHOLAR

Haunting Ways to Spend An Evening

Ask A Mortician – Mortician-author Caitlin Doughty’s YouTube channel, where she answers a lot of questions about things otherwise unmentionable and has a playlist of historical death scenarios.

Cursed Films – Series that details the behind-the-scenes eerie occurrences from sets of famous movies such as The Wizard of Oz, The Omen, and The Exorcist. 

Dracula, The Ballet (1 hr, 45 min) – Produced by Northern Ballet – and yes, Renfield made the cut. 

Scariest Classical Music – Includes favorites such as Bach’s Toccata And Fugue In D Minor and Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King as well as lesser known works that extend beyond the earthly realm. 

Technicolor (1 hr, 18 min) – John Langan’s update and expansion of Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death.  Audiobook & text. 

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post Leisure Learning: September 2023: Spooky Edition appeared first on DIY MFA.

This month’s column focuses on many authors that we were introduced to in school (with facts that are too fun to learn in school) and those elements at the heart of creating something from mere words – desks, handwriting, snarky Jane Austen inspired video games. 

Come and embrace the magnificent season where we put on our hardcore word nerd pants and get back to the business of writing like the legends in the links below.   

Plot Maps, As Revealed By Authors

Novelists create plot maps for the same reason that architects use blueprints. It’s how authors ensure that everything lines up at the right time, in the right literary place – a way to make sure all of those specific, well-researched details are actually supporting the overall plot. Here, in this article from the Daily Mail, we get a chance to dip into the notebooks of some of the most respected authors who ever put words on paper.

See how Jennifer Egan plotted a story released Tweet by Tweet, who seamlessly integrates swearing at their editor along with scene directions and who could’ve become a serial killer, had he not written Catch 22.

Cursive

Cursive writing is quickly becoming the Latin of our times. In fact, it’s an endangered species within today’s classroom, which saddens me.  If you remember hours spent rendering elegant loopy letters, attaching them together curve by curve, then you would be interested in this short article on the history of cursive writing. Find out where this type of penmanship started and how it has shape-shifted over the centuries. 

While you’re at it, why not be a steward of the tradition and let your kids in on this secret language of adults? (With the added bonus of potentially rehabbing your penmanship.) Once you’ve digested cursive’s twisted history, head on over to The Postman’s Knock where calligrapher Lindsey Bugbee offers a free, in-depth course aimed specifically at teaching elementary school children how to recreate this delicate art. Spooned out in small increments, this 4 hour course is one of the best on the web for cursive and at exactly $0, totally worth the price.  

Besides, won’t it be nice being able to read your own notes once again?

Writing Desks of Famous Authors

Pianoes, bookcases and writing desks are the furnishings that have a tendency to make me swoon. Often when I say this, people think it’s because of the gorgeous woodwork often found adorning these item, and sometimes that is the case. However, with the writing desk in particular, there is a unique dimension to its beauty, one that Neil Gaiman captured precisely when he said, “The writer’s desk is where dreams collide with reality, and ink becomes the thread weaving them together.”  

This magic happens on everything from museum quality Queen Anne era desks to simple pieces of leftover plywood. Most of us, including literary legends, have writing spaces that lie somewhere in between these extremes. 

Here, in The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles, you can glimpse the writing desks where Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, and more wrote (and re-wrote) their masterpieces. If you enjoy that perusal, consider following it up with a look into Jill Krementz’s photo collection, The Writer’s Desk, which focuses on the writing spaces of more contemporary authors. What era does your writer-self prefer?

Regardless of what a dedicated writing space looks like, whether the ambience inspires one’s thoughts to take flight or you’re scribbling on your knee, it is at the writer’s desk where words are spun into gold. 

First Editions

While investigating writing desks, I stumbled into the realm of literary first editions. 

How much would you be willing to pay for a first edition of your favorite book? How much do you think a hand written letter by the author ups the ante? 

In these clips from the Antiques Roadshow book appraisers evaluate both The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit.  

*WARNING: The Hobbit is not appraised at the eleventeen bajillion dollars I was thinking it would be. However, I still consider eleventeen bajillion USD a fair price, given The Hobbit’s cultural significance.

This weekend, leisurely learn how to identify the marks of first editions, including the differences between US and UK versions, so that you can keep them in mind anytime you’re at a garage sale, thrifting or when that crazy family member begins casting out “useless junk” (yes, some people actually think of books like that).

Has anything like this ever happened to you? Leave a comment that can be appreciated by fellow word nerds below.  

Austen Translation

It’s always interesting to see how universal themes can be transformed through the latest tech. Specifically, I’m speaking of when a certain author’s novels cross-pollinate with PCs and Macs.

Austen Translation is a short, narrative based video game , the social mechanics of Jane Austen’s drawing room are brought to life as you play a personally tailored heroine who is vying to land a lucky bachelor.

The experience is essentially that of playing “dinner party with chaperoned outings.” Other women eying potential suitors make sometimes catty, sometimes witty, sometimes charming moves to which you respond by picking an option that will win you points best in line with the bachelor of your choice (though spinsterhood still ensues, but unlike in Jane’s time, this game considers it a win).

Austen Translation is smart, satirical and its overall playtime is pretty quick (~15 mins). With whimsical illustrations inspired by the colors of the English countryside can be played along with any teenager or fellow word nerd. Personally, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would and I encourage you to spend the $7 on Steam, if only to see how classic literature is being translated into current technology. The interface is simple, the rules can be easily grasped through the tutorial and there is a wit that Jane herself would appreciate. 

But how does this format enhance the experiences created by novels written so long ago? For me, I can say that playing Austen Translation did add to my consideration of drawing room dynamics and made me acutely aware of how one’s choices can indirectly affect other players. Moreover, it made me feel the sense of competition Victorian women must have had when trying to land a husband more for practicality than love. I felt that it brought to life the competition for suitors in a way that I haven’t experienced through either book or movie. In case you can’t tell, I can’t say enough about this low-key, surprisingly relaxing game (i.e., even with the competition, the ambience is soothing and damask is abundant). I guarantee you it is the only video game where you can opt to accessorize with a cameo or country mouse, wield a fish knife as a weapon and hear phrases of ribaldry, such as men  “…hoping to catch a glimpse of an unguarded ankle.”    

P.S. If you’re a fan of casual games, keep your ears out for developer Worthing & Moncrieff, as they specialize in video games for erudite, quirky adults.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post Leisure Learning, August 2023: Keeping It Old School appeared first on DIY MFA.

Get ready for some mental stimulation, because here are your July 2023 Leisure Learning links:

Brain Games

(Puzzle book, good for road trips)

Neil Somerville’s Literary Pocket Puzzle Book: 120 Classic Conundrums for Book Lovers is a fun way of showing that you still remember a handful of facts from lit class, possess a vocabulary that includes “palimpsest,” and good way to pass the time on a road trip, especially if your backseat harbors emo teenagers. 

There are word searches, famous quotes that you may or may not be able to fill in, literary sudoku, as well as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings themed crossword puzzles. Go ahead, geek out—as a family.  

The puzzles are just challenging enough to make you think, but not embarrass one’s self (lol), and offer a great starting point for everyone to talk about what they’ve read over this summer. 

Fictional Places To Make You Smile

The American Writers Museum (AWM) is a relatively new institution. It opened its doors to the public in May of 2017 in Chicago, IL and started online exhibitions even before we’d ever heard the words “Covid-19.”

As with most institutions aimed at preserving traditional culture, their goal is to maintain the legacies of American authors for as long as possible, while adding new ones into the mix as well. 

However, in contrast to most institutions along these lines, the AWM has a sense of humor. I stumbled on their feature AWM Destinations, thinking it would be chock full of literary landmarks across America, but instead found myself laughing out loud over its content.

AWM Destinations is a collection of travel summaries inviting the reader to tour imagined settings, as if a trip to The Yellow Brick Road, complete with local wine tasting, could be booked through AirBnB.  

Visit The House of Usher, Where The Wild Things (Really!) Are, That Town In A Hallmark Movie, and my favorite, Amity Island, attempting to make things right (by which I mean there is some acknowledgement of a certain predatorial marine species) this time ‘round.

Come tour the places you already know, but with a wink and a smile because they represent realms where readers are always in on the jokes. 

Give Yourself the Coolest Experience

If you happen to be traveling to London, Paris, New York, Copenhagen, or any other major metropolis, do yourself a favor and head on over to Herb Lester first, so that you can go to the magnificent cities your friends have also probably been to, with the difference being you having a way cooler time.

Herb Lester is a small press that creates retro maps revealing quirky cultural spots. For under $25, you can take yourself on an excursion showing sites such as the flat where George Orwell and H.G. Wells fell out over curry and plum cake. 

Feel like assuming the identity of a British spy? Then check out this intensely researched guide to John La Carré’s London or learn about spots that appear unremarkable, only to come to life once you know that they were used for dead letter drops or to house double agents. 

Maybe you’re more into Agatha Christie’s England, Philip Marlowe’s L.A., or the esoteric side of Paris. 

Regardless of your tastes, the experiences brought to you in these artistic guides guarantee that friends and colleagues are actually going to want to hear more about the trip you’ll be talking about for years to come.

Ken Burns’s Walden 

(23 mins, free on YouTube)

Although they are American icons, few people realize that Henry David Thoreau worked as Ralph Waldo Emerson’s handyman and landscaper. It was through this relationship that Thoreau had the opportunity to abscond from society and meet his true self while living “off the grid” in the cabin he built for himself, by himself, for a little over $28. 

Ken Burns presents a majestic glimpse of Walden Pond, in a way that gives justice to Thoreau’s profound experiment, for it is in Walden that he declares, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” 

Not only did Thoreau find divinity in nature, his writings reveal that an entirely different set of emotions could be fostered through spending time alone in nature. 

Taken together, this documentary along with Thoreau’s writings will enhance that grand experience spent out in the woods, in the sun or under the stars. 

Virtual Literary Tours

Bear with me on this one, folks. Google Arts & Culture has put together two literary tours that are simply magic, featuring locations that will give most writers goosebumps at some point. However, you must go into them knowing that the text you are reading does not actually belong to the image it is next to. In most cases, the blurb is referring to the next slide. 

Normally, I would never feature something so haphazardly set, but some of the content took my breath away and it is with that attitude I now pass them along to you. (And, of course, I have contacted Google about this issue.)

If you are a Charlotte, Anne, or Emily Brontë fan, you will definitely want to check out Hawthorne parsonage and see the real life inspiration for Wuthering Heights in this Literary Tour of the Brontë Sisters. 

However, if the moors don’t call you, I promise you that something on the Famous Authors and Where They Wrote Virtual Tour will. See where Arthur Conan Doyle entertained Bram Stoker, the place where The Narnia Chronicles were penned, and the drafty Orchard House where Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth stayed up many late, fictitious nights producing their own works. 

Tell us in the comments: Which of these July 2023 Leisure Learning picks are you most excited to try?

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post July 2023 Leisure Learning: Word Nerd Tourism! appeared first on DIY MFA.

Like ghost stories in October, summer reading carries with it the indulgence of being simply delightful. It’s a time to break free of books related only to WIPs (at least, temporarily—and I do know that you actually love those books related to your work in progress). It’s just that sometimes knowing we have to do something zaps the wanting to do it from our creative selves.  

Over the next few months, I encourage you to reconnect with your Inner Reader. Grab things based on the criteria of “Hey, that looks interesting…” or “Ohhhh, I’ve heard that is SO GOOD!!” (ahem, Mexican Gothic).  Pick a day or evening or afternoon when you shirk the Should Dos in favor of disappearing into a book the way you did when you were a kid. The world will be ok without you for a couple of hours and you will be investing in one of the most important aspects of being a writer: strengthening your love of reading.    

In the spirit of fun and literary adventure, here are your June 2023 Leisure Learning links:

The Atlas of Improbable Places

Book by Travis Elborough (author) and Alan Horsfield (cartographer)

The Atlas of Improbable Places is a compendium of wayyyy off-the-beaten-path locales and is worth picking up, even if you have no travel plans whatsoever. In fact, especially if you have no travel plans whatsoever. This undertaking by British author Travis Elborough and cartographer Alan Horsfield will take you on short journeys that feel like you’re being led around by younger, hipper versions of Stephen Fry and Bill Bryson. 

The Atlas could easily be compared to other “weird places” guides. However, there is a marked difference in that each of the destinations have come about through a number of implausible events. Each of the chosen locales have stories worth telling. 

Just how did the Netherlands manage to reclaim land from the sea? What South American church was left untouched when the surrounding city was wiped out by lava? Why are there fire mummies?

Find out the answers to these and more questions one might never think to ask in this atlas that promotes the affordable armchair trip.  

The Best American Nonrequired Reading

Since 1915, The Best American series has become a staple on bookshelves of both readers and writers alike. 

How the series works is that a head editor selects what he or she thinks represents the “best of” American short works published the previous year, taken from smaller literary presses. Then, a famous-name author such as Ann Patchett, Stephen King, or Junot Diaz guest edits, choosing the crème de la crème to be anthologized for a specific year, which also happens to be reflective of the guest author’s personal tastes.

Over the years, The Best American series has expanded into other categories including essays, mystery and suspense, travel, sports, food—even infographics and recipe writing. 

However, one of the most overlooked compilations that the series ever produced is The Best American Nonrequired Reading, which began in 2002 as the brainchild of Dave Eggers. Like Eggers himself, the pieces featured are witty and irreverent. 

We all know that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when they’re done by Banksy or Maurice Sendak for this series, make an exception. Inside you will find pieces by Conan O’Brien, Jennifer Egan, and Viet Than Nguyen, among many others whose names will surely come to thrill us on a larger scale.

Any edition that you pick up will make you feel like you’re spending the night getting a drink with that good friend from college.  

Humor

When was the last time you headed to the humor section of your local library or bookstore? If you’re like most adults, the answer usually hangs somewhere in between years and decades. Summer reading is the perfect excuse opportunity to nurture the humor we all have within us. 

Go on and grab that cartoonish-looking book filled with silly diagrams. Or maybe the one with the editorial bunny on it. The important part of this is to emotionally reconnect with the written word. Humor has a way of doing it like no other genre. These sit-down comedians of the world offer a great chance to bowl you over with laughter or tease out those gentle, inner smiles.    

Specifically, since we are all word nerds, I urge you to at least peruse both Revenge of the Librarians as well as Dreyer’s English. Revenge of the Librarians is a laugh out loud (or quietly to yourself, depending on location) anthology of book related cartoons, while Dreyer’s English is a witty up-to-date guide to grammar, written by chief editor at Random House, Benjamin Dreyer.    

You can’t go wrong with either. 

Postcards

Postcards make the perfect blank space to practice writing flash fiction. Get inspired by Paul  Beckman’s Postcard Stories that have appeared in a number of literary magazines or redefine the entire concept of postcard by putting your spin on what can be said in the fewest of words. 

If you want to take it to a whole new level, perhaps you might be inspired by artist Carol Lee’s Postcard Project, where she has created thousands of postcards in her minimal, supple style and invites visitors to her exhibitions to take one and send it on a journey. 

These postcards have lives of their own, sometimes coming back to her and sometimes rewarding her with new pen pals.  

Once Upon a Time

G.K. Chesteron once said, “Fairy tales are more than true, not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

However, sometimes once we grow up, we need a reminder of how to actually go about that in the modern world. In My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me, founding editor of the Fairy Tale Review Kate Bernheimer brings the genre to its maturity in her compilation of 40 fairy tales rewritten for adults by some of the world’s most acclaimed authors.

Enjoy the different ways John Updike and Joyce Carol Oates recreate Charles Perrault’s Bluebird. Read Kim Addonizio’s retelling of seven dwarfs living in an overpriced loft, filled with futons. Moreover, it must be mentioned that Aimee Bender’s magnificent story, The Color Master, fits like a golden glove within this all grown up anthology. 

Commentary by the different authors on the tales they haven chosen provide additional insight into the artistic process as well as provide a bit of background for these enduring stories. 

Get ready to slay office dragons and swoon over these splendid, legendary takes on favorites and familiars.  

Tell us in the comments: Which of these June 2023 Leisure Learning picks are you most excited to try?

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post June 2023 Leisure Learning: Summer Reading, All Grown Up appeared first on DIY MFA.

Finally, if you grew up writing when paper was all the rage (or the only thing available) and struggle with the technological nature of contemporary life, have a laugh at what it must’ve been like when we switched from scrolls to books via The Helpeth Desk. 

May 2023 Leisure Learning Picks

Disney Rocks the Rococo

A while back, the Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibit showcasing Walt Disney’s inspiration from the French Rococo period. This overview of the exhibit demonstrates how Disney translated not just the style but the ideas found flowing within the French decorative arts into some of the works that are now part of our cinematic canon (i.e., Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella).

This is worth showing younger children to help them understand how real life objects can inspire different forms of art and introduces just about everyone to the overlooked woman behind Cinderella’s concept art. While the exhibit video constitutes my family pick for the month, these elegant, erudite 26 minutes are best to take in with the adolescent artist in your life or simply to enjoy on your own with a nice cup of tea. 

**Close ups of pieces mentioned in the video are available here. 

Hernando Colón: Son of Columbus & Creator of Bookshelves

Hernando Colón (aka Ferdinand Columbus) is best known for being Christopher Columbus’s second illegitimate son as well as a dutiful biographer.  However, he is rarely credited with what he considered his life’s work: creating the first European library.

Although he was illegitimate, Hernando was acknowledged and given everything a son could be given. Notably, he grew up in a number of different homes, always having access to aristocratic and even royal tutors. Early on, it was clear that, while his father was an explorer of the world, Hernando was an explorer of the mind. 

As such, Hernando passionately attempted to incorporate all that he had learned with all that was being discovered. Europe’s first library held three times as many books as the largest private book collection at the time. Still, one of his overarching contributions often gets lost in his own narrative, and that is his innovative implementation of how to access this knowledge. 

Hernando sought to put all of the world in order. After assembling numerous volumes of books, pamphlets, and anything else that could essentially be read, he paid an army of readers to write synopses and then log the various holdings.

In The Catalog of Shipwrecked Books, biographer Edward Wilson-Lee explains that prior to Hernando, bookshelves weren’t a thing. People walked into Hernando’s library and were astounded by not only the books but bookshelves! Prior to this, retrieving a tome from a tall stack was like playing an involuntary game of Jenga. His father might’ve found the New World, but Hernando made a new world. We owe the vertical placing of books to this guy. 

If you’d like to see the floor plans and other visuals, this lecture by Wilson-Lee offers the best images available. 

Normally, this would be the end of the write-up for Hernando Colón, godfather of the library (we can’t overlook the original in Alexandria). Yet, shortly after The Catalog of Shipwrecked Books was published, Hernando came into prominence again. In the spring of 2019, the codex containing his library holdings (El Libro de los Epítomes) resurfaced when accidentally purchased along with a collection of antiquarian Icelandic manuscripts. See a pic of the nearly foot-high volume and get up to speed with this NPR segment.

Letters Live 

Letters Live is a UK based organization that revives the art of written correspondence. Very much in the tradition of Mortified or The Moth, Letters Live has actors read letters that people have actually written or received. Their twist on it provides us with extremely well-dramatized, often humorous performances of something that has been largely lost in the age of texts and email. 

Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Coleman, and Ian McKellan are just some of the actors who infuse written letters with new lives. The curated collection of readings runs the gamut from personal correspondence to legendary letters written to departments, companies, and institutions.

Here, Keegan Michael Key reads a response from The Smithsonian to the man who kept sending them “artifacts” from his backyard. Taika Waititi gives dramatic justice to an Auckland man replying to an inquiry from the Wellington Police Department. Re-live what a WWI captain wrote to his wife just as opposing forces called a truce on Christmas Eve.      

If you are having a blah day, this is the perfect way to awaken your soul. Most YouTube clips are under five minutes and guaranteed to be emotionally gripping. Should you care to make an entire night of letters read live, entire performances of the show are available for free.

Medieval Words Worth Reviving

Remember when you were a kid and simply saying “shenanigans” or “bamboozle” occupied a terrific few seconds of time? Just between you and me, words can be fun. I still regard saying silly things such as flibbertigibbet as a simple but great joy in life.  

BBC newscaster Rob Watts feels the same. He is fascinated by words, and in this clip has done fellow linguaphiles the service of selecting top words from medieval English worth slipping into a conversation, manuscript or epic-ly controversial game of Scrabble. 

Find out when “mango” didn’t refer to a fruit, consider adding “russin” into your routine, or wryly name a parrot “Papa Jay” after listening to this “Best of” 13th century Anglo-English ever recorded.

Viewers should note that Watts’s list was compiled from an original contribution made by die hard word nerd, Herbert Coleridge who, at age 17, cataloged all of the known words from medieval England (specifically, 1250-1300 AD). 

BTW, if you were wondering, this does happen to be the grandson of the famed poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Love of English run in the family much? 

William Blake, Mixed Media Artist

William Blake is the Romantic poet best known for The Tyger, his idiosyncratic revival of the illuminated manuscript form, and that one time he and his wife got caught reading Paradise Lost in the nude.

Well, maybe not so much that last one. 

During his lifetime, Blake worked as an engraver while also practicing poetry and painting. His mind dwelled in the realm of the fantastic, favoring Heaven and Hell. Even today, his personal style is considered captivating and it is worth mentioning that Silence of the Lambs author Thomas Harris drew upon Blake’s Great Red Dragon paintings for his own book, Red Dragon. 

These days, Blake might be considered a mixed media artist. This video contextualizes what that meant in the 18th century and how Blake achieved his still stunning effects.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post May 2023 Leisure Learning: Way, Way Back in the Day appeared first on DIY MFA.

Currently, we have access to a seemingly infinite horizon of storytelling vehicles—movies, series, video games, virtual reality sims, podcasts, archives of other forms of media, as well as the very obvious, books. While the loads of content out there can make finding the “digitally worthwhile” analogous to hacking one’s way through an ad infested jungle, the truth of the matter is that never before have there been so many high quality resources so readily available to so very many people.

We are living in “the golden age of content.” In addition to standard streaming services like Netflix, Kanopy, and YouTube, the pandemic forced many traditionally low-tech institutions to place full productions online. Museum lectures, plays, concerts, even departmental recitals featuring some of the world’s best young musicians are now readily accessible online. 

True, the internet still basically represents the roving id of humanity, but there’s some phenomenal work now crowding it out. If you still have your doubts, check out Dracula, the ballet. 

So, where does reading fit within this brave, new world?

Sure, we could debate the merits of films over books, video games over films…but, as one fan has inevitably articulated, “A life without Star Wars is not worth living.” 

In 2019, Poland became the first country to add a video game (This War Of Mine) to their educational curriculum. Clearly, different mediums have their own unique ways of making powerful impressions on people.

As such, rather than trying to list the merits of reading over other forms of media, I would like to address the very specific, often overlooked aspect of reading as a creative act.

To me, one of the most fascinating things about both reading and writing is this idea that the reader creates their own, personal version of the work they are engaging with. 

For example, take the following passage from The Yellow Wallpaper:

The color is repellant, almost revolting; a smouldering, unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others.

Despite the perfect, evocative specificity of Perkins’s words, two people reading this quote would each still create their own version of this scene, complete with differing tones of yellow. In one reader’s interpretation, this might be the faded yellow of a nursery. The other might visualize the room as once having a cheerful, sunny yellow that now stands nowhere near that intention. Similarly, each person is dispersing the splotches of orange and sulfuric yellow to best fit the mental model they are developing word by word, phrase by phrase. 

It is in these moments that the reader is doing something that even the writer can’t: creating a scene from the chips of experience that they have personally gathered and collected through interacting with the world. It is the reader that elevates the book to its full potential. 

Judgment Calls in Reading

To expand on the idea of reading as a creative act, consider the difference between reading a book and listening to its audio counterpart. Again, we are not debating the value of one medium over another. 

Rather, I am asking you to consider how the meaning of text may be changed with just the addition of inflection. The fairly simple question: “Is he coming with us?” becomes quite different when either of the pronouns are emphasized.

Is he coming with us? = Is he, the guy who hasn’t showered in two weeks, actually coming out with us, regular users of soap?

Is he coming with us? = Is he coming with us? …Because I already have 5 people crammed into the Porsche my Dad’s letting me borrow and I’m starting to get worried about space.   

When reading a book, it is the reader who makes these subtle judgment calls. The reader serves as actor, producer, director, sound artist, and more—all with one superior advantage: having a really GREAT script from which to work.  

Audience Participation Required

While we have many mediums for storytelling, reading requires a certain form of deep processing that others do not. A movie or podcast ensues regardless of your presence in the room; the book only gets finished with audience participation. 

It is this type of experience that gives a unique dimension to reading as a creative act. When we process words, we attend to our own lives in a closer way. When we read, we adventure into a new world crafted from the world we have already known. This elaborative processing makes reading much more of a nurturing activity rather than what can become one of passive consumption. It is for this reason that reading continues to be one of the most humanly rewarding forms of recreation.

Because I could not possibly say it better myself, I offer you the thoughts of 1991 Mann Booker prize winner Ben Okri, taken from his speech, “Books Can Bring Solace in Troubled Times,” given at the 2019 Hay Festival in Wales:  

…it is readers who make the book…Writers have monumental responsibilities in the execution of their art, but readers also have great responsibilities…Books are a dialogue between souls…The reader should bring the best in themselves to meet the best in the writer’s work. …The energies or the serenity within books is meant, finally, to multiply the energies within the reader, or to deepen their serenity. The true destination of books is life, and the living.

As emerging technologies continue to develop, and even more vehicles for story come into being, we must ask ourselves how may we best continue this “dialogue between souls”? When choosing a medium for leisure, it is worthwhile to ask if the activity will enrich one’s interior landscape, edify the cognitive sanctuary from which may we retreat from the world so that we may come to understand our place within it, and thereby make the actions of our lives meaningful, regardless of magnitude.   

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post Reading as a Creative Act appeared first on DIY MFA.

This month’s column explores the spectrum of friends, enemies, frenemies, and simply odd relationships found within literature, both on and off the page. 

In the same vein, I ask you to consider your own relationships. What author or characters have informed your idea of friendship? What moments in your own life may represent either the start or end to a Platonic relationship? 

While you’re at it, take some time to consider relationships that many of us have, yet seem to go undocumented. 

Add these into a WIP or make a note for future projects. 

Should you need help getting started or simply want to explore secret worlds shared intimately between characters, the following is offered for fodder.

Here are your April 2023 Leisure Learning picks:

Great Literary Friendships by Janet Phillips

Frodo & Sam. Watson & Holmes. Harry, Hermione, & Ron. For many of us, the bonds between these characters have been instrumental in defining our entire concept of friendship. 

In the book Great Literary Friendships, Janet Phillips takes 24 partnerships from both contemporary and traditional classics out of their normal settings to focus solely on this one aspect of characters relating to one another. 

The examples and their accompanying essays depict not only the warm, light-filled ties we usually associate with good buds, but also the contentious, complicated ones that can be found in great literature—as well as in life. Just what creates the alchemy between college mates in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History? 

Be prepared to explore the nature of teetering partnerships that may even feel uncomfortably close to home, now that you think about it. 

Great Literary Friendships boasts a beautiful, foil stamped cover, making it a wonderful gift to give to your BBF (best book friend). 

For writers, the book offers a multi-faceted view of how characters can function in tandem with each other to serve emotional context and/or plot. Regardless of one’s occupation, this book offers a look at the many ways people can intimately relate to each other on a mental (rather than physical) basis. As such, anyone who has ever had a friend or been a friend will find something to relate to in this worthwhile compilation. 

A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney

Every author has that writer friend who “gets them.” This fellow author understands what the other is trying to say, but can pick out blindspots and plot holes otherwise unseen. Community is an idea heartily emphasized here at DIY MFA, and a writing partnership is one of the most important relationships an author can have. 

A Secret Sisterhood details some of the greatest friendships in literary history. Written by a pair of female author friends themselves, this volume provides tremendous insight into the women who helped develop the manuscripts we’ve come to know as masterpieces. 

Piecing together historical evidence, the reader is informed who Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf hashed out their ideas with. These relationships unfold as complex and dynamic, lasting over decades, always staying true to telling each other what it is she needs to hear in the service of making the work better. 

Additionally, we are given a glimpse of these authors as they are just developing their styles and then get an idea of what continues to make them curious after they’ve made their mark. 

If I were teaching Women’s Lit or a class on Feminine Creative Writing, I would make A Secret Sisterhood required reading. Not only is it insightful, the level of scholarship on relationships that prove themselves to be almost as central as a marriage is quite notable.  

(**The audiobook version is available for free if you are a member of Audible.com.)

Legendary Literary Feuds (YouTube clip, 23 mins.)

When we’re introduced to someone as one of the Great Authors, we usually aren’t told about their real life behavior, save for the occasional background on drinking. 

Given that the pen is mightier than the sword, it is only reasonable to suggest that insults between authors can get pretty darn wicked. 

In this YouTube video, Oxford English Lit graduate Benjamin McEvoy counts down some of the most outrageous feuds one can find in the literary arts.

(SPOILER ALERT: If you’re wondering whether or not Hemingway made the list, the answer is “Ohhhhh, yeah.”)

For the Love of Books: Stories of Literary Lives, Banned Books, Author Feuds, Extraordinary Characters, and More by Graham Tarrant 

For the Love of Books is a light-hearted compendium of literary trivia that contains a variety of facts and stories about …well, stories…and the people who have become legendary for penning them. 

It offers a nice mix of Things You Can Bring Up At A Dinner Party in addition to providing background regarding how some of the world’s greatest authors got on with each other (e.g., Truman Capote and Harper Lee, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the very public fallout between J.K. Rowling and Stephen King).  

For the Love of Books is sectioned into reads that take only a couple of minutes. As such, it’s a fine alternative to screen scrolling & perfect opportunity to use those few minutes here and there to enrich your literary life.   

Barnum’s Lost Museum (CUNY website and archives)

Impresario P.T. Barnum earned his place in history as “the greatest showman on Earth” by creating what may be thought of as America’s earliest, most successful Gawker page. Sometimes this was in the form of a traveling show; at other times, he worked on creating more permanent exhibits.

In 1841, Barnum scored a deal on the Scudder Museum’s acquisitions, combined them with his own and opened the controversial American Museum in the center of Manhattan’s Financial District. Its popularity at the time rivaled that of what Walt Disney World’s is now. Unfortunately, this attraction succumbed to its own spectacular fire in 1868, thereby making its re-creation go by the title of The Lost Museum. 

When I stumbled upon City University of New York’s (CUNY)’s efforts to preserve what they could of this endeavor, just like people back then, I couldn’t help but stop and look—and I urge you to, as well.  

Now, I’m not recommending The Lost Museum for its outrageous spectacles. In fact, the exploratory area has a rather Nancy Drew point and click quality. 

Still, I am recommending this joint collaboration between CUNY and the American Social History Project because of the rich source of archives that reveal the American mentality and practices around the time of the Civil War. Whether you’re interested in the etiquette of the time, want to look at the Bowery boys in their original context, find out what is meant by “Circassian beauty,“ or just want to see what you missed via the museum’s illustrated guide, this is the place to go.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post April 2023 Leisure Learning: Friends, Foes, & Infamy appeared first on DIY MFA.

In a world where words can easily become blather, poetry offers a magnificent opportunity to return to the essence of our human experience. With poetry we are to feel the feels, to vividly bring forth what the mind has been whispering to us, to tend to the inner sanctuary.

Poetry also makes for great cross training when working on prose. If poetry has taken a backseat now that you’re working on longer forms, here are some simple ideas for getting in touch with your inner poet (other than, ahem, sitting down and actually penning a poem yourself): check out your state’s current poet laureate, elevate your dog’s life with a reading of Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs, or return to a classic and see if it speaks to you in a new way.

However you choose to experience National Poetry Month, come and word nerd out with us as we celebrate the awesomeness that occurs in April. 

Americans’s Favorite Poems 

In 1997, Robert Pinsky was recognized as the 39th U.S. Poet Laureate. That year, he made a contribution to the field of American poetry by creating The Favorite Poem Project, which was an open call asking anyone to write in, telling about their favorite poem and its importance.

The project received over 18,000 responses from people aged 5-97. As such, this treasure chest of Americans reading their favorite poems emerged from the endeavor. With so much astounding work held in the bosoms of so many, the best poems that didn’t get a camera crew were carried over into the anthology Americans’ Favorite Poems. 

I do feel the need to mention one aspect of this project, and that is how the poems are presented. The videos were made in the late ‘90s, and feel dated in a PBS-VHS-“I’m on the cutting edge of technology, reading here from my Palm Pilot” sort of way. Still, it is the words of Shakespeare, Emerson, Dickinson, Omar Khayyam, and many others that make this collection not only timeless, but a grouping so relevant to life, it shouldn’t be missed.   

***Has a poem really affected your life? If so, let everyone know on April 27, 2023 by posting with the Poem in Your Pocket Project, according to their guidelines. Should you miss my personal entry, I urge you to take a moment now and “rest in the grace of the world” with Wendell Berry’s The Peace of Wild Things. 

Art Inspired by Rumi

Garip Ay is a cutting edge Ebru artist. Ebru art is a Turkish form of water marbling, where oily paints and pigments are mixed on the surface of the water and then transferred onto paper. Ay pushes the boundary of the art form (and creates nothing less than visual magic) by conjuring fluid masterpieces, which may never actually make it onto a piece of paper.

Here he depicts several stories by the Sufi poet Rumi, which are as elegant and lyrical as many of us know Rumi to be. The stories referenced include: The Man Who Was Able to Talk to Birds, The Man Who Found His Way by Following a Dream, and The Man Who Was Saved by a Moonbeam. This seven and a half minute mesmerizing mental swim ends with a depiction of Rumi that would make Rumi’s own spirit dance.  

Calligrams and Their Creator

If you need a review or just want to learn a little more about one of poetry’s coolest forms, check out this video on the origin of calligrams, visual poems where the words are arranged into an image that is just as important as the text, as that image usually serves to complement the text. 

War veteran and Parisian bohemian Guillaume Apollinaire is credited as the creator of this analog mixed media literary form and, while he is a lesser celebrated poet, he is one worth looking into. Once you have a feel for the artistic scene calligrams grew out of, take the concept into the digital era by entering your own text into Caligram.art. 

Poets in the Wild

Given its short form, poetry is a great candidate to take out into the world and do on the fly. It allows for a literary approximation of busking combined with a little improv. There are at least two poets who are honing their linguistic skills (while also overcoming their fear of people), as they take their typewriters on the road and set up shop wherever they can, writing poems for donations and taking requests. See what this unique form of literary life is like, the awkward situations you may encounter and just how much cheese can mean for a person via poets Paul Wiegel and Afrose Fatima Ahmed.  

The PDR Poetry Collection

If you have yet to acquaint yourself with The Public Domain Review, please take a minute to do so this month through their poetry collection. The PDR itself is a journal that aggregates public domain holdings for anyone to use. However, their greater use is to provide materials that spark important conversations by giving us perspectives with which to question contemporary society. 

The materials featured on the PDR stand out because of the high quality standards they maintain. They host the “best of” materials relevant to our collective past. Moreover, this site, including the poetry section, is a feast for the eyes. They even have an uploaded version of the aforementioned Monsieur Apollinaire’s original Calligrammes.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

The post Leisure Learning, March 2023: Poetry Galore appeared first on DIY MFA.

Whatever your pleasure, I hope that you will find inspiration, renewal and sheer delight among the following:

Beatrix Potter: The Secret Life Of A Victorian Genius

Documentary, 45 mins. (free)

May I have a moment of your time? I respectfully request that you stop your jam-packed day to take a minute and consider this question: have you ever met anyone – anyone in your life – who doesn’t like Peter Rabbit? I have yet to meet such a person. I wonder if such a person even exists. However, from the completely unscientific research I’ve gathered from friends and (mainly) Whole Foods customers, it seems conclusive to me that such a soul does not exist. For, it’s as if Beatrix Potter’s work represents a universal constant of charm.  

But just because Ms. Potter is remembered for Jemima Puddleduck and Peter Rabbit doesn’t mean that Ms. Potter’s days consisted solely of drawing and writing. As fellow authors, you understand the many layers of actual life and research that go into creating a well-formed work.  

In the documentary Beatrix Potter: The Secret Life of a Victorian Genius, famed thespian Dame Patricia Routledge leads viewers into the other facets of Beatrix’s life. Learn how this unintended author/illustrator was dismissed by scientists (“treated scurvily” by the Linnean Society), and therefore somewhat relegated to becoming a Victorian breakout star, whose work continues to sell at the worldwide rate of one book every 15 seconds.  

LitHub’s (Better) Version of the Oscars

List of Lists

On March 12, Hollywood’s most notable will convene for the 95th presentation of golden statuettes. Yes, The Oscars (aka my personal “How To Know What’s Worth Watching” guide). Now, I am all for the glitz and glamor of couture styled artistes, but I also know that I’ll be spending a good portion of my evening with my Kindle.

_{¹ There is always one.
² Accompanied by a suspiciously large rabbit, which simply must be a hare IRL.}

If you are of the same mindset, I invite you to bookmark LitHub’s 2022 “If Books Were Given Oscars” article. From Best Documentary (Non-Fiction) to Best Cinematography (Setting), their take on The Oscars (But For Books!) will not only provide you with a smile, you will also be spending the night with some of literature’s most up-and-coming stars with all of their splendid, sparkling brains.   

Mountain Talk  

Documentary, 1 hour (free)

Everyone reading this knows how very important words are. When words become specialized into a specific dialect, they can expose layers of culture, values and history.

The documentary Mountain Talk chronicles some of the most frequently occurring yet unheard words and phrases spoken today. This film follows linguists and locals through the mountains of southern Appalachia to get at the heart of how words and stories can bind a people both within a region and throughout time. Moreover, you’ll be introduced to unforgettable, real-life characters like pro moonshiner Popcorn Sutton. This production is part of North Carolina State’s Language and Life Project, which seeks to document American dialects (including sign language). The Project invites you to view the entire film on YouTube for free. 

Operation Mincemeat

Film

I’m sure you are familiar with those stories that are so outlandish, they could only be true. Like, if the British government used a real corpse to transport fake documents in the hopes of deceiving Hitler. What if that corpse needed a backstory? What if you could order the future creator of James Bond to write it as part of his service to Royal Naval Intelligence? While pitching such a story would probably get you turned down by agents and publishers, the true to life factors in Operation Mincemeat have made it intriguing enough to be turned into a full-length feature film, starring Firth. Colin Firth. 

Operation Mincemeat was an actual, implausible, yet successful military operation carried out in 1943, with the purpose of redirecting Hitler to invade Greece rather than Sicily. This movie is filled with the wry humor its actual story implies. Still, on a more serious note, it highlights just how very important not only writing but also implementation of the human imagination can be when used in times of crisis.  

Tales from the Emerald Isle

Spectacular website

Old wives’ tales are serious business in Ireland; so much so that in 1935, the National Folklore Commission of Ireland was formed by the government. The project aimed to formally collect the legends of leprechauns and fairies from the Emerald Isle. As oral histories, songs, and regional languages were added to the initial materials, these resources were turned over to academics at the University of Dublin and aggregated into the National Folklore Collection. 

In 2012, these materials began to be uploaded via The Dúchas project and has become a localized Heritage.com for the realm of Irish folk knowledge. The Dúchas project contains oral histories, fables, jokes, remedies and more passed down by the Irish, generation to generation, with just the right amount of magic.

Moreover, one of the primary methods of collection couldn’t be more endearing: stories, as told by elders in the community, were recorded by children which visitors can actually see handwritten in the striving penmanship of grade school. 

Finally, check out their extensive Folktale Index, as it is an excellent way for writers to compare what regional variations (ahem, dialect) may reveal about the rich life Ireland is known for.

Melissa Haas is the author and illustrator of Catula: The Misadventures of Dracula’s Cat and The Night Before Christmas (NOW WITH CATS), among others. Follow Catula’s whereabouts on Instagram @CatulaTheCat. If you’re interested in downloading free coloring pages, getting some sparkle in your inbox every other Wednesday or seeing Margaret Atwood with a blowtorch, check out more Leisure Learning related content at www.MelissaHaasCreates.com.

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