Topic: William Shakespeare

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Maya Angelou: 10 quotes on her birthday

10 quotes for legendary American poet Maya Angelou on her 84th birthday.
10 sequels based on a classic book

10 authors who wrote a novel based in another author's literary world.
13 best 2011 author interviews

Authors covered topics from sandwiches to Shakespeare in 2011 Monitor Books interviews.
“We are what we read”: 4 lessons from David McCullough

Here are four pieces of advice from two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author David McCullough.
Tributes to Steve Jobs: five top tweets

Apple's announcement Wednesday that founder Steve Jobs had died sparked waves of comment across the Internet, as techies and others chose their own ways to note his achievements or mourn his passing. Here are five noteworthy tweets ...

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Diggin' It
Great garden flowers: A gaillardia with plenty of moxie

Gaillardia, or blanket flower, is an easy-to-grow perennial for hot, sunny spots. Here's a new cultivar, Commotion Moxie, that has much to offer flower gardeners.
Words that work their way into our minds

Researchers at Cornell University try to figure out what makes for memorable quotes.
Candidates, lend me your ears

Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. pulled poetry from their hearts to heal and rouse the nation. As this National Poetry Month draws to a close, our politics could benefit from reconnecting with poetry as a source of insight.
Chapter & Verse
World Book Night: coming your way, but no room for Amazon

On World Book Night thousands of volunteers in the US and Europe will hand out books, hoping to pass along their own love of reading.
The Bard's bash goes global

As the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth arrives, chances are there's a festival devoted to the playwright near you.
1616: The World in Motion

This lavishly illustrated history of the year 1616 is both enthralling and frustrating.
Maya Angelou: 10 quotes on her birthday

10 quotes for legendary American poet Maya Angelou on her 84th birthday.
Global News Blog
Thai censors say out, damned spot, out to Macbeth film adaptation

The maker of 'Shakespeare Must Die' is appealing the decision, but Thai bureaucrats are nervous about the movie's political overtones.
Steve Martin tweets 10 funniest tweets not tweeted by Steve Martin

Steve Martin has gone social media on us, writing a book about Twitter. There are serious things to say about that ... but also 10 really funny tweets he collected.
Working out just what a 'piece of work' is

Two contradictory usages of the same idiom prompt the Monitor's language columnist to do a little research.
Charles Dickens as journalist

Charles Dickens – the great novelist – was also a journalist in love with the streets.
Charles Dickens: 'Can I have some more?' still resonates (+video)

On the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens's birthday, readers can still relate to many of the themes in his work, including the hunger that Oliver Twist sought to sate.
Charles Dickens at 200

How would the social reformer who gave us Oliver Twist and Tiny Tim have viewed the 'Occupy' movement and Arab Spring? A look at Dickens's enduring legacy.
Global News Blog
A road gets rejigged by English 'morris' dancers

A troupe of England's venerable morris dancers recently danced a jig to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a London overpass that was originally dedicated by morris dancers.
10 sequels based on a classic book

10 authors who wrote a novel based in another author's literary world.
A hopeless romantic meets her match

Touring Greece's antiquities, a traveler comes face to face with the temples of the ancient gods – and her childhood dreams.
A quality of mercy in Haley Barbour's pardons

As he stepped down as Mississippi's governor, Haley Barbour pardoned more than 200 people, including some convicted of murder. His action, and the uproar over it, help ignite a useful debate on using mercy as a tool for justice.
Global News Blog
French politicians argue over who 'owns' Joan of Arc

In an election year Joan of Arc represents 600-year-old values that fit political messages on both sides of the aisle.
Editor's Blog
Why play's the thing

While discipline and practice are crucial in life, we need play time to let creativity bloom, to imagine the impossible, to ask the 'what if' questions.
Ralph Fiennes's directs, stars in Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus': movie review

Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus' gets an update in Ralph Fiennes's new production, packed with acting talent.
After the holidays, so much to unpack!

The Monitor's language columnist on the usefulness of the suitcase metaphor.
How can it be? Student financial aid fuels increase in college tuition. (+Video)

When federal (and state) financial aid programs make money available to well-off students, it is in a college's interest to capture that aid and use it to 'improve' the college, thus driving up costs and tuition. Aid must be restructured so that more of it goes to needy students.
13 best 2011 author interviews

Authors covered topics from sandwiches to Shakespeare in 2011 Monitor Books interviews.
Chapter & Verse
End to an era at legendary Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company

George Whitman, longtime owner of the beloved Shakespeare and Company, died in Paris last week.
Alexander Graham Bell recordings discovered after 130 years

Alexander Graham Bell went on to invent the telephone, but before he did that he experimented with recording devices. The old disks were considered unplayable until new technology gave scientists the chance to listen to the recordings for the first time in 130 years.