Category Archives: Writing

Ein Meisterstück Inspires Writing

Posted on May 10, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The always quirky and entertaining director and screenwriter Wes Anderson has brought his trademark stylized aesthetic and offbeat storytelling to the Montblanc’s new ad campaign. Released to celebrate the centennial of the brand’s Meisterstück pen, the campaign film features Anderson … Continue reading →

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Tell me what it’s like to live without curiosity

Posted on May 8, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America by Matthew Olzmann                                           … Continue reading →

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Of myths and legends

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I always experience a frisson of nostalgia whenever I stumble upon a memorable book from my childhood library. It’s been a long, long time, but I still remember my battered copy of of The Wonder Book of Myths and Legends that I … Continue reading →

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Literary Leviathan

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I was saddened to read about the death of the great American writer Paul Auster, who succumbed due to complications arising from lung cancer, aged 77. Auster, who has been celebrated as one of the most important American authors of … Continue reading →

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Dracula Returns (daily)

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Dracula Daily Returning May 3 You may remember DraculaDaily, which has been an annual paean to the beloved Gothic vampire classic first published in 1897. The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker unfolds over the course of six months, from May … Continue reading →

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The Dwindleberry Zoo

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I was today years old when I discovered THE DWINDLEBERRY ZOO by G.E. Farrow (London/Glasgow/Dublin/Bombay: Blackie, 1909) Illustrated by Gordon Browne.  It seems that G.E. Farrow was one of the masters of the Victorian fantasy genre. In this tale a boy eats a … Continue reading →

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Many years later, as he faced the firing squad…

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. I first read One Hundred Years of Solitude during my first year at university when I … Continue reading →

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New Literary Genres

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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my hope is vertical

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

TODAY, MY HOPE IS VERTICAL Jane Hirshfield Today, my hope is vertical. Tomorrow it will be horizontal. The next day, cloudy. My hope is like a Greek myth: exchanging skin for bark, bark for scales, scales for the hollow bones … Continue reading →

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Literacy for Life

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

The Literacy Pen by The World Literacy Foundation and the Dutch firm Media.Monks is an amazing educational device designed to enable illiterate individuals to start writing and learning to read, instantly. Open source and compatible with all standard pens on … Continue reading →

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