Sherwood Anderson was born on 13th September 1876 in Camden, Ohio.When his father’s business failed the family was forced to move on a regular basis before finally settling in Clyde, Ohio.Anderson, one of 7 children, left school at 14 to take a number of jobs to help with the family finances. These were difficult years.He moved to Chicago in search of opportunities before joining the Army for the US-Spanish War of 1898. He then entered Wittenberg Academy in Springfi...

Alfred Francis Kreymborg was born on the 10th December 1883, in New York City's East Side.Despite attending New York public schools, he was largely self-educated teaching himself both the piano and mandolin. He was also an excellent chess player.As a poet he was an early American proponent of both free verse and prose poetry. His individual style was evident in his published volumes and he was critically acclaimed. Kreymborg was also very influential in the publishing world...

The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors. From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure. Among them is Martha Gruening.

Sherwood Anderson was born on 13th September 1876 in Camden, Ohio.When his father’s business failed the family was forced to move on a regular basis before finally settling in Clyde, Ohio.Anderson, one of 7 children, left school at 14 to take a nu

Sherwood Anderson was born on 13th September 1876 in Camden, Ohio.When his father’s business failed the family was forced to move on a regular basis before finally settling in Clyde, Ohio.Anderson, one of 7 children, left school at 14 to take a number of jobs to help with the family finances. These were difficult years.He moved to Chicago in search of opportunities before joining the Army for the US-Spanish War of 1898. He then entered Wittenberg Academy in Springfi...

David Walker (1796 –1830) was an abolitionist and anti-slavery activist. In 1829, he published ‘An Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World’, a call for black unity and resistance against slavery. Walker challenged the racism of his time, specifically targeting the American Colonization Society, an organization which sought to deport all free and freed blacks from the United States to a colony in Africa. The Appeal described the detrimental effects of slavery and discrimination against...

Mary is a gas-station attendant with an epileptic son who can barely make ends meet, when she makes them meet at all. She has dreams of a forbidden love but can’t focus on those dreams when she can’t even buy her son’s medicine. She has a real knack for staying calm under pressure, and steadfastly does what she needs to in order to keep food on their table and a roof over their heads. One day she has an encounter with a woman who claims she can change Mary’s life in an instant.Afte...

Sherwood Anderson was born on 13th September 1876 in Camden, Ohio.When his father’s business failed the family was forced to move on a regular basis before finally settling in Clyde, Ohio.Anderson, one of 7 children, left school at 14 to take a number of jobs to help with the family finances. These were difficult years.He moved to Chicago in search of opportunities before joining the Army for the US-Spanish War of 1898. He then entered Wittenberg Academy in Springfi...

The bookshelves of American literature are incredible collections that have gathered together centuries of very talented authors. From this continent their fame spread and whilst among their number many are now forgotten or neglected their talents endure. Among them is Rudolph Fisher and his often startling take on racism in his own country.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. A few pages can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that is difficult to achieve elsewhere.In this series we try to offer up tried and trusted ‘Top Tens’ across many different themes and authors. But any anthology will immediately throw up the questions – Why that story? Why that author?The theme ...

Festus Claudius McKay was born in Sunny Ville, Jamaica on the 15th September 1890, He was the youngest son to parents who had gathered enough assets to secure them the right to vote.As a boy he was fascinated by English Poetry and literature, although at 17 he took on work as an apprentice woodcutter for two years before becoming a police constable in the capital, Kingston. In this mainly white and affluent town racism was rife and its nature awakened his political instincts and pu...

As a general rule we are a trusting lot. You say something and, whilst I might disagree, I believe you are acting in good faith. Of course this may be just the beginning of a ruse. If I trust you I might let down my guard, I might seek to share and to create a bond between us. But, if you can’t be trusted, if you have an ulterior motive I might lose out.In the hands of authors such as Maxim Gorky, Ella D’Arcy, Rudyard Kipling, Ivan Turgenev and may others reality may not be what it...