The Brick City Poetry Festival: Poetry, Making Things Happen
W. H. Auden famously said, “Poetry makes nothing happen.” Recently anointed St. Louis Poet Laureate Michael Castro and the Unity Community collective he organized respectfully disagree.
View ArticleWell-Schooled in Murder: Author Elizabeth George to Speak in St. Louis
George just published her nineteenth Lynley novel, "A Banquet of Consequences." Catch her at the St. Louis County Library headquarters on November 4.
View ArticleRead (and Hear!) These Now: A List for December
Stuff to read and listen to—and give as gifts.
View ArticleGot a Book in You? The St. Louis County Library Will Help You Get it to Readers
The SELF-e self-publishing platform is now offered through the. Louis County Library—but it's just one of many options available to local writers.
View ArticleWhat to Read This January
At 91 years old, William Gass is more creative, productive, and vital than writers a quarter his age. As if it weren’t enough to publish a virtuoso doorstop novel at age 89 (2013’s Middle C), he’s just...
View ArticleThe First Documentary on St. Louis-born Poet Maya Angelou Opened at the...
"Maya Angelou And Still I Rise," has already garnered a lot of festival buzz.
View ArticleRead These Now: Books for March 2016
Our picks for March: Danielle Dutton's "Margaret the First," and James Edward Deeds, "The Electric Pencil: Drawings From State Hospital No. 3."
View ArticleTalking to St. Louis Native Susan Perabo About Her New Book, "Why They Run...
Perabo is a lifelong Cards fan. So we love her anyway. But she's doing her hometown proud with one critically acclaimed book after another, including her latest collection of short stories.
View ArticleSteven Louis Brawley's New Book Details the History of LGBT St. Louis
Years of Steven Louis Brawley’s hard work can now be had in a convenient paperback format. Next Monday, get your hands on a copy of "Gay and Lesbian St. Louis" at the launch party at Left Bank Books.
View ArticleJohn O’Leary: On Fire, and Spreading the Spark
O’Leary survived a horrific fire as a child, and partly owes his miraculous recovery to a friendship with Jack Buck. He's written his story down for the first time, and will release the book with a...
View ArticleBook Review: David Linzee's "Spur of the Moment"
Labeled “a Renata Radleigh Opera Mystery,” local author David Linzee's new book is set in an opera theater quite like the one in Webster Groves.
View ArticlePoetry on Our Terms: Celebrating the Words of Seventh Graders Nationwide
On April 13 at the Missouri History Museum, The 7th Grade Poetry Foundation celebrates the brutally honest and eye-opening words of 104 seventh graders from schools across the country.
View ArticleRead This Now: Curtis Sittenfeld, "Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and...
This book came about after The Austen Project contacted the St. Louis–based Sittenfeld and asked whether she’d like to try her hand at retelling Austen’s tale—Mr. Darcy remixed, if you will.
View ArticleTop Beach Reads by St. Louis Authors
Pack these books from local authors in your travel bag.
View ArticleRead These Now: Books for June 2016
On our list this month: poetry collections from Treasure Shields Redmond and Martha Collins.
View ArticleRead These Now: Books for August
Dive into a historical novel from Anton DiSclafani, and a memoir from Lezley McSpadden.
View Article"St. Louis Noir" Combines a Gritty Genre With Local Stories
It's the latest release from Akashic Books’ omnibus series of noir-tinged crime anthologies set in various cities around the world.
View ArticleJon Hamm Will Interview Joe Buck About His New Memoir in St. Louis
The two famous St. Louisans will talk about sports, parents, the ‘Lou, and more to celebrate the release of Buck’s debut memoir, Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, and the Things I'm Not Allowed to Say on...
View ArticleRead This Now: Capturing the City—Photographs from the Streets of St. Louis
A look back at a long-gone St. Louis through a very unusual sort of "street photography."
View ArticleRead These Now: Books For October 2016
Two new titles from St. Louis' own Dorothy: A Publishing Project.
View ArticleA Conversation With Michael Ondaatje
The winner of this year’s St. Louis Literary Award.
View ArticleWhat's in Store for Year Three at the St. Louis Small Press Expo?
As it turns out, a lot: another venue, another day, and more than 80 publishers of zines, litmags, comix, and more.
View ArticleNew Novels From St. Louis Writers Explore Two Very Different Horror Stories
Kea Wilson's "We Eat Our Own" and Anne Valente's "Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down" are both on our reading list this month.
View ArticleThe Story of a Long-Forgotten St. Louis Psychic Recovered—From the Trash
On Sunday, artist Lew Blink will lecture on Carrie Seib, a Spiritualist and Channeler, whose archives he rescued from a Lafayette Square Dumpster.
View ArticleWhat to Read This December
An essay collection takes a closer look at Ferguson, and a new novel takes a trip through the Ozarks—and beyond.
View ArticleFilms, Books, and Albums about St. Louis
The city grabbed the spotlight in these pop culture favorites.
View ArticlePhong Nguyen's "The Adventures of Joe Harper," is a Twist on Twain
SLM's arts editor selects this month's book recommendation.
View ArticleThe Small Press Scene Isn’t So Small Anymore
Illustrators, zine producers, and more are gaining traction in the city.
View ArticleFort Gondo's Beloved Poetry Series Moves to the Pulitzer
Although the Cherokee Street gallery will close in January, its renowned poetry series will live on in Grand Center.
View ArticleTen Books to Give as Gifts This Holiday Season
A roundup of new(ish) titles from local authors and local presses.
View ArticleA conversation with mystery novelist Deborah Crombie
Crombie joins Charles Todd (both of them) at the St. Louis County Library’s celebration of British suspense.
View ArticleRead This Now: The Aerial Crossroads of America: St. Louis’s Lambert Airport
Daniel Rust, like all good historians, shakes us awake to show us the magic hidden in something that’s become mundane.
View ArticleAfter exploring the past in his bestselling memoir, Bettyville, writer George...
George Hodgman abandoned New York's literary scene to care for his mother in rural Missouri. The story of those years won him unexpected fame. Now it’s time to reinvent himself again.
View ArticleBeach reads to check out this summer
We asked Jennifer McBride of the St. Louis County Library and Jen Hatton of the St. Louis Public Library for their lists of most-anticipated books for summer 2017.
View ArticleSt. Louis native Jerry Meyer writes about the hidden history of World War I...
The book shatters one myth after another, mapping Woodrow Wilson’s arrogance and inability to compromise as it describes how he led the U.S. into the war—and with what consequences.
View ArticleDavid Linzee on "One Fell Swoop," his second mystery set in St. Louis
The heroine, Renata Radleigh, is an opera singer, and in this book, her shallow, maddening brother has again gotten himself into a mess.
View ArticleSt. Louis’ favorite outdoor bookfair is...headed indoors
The Greater St. Book Fair has a new home at the Greenfelder Recreation Complex in Queeny Park.
View ArticleRead This Now: "Common Sense" by Jessica Baran
Baran's new collection begins with a stunner of a first line: “It’s hard to make sense while plummeting.”
View ArticleBecoming Yourself: A conversation with Anna Quindlen
Washington University’s Commencement speaker talks about the importance of kindness, the uses of eavesdropping, and the joy of just not giving a damn
View ArticleRead This Now: Lost Treasures of St. Louis
Cameron Collins, the witty, thoughtful force behind Distilled History, “a drinking blog with a history problem," has written a book.
View ArticleThis is why you absolutely need to get yourself to Joe's Cafe tonight
Because this is happening: "No Hard Feelings: a night of Poetry & Jazz," with poet David Clewell, reeds player Paul DeMarinis, and pianist Kim Portnoy.
View ArticleSt. Louis makes a vivid appearance in Patricia Lockwood's new memoir...
The work's title alludes to the fact that the author’s father is, indeed, a married Catholic priest with kids.
View ArticleThe real Prufrock behind T.S. Eliot’s famous poem
One hundred years ago, Eliot published "Prufrock and Other Observations." The name lives on in two places: the poem, and Bellefontaine Cemetery.
View ArticleA new collection chronicles Lenora Carrington's 94 years of adventure
Born into a wealthy British family, Carrington ran away with Max Ernst as a teenager and joined the circle of Surrealists as an artist, not a girlfriend, refusing to be anyone’s muse.
View ArticleGuess who's coming to Left Bank Books? Al Franken, that's who
We're one of his stops on the book tour for "Giant of the Senate."
View ArticleAl Franken on his new book, "Giant of the Senate"
"I had always threatened to myself to write about this. I had my laptop and I started writing and I thought, "This could turn out like 'The Shining,' or it could be productive and fun."
View ArticleSt. Louis Jewish Book Festival announces its keynote speakers: Zac Posen and...
Confirmed authors also include novelists Alice Hoffman and Hallie Ephron.
View ArticleBookFest aims to be the premier book event in St. Louis for years to come
Headlined by Sherman Alexie, the first-ever BookFest will offer something for every kind of reader, from poets to murder-mystery aficionados.
View ArticleMargaret Atwood on technology, cloaks, and literary slow-cooking
Atwood, who will be at The Sheldon on September 19 to accept the St. Louis Literary Award, talks to us about "Handmaid's Tale," the Future Library, and why reading your own book is "like making your...
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