New American poetry that spans the globe.
Literature
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
What a 19th-century Catholic addict and poet can tell us about the modern-day opioid crisis
The current opioid crisis has strong parallels to drug addiction in Victorian England, writes Nathan Beacom, and the struggles of the Catholic poet Francis Thompson.
Posted inArts & Culture, Interviews
Writer Joseph Pearce on the case for Shakespeare’s Catholicism
Mr. Pearce, an English-born Catholic critic, talks about the latest developments in research on Shakespeare’s faith life.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Priest removes Harry Potter books from Tennessee Catholic school, citing ‘actual curses and spells’
A Catholic school in Tennessee has removed the Harry Potter books from its library after the school’s priest decided they could cause a reader to conjure evil spirits.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: The importance of being Ibsen
In his new biography of Henrik Ibsen, Ivo de Figueiredo describes the story of the suffering artist, his father’s bankruptcy, his years as an apothecary’s assistant and his role as writer and theater manager.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: James Cone, the father of Black theology
James Cone’s autobiography shows that theology does not arrive out of a sterile doctrinal laboratory but from the pains, sufferings and triumphs of the people of God.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Confessions of a Creative Writing Director
Students who read literature have done so most of their lives because of beauty, not because of literary theory.
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
Facets of the Maker: the life and work of Mary Oliver
In “Steepletop,” an essay in which Mary Oliver recalls her time living at Edna St. Vincent Millay’s estate of the same name, she insists: “We need to be each others’ storytellers—at least we have to try. One wants to know what the beautiful strangers were like—one needs to know. Still, it is like painting the […]
Posted inArts & Culture, Of Many Things
Reading for fun: introducing our Spring Books 2019 issue
Books for every kind of reader are featured in our Spring Books special literary issue.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
What’s new with the Catholic Book Club?
In late fall we discussed Kate Bowler’s poignant memoir about being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. We followed that with one of three recent volumes of the collected short stories of Andre Dubus.