WRITING

8 Extraordinary Examples of Constrained Writing

At the most extreme, some forms of constrained writing are even more self-limiting and end up being very, very constrained indeed.

Charles Dickens’s Ornate Travel Desk Is Up for Auction

Don’t miss your chance to own a piece of literary history.

The SAT and ACT are both standardized tests, but what‘s the difference between the two?

ACT vs. SAT: What’s the Difference?

Learn about the SAT and ACT differences, including test format, scoring systems, and duration.

Let the luck of the Irish hit your TBR pile.

11 Essential Books by Irish Authors That Are Worth Reading

This St. Patrick’s Day, revisit literary classics by Irish authors like James Joyce and Roddy Doyle, plus discover a few new writers along the way with this roundup.

A Simple Twist of Fate: The Surprising Connection Between Bob Dylan and Nora Ephron

The link between singer-songwriter Bob Dylan and writer Nora Ephron is mostly a forgotten footnote in pop culture history, but the story behind it all is absolutely fascinating.

How Did Latin America Get Its Name?

Latin isn’t widely spoken in Latin America, so why is it called that?

Think twice before depending on AI news summaries.

AI News Summaries Contain Significant Errors More Than Half the Time, BBC Study Finds

AI has made major strides in recent years, but it still struggles with accurate news summaries.

A wooden tablet covered in still-undeciphered Rongorongo script.

8 Ancient Writing Systems That Haven’t Been Deciphered Yet

Without a Rosetta Stone for these centuries-old writing systems, the meaning of the texts may never be known.

2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin had a concession speech written up for election night—but wasn’t allowed to deliver it.

12 Historical Speeches Nobody Ever Heard

For every speech, there are a bunch of versions that ended up on the writers' room floor. Here are 12 speeches that were written but, for a variety of reasons, never delivered.

The cover of Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs. Dalloway.’

10 Interesting Facts About Virginia Woolf’s ‘Mrs. Dalloway’

The novel, which turns 100 this year, was so successful that it allowed Woolf to put in a bathroom she called “Mrs. Dalloway’s closet.”

Handwritten love letters are underrated.

Dear Valentine: A Brief History of Great Love Letters

“Dear Miss Saucy ... I hereby order you to give me as many kisses and as many hours of your company as I shall please to demand.”

The National Archives Is Looking for Volunteers With a “Superpower”: Reading Cursive

The agency needs help deciphering the flowing penmanship of the past.

The Surprisingly Literal Reason We Call Letters “Uppercase” and “Lowercase”

The terms are more literal than you might have assumed.

8 Fascinating Facts About ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’

Here's how Stieg Larsson's modern classic came to be.

A whole lot of foreshadowing in these pages.

7 Obscure Literary Devices

How many have you come across?

Mel Wiley, the Ohio Police Chief Who May Have Authored His Own Demise

In 1985, Chief Wiley went for a swim and was never seen or heard from again. What he left behind shocked his community.

Bram Stoker's bibliography just got richer.

A Long-Lost Short Story by ‘Dracula’ Author Bram Stoker Has Been Rediscovered After 130 Years

The tale was composed as Stoker was working on his iconic vampire.

The Great Passive Voice Panic: Why Everyone (Even Grammar Experts) Gets It Wrong

Plus, a simple trick that will help you identify most true cases of the passive voice. (Hint: It involves zombies.)

R.L. Stine—the father of children’s horror lit.

It Came From the Kid Lit Section: Remembering the Children’s Horror Boom of the 1990s

Series like R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps introduced '90s kids to horror at a young age.

9 Facts About Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”

“Once upon a midnight dreary” begins “The Raven,” setting the mood for one of the most recognizable poems written in English.

5 Famous Authors Who Were Awarded MacArthur “Genius” Grants

‘Severance’ author Ling Ma is a 2024 MacArthur Fellow; here are some other famous authors who were awarded the grants.

Looks like she's reading a novel, not a novella.

Novella vs. Short Story: What’s the Difference?

As Stephen King once said, novellas are “too long to be short and too short to be really long.”

Washington Irving, the Knicks' biggest fan.

The Disappearance of Diedrich Knickerbocker: How Washington Irving’s Clever Hoax Named the New York Knicks

‘Knickerbocker’ has many meanings. Without Washington Irving, it would likely only have one.

Can You Choose the Correct Version of these Commonly Misspelled Words?

Put your spelling skills to the test.