"A celebrated writer and celebrator of writers tells what has shaped her life and career"

For the longest time, Teresa Miller wanted to get as far from Oklahoma as possible--to escape from her distant father and abusive stepmother, from the ache of her mother's death, and from the small-town insularity of Tahlequah. She longed for New York and Hollywood, for all the glamorous settings that transcended grief--at least on television.

Miller never made it out of Oklahoma permanently, though she came to treasure the region that kept her heart anchored even as her spirit cast far and wide. In "Means of Transit--A Slightly Embellished Memoir, " Miller writes of journeys that turned into life-altering experiences as she learned to "story" her way beyond the impasses. Still other trips, begun with great promise, found her wandering through confusing back roads, relying on more seasoned storytellers for direction. Eventually she established a literary center simply by reaching out to such authors as Jim Lehrer, Maya Angelou, and Isabel Allende, fellow travelers who taught her as much about life as about writing.

The author takes readers from her early childhood, to a short stint in a New York acting school, to the writing of her first novel, and the painful decades of writer's block that followed its publication. We also learn of the author's terrifying encounter with a stalker, a dark sort of Everyman who personified her late-night suspicions about even the people closest to her.

Told with humor, candor, and the same haunting lyricism that distinguished her early work, Miller's story is about learning the ultimate life lesson--that when we do lose our way, our hearts can guide us.

My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident. If, when I was a boy, and went forth into the world poor and friendless, a good fairy had met me and said, "Choose now thy own course through life, and the object for which thou wilt strive, and then, according to the development of thy mind, and as reason requires, I will guide and defend thee to its attainment," my fate could not, even then, have been directed more happily, more prudently, or better. The history of my life will say to the world what it says to me-There is a loving God, who directs all things for the best. My native land, Denmark, is a poetical land, full of popular traditions, old songs, and an eventful history, which has become bound up with that of Sweden and Norway. The Danish islands are possessed of beautiful beech woods, and corn and clover fields: they resemble gardens on a great scale. Upon one of these green islands, Funen, stands Odense, the place of my birth. Odense is called after the pagan god Odin, who, as tradition states, lived here: this place is the capital of the province, and lies twenty-two Danish miles from Copenhagen.

As interest in 19th-century English literature by women has been reinvigorated by a resurgence in popularity of the works of Jane Austen, readers are rediscovering a writer whose fiction, once widely beloved, fell by the wayside. British novelist ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL (1810-1865)-whose books were sometimes initially credited to, simply, "Mrs. Gaskell"-is now recognized as having created some of the most complex and progressive depictions of women in the literature of the age. Gaskell's one work of nonfiction is this 1857 biography of her close friend, novelist Charlotte Bront. At once a triumph of the biographical form and a charming celebration of the writer by someone who knew her well, this has been hailed as a remarkably insightful and highly readable life of Bront, one that makes up for its lack of objectivity with its warmth, admiration, and respect. It offers a significant view of one woman writer's perspective on another's work at a time when women writers were afforded little respect at all.

Sol Plaatje is celebrated as one of South Africa’s most accomplished political and literary figures. A pioneer in the history of the black press, editor of several newspapers, he was one of the founders of the African National Congress in 1912, led its campaign against the notorious Natives Land Act of 1913, and twice travelled overseas to represent the interests of his people. He wrote a number of books, including – in English – Native Life in South Africa (1916), a powerful denunciation of the Land Act and the policies that led to it, and a pioneering novel, Mhudi (1930). Years after his death his diary of the siege of Mafeking was retrieved and published, providing a unique view of one of the best known episodes of the South African War of 1899–1902. At the same time Plaatje was a proud Morolong, fascinated by his people’s history. He was dedicated to Setswana, and set out to preserve its traditions and oral forms so as to create a written literature. He translated a number of Shakespeare’s plays into Setswana, the first in any African language, collected proverbs and stories, and even worked on a new dictionary. He fought long battles with those who thought they knew better over the particular form its orthography should take. This book tells the story of Plaatje’s remarkable life, setting it in the context of the changes that overtook South Africa during his lifetime, and the huge obstacles he had to overcome. It draws upon extensive new research in archives in southern Africa, Europe and the US, as well as an expanding scholarship on Plaatje and his writings. This biography sheds new light not only on Plaatje’s struggles and achievements but upon his personal life and his relationships with his wife and family, friends and supporters. It pays special attention to his formative years, looking to his roots in chiefly societies, his education and upbringing on a German-run mission, and his exposure to the legal and political ideas of the nineteenth-century Cape Colony as key factors in inspiring and sustaining a life of more or less ceaseless endeavour.

America is a land of immigrants. We each have a unique story to tell. Most stories will never be known beyond the first generation's memories. To fit in with the dominate culture; most immigrants were pressured into denying their cultural roots. They never passed on their language or cultural histories to the next generation. Memories are treasures we enjoy in our golden years. We keep them alive by sharing with the next generation. My greatest treasure has been discovering the roots of my identity, my cultural base in the Nation of Cape Verde. This knowledge gives me pride; it adds unique perspective and value to my life. This book expresses my quest to discover my cultural roots. My grandparents provided support for the first generation born in America to survive and strive for the American dream. They came to America to find a better life and future for those left behind. In 1909 Nicholau and Rosa Pires, emigrated to the United States from the Island of Fogo, Cape Verde. They had four children born in America, Anna, Margaret, Roche, and my father Vasco. One daughter, Mimi, born in Cape Verde, remained there. In 1947 at the age of six, my father brought me from Ohio to live with my Cape Verdean grandparents on Cape Cod. My grandfather was Portuguese educated and learned just enough English to get his U.S. citizenship in 1946. In his house only Kriolu (Cape-Verdean spoken language) was spoken. The neighborhood was primarily Cape Verdean and most was from the same area on the Island Fogo. Sandwich Road, in the village of Teaticket, Massachusetts, was like a transplanted village from Cape Verde set in America. My grandmother, Rose "Ke'Ke'" was the friendly visitor of the community. She would walk the length of Sandwich Road (about two miles) at least once a week to visit relatives and friends, share the news, latest gossip from the Islands, and visit those who were ill. She would often take me along. The foundation of my love, pride, and longing to see Cape Verde was set. This experience became my wellspring of inspiration for my expressions of Cape Verde and the sea. Religious belief has sustained me throughout my life. Cape Verdean people are traditionally Roman Catholic. In my early childhood, I was raised to be a Catholic. I was required to attend catechism to be indoctrinated into the Church. I received the sacrament of First Communion and then as a teenager, the sacrament of Confirmation. The Church served me well as a child, but as I grew more mature, the Church posed more questions then answers to life's meaning. Religion to me is supposed to be a way to find answers to life's mysteries, and live a happy life as a human being. At age fifteen my search for the real meaning of God and religion began. My mother's side of the family was Christian. I then became a born-a-gain Christian till the age of 36. The Bible, I was told, was the word of God. God loved everyone. God knew everything and God was everywhere. God was so powerful, that nothing could stand up to him/her. My thought was, why then, is God limited to just one religious belief like, Christianity, Islam, or Judaism? Why does God allow so much suffering in the world? In 1968 during a peace rally at Boston City hall a stranger gave me a newspaper called the "World Tribune." In it were articles about how people had changed their lives by saying the words, "Nam Myoho Renge Kyo." In it were ideas about creating peace in the world, one person at a time. I never saw that person again, but nine years later on Cape Cod, one of my students in my high school art class invited me to a Buddhist meeting. At that meeting, the "World Tribune" was being used to study Buddhism based on real experiences. They studied the history of Buddhism, and what it means to be a human being. After several months of checking out the people, the organization, and the history of Buddhism, I became convinced that this is what will give me the answers I have been seeking for the past twent

The Shelf2Life Literature and Fiction Collection is a unique set of short stories, poems and novels from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. From tales of love, life and heartbreaking loss to humorous stories of ghost encounters, these volumes captivate the imaginations of readers young and old. Included in this collection are a variety of dramatic and spirited poems that contemplate the mysteries of life and celebrate the wild beauty of nature. The Shelf2Life Literature and Fiction Collection provides readers with an opportunity to enjoy and study these iconic literary works, many of which were written during a period of remarkable creativity.

Judy Blume is one of the most popular authors of children's and young adult fiction in American history. For over 30 years, her books and career have withstood the test of time and she continues to resonate with new generations of young readers. While she is arguably one of the most important authors of the twentieth century, she is also one of the most banned. What is perhaps the most surprising aspect of Blume's career is that despite today's proliferation of cable channels and easy Internet access, books of hers written decades ago about every day life events that all teenagers experience still manage to find themselves at the center of censorship debates. Rather than change her style, the efforts to censor her books turned Blume into an activist and champion for the First Amendment. Inside this biography Kathleen Tracy explores the life and career of Judy Blume, one of the most successful-and most controversial-authors of twentieth century.

In addition to tracing the events of BlooM's life, this engaging biography discusses historic and current censorship issues in classrooms and libraries across the country. Her association with the National Coalition Against Censorship, a group that Blume says changed her life, as did her friendship with the organization's longtime director, Leanne Katz, is examined in detail as well as how libraries, teachers, publishers and grass-roots activists have responded to the ever-growing attempts to censor children's reading material. In-depth chapters are supplemented with a bibliography of print and electronic sources that provide suggested readings for students and general readers alike. Also included is a timeline, photos, and an appendix of free speech resources.

Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, and Edward Rice were college buddies who became life-long friends, literary innovators, and spiritual iconoclasts. Their friendship and collaboration began at Columbia College in the 1930s and reached its climax in the widely acclaimed magazine, which ran from 1953 to 1967, a year before Merton's death. Rice was founder, publisher, editor, and art director; Merton and Lax two of his steadiest collaborators. Well-known on campus for their high spirits, avant-garde appreciation of jazz and Joyce, and indiscriminate love of movies, they also shared their Catholic faith. Rice, a cradle Catholic, was godfather to both Merton and Lax. Merton, who died some 30 years before the other two, was the first to achieve fame with his best-selling spiritual autobiography, "The Seven-Story Mountain". Lax, whom Jack Kerouac dubbed "one of the great original voices of our times," eventually received recognition as one of "America's greatest experimental poets, a true minimalist who can weave awesome poems from remarkably few words" ("New York Times" Book Review). He spent most of the last 35 years of his life living frugally on one of the remotest of the Greek isles. After Jubilee folded, Rice wrote 20 books on world culture, religion, and biography. His 1970 biography of Merton, "The Man in the Sycamore Tree", was judged too intimate, forthright, and candid by those who, in Lax's words, "were trying so hard to get pictures of [Merton's] halo that they missed his face." His biography of the 19th century explorer and "orientalist" Sir Richard Burton became a "New York Times" bestseller. This book is not only the story of a 3-way friendship but a richly detailed depiction of the changes in American Catholic life over the past sixty-some years, a micro history of progressive Catholicism from the 1940s to the turn of the twenty-first century. Despite their loyalty to the church, the three often disagreed with its positions, grumbled about its tolerance for mediocrity in art, architecture, music, and intellectual life and its comfortableness with American materialism and military power. And each in his own way engaged in a spiritual search that extended beyond Christianity to the great religions of the East.

January 1957: girl meets boy on a blind date arranged by Allen Ginsberg. The girl was Joyce Johnson, the boy Jack Kerouac, and it was nine months before 'On The Road' became a permanent part of the American vocabulary. But like Robin Hood's and Peter Pan's, Jack's was a boy gang. Women were minor characters at best, though they risked much more to live as freely as the rebels they loved. Tender, observant and beautifully written, Joyce Johnson's award-winning 'Minor Characters' is both a personal memoir and an unforgettable portrait of that whole, near-mythical, generation: the Beats.

The classic and deeply moving memoir by Pablo Neruda, the most widely read political poet of our time and winner of the Nobel Prize

The south of Chile was a frontier wilderness when Pablo Neruda was born in 1904. In these memoirs he retraces his bohemian student years in Santiago; his sojourns as Chilean consul in Burma, Ceylon, and Java, in Spain during the civil war, and in Mexico; and his service as a Chilean senator. Neruda, a Communist, was driven from his senate seat in 1948, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. After a year in hiding, he escaped on horseback over the Andes and then to Europe; his travels took him to Russia, Eastern Europe, and China before he was finally able to return home in 1952. The final section of the memoirs was written after the coup in 1972 that overthrew Neruda's friend Salvador Allende.

Many of the century's most important literary and artistic figures were Neruda's friends, and figure in his memoirs--Garcia Lorca, Aragon, Picasso, and Rivera, among them--and also such political leaders as Gandhi, Nehru, Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara. In his uniquely expressive prose, Neruda not only explains his views on poetry and describes the circumstances that inspired many of his poems, but he creates a revealing record of his life as a poet, a patriot, and one of the twentieth century's true men of conscience.

Writing and composing with honesty and humanism, Lucille Clifton is known for her themes of the body, family, community, politics, womanhood, and the spirit. While much of her work deals with the African American experience, she does not limit herself to that perspective, addressing topics common to all women, to all people. This timely and important biography will give readers a glimpse into the life and work of this important and revered African American poet, writer, and educator, exploring themes that run throughout her writing, as well as the personal obstacles she faced and overcame. Lucille Clifton was born in Depew, New York, in 1936. Today, she is one of the most important and revered African American poets, writers, and educators in the nation. In addition to several works of poetry, she has written more than 15 children's books. Her work has been nominated for three Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards, one of which she won for Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 in 2000. In 1999, she was appointed and remains a Chancellor of the American Academy of Poets, one of the most prestigious honors in American letters. Among her best known works is the poem miss rosie, anthologized many times over and a standard part of high school curriculums. She has won an Emmy award, a Lannan Literary Award, two fellowships from the National Endowmant for the the Arts, and many other prestigious awards. Writing and composing with honesty and humanism, Clifton is known for her themes of the body, family, community, politics, womanhood, and the spirit. While much of her work deals with the African American experience, she does not limit herself to that perspective, addressing topics common to all women, to all people. This biography covers Clifton's life and work, addressing themes that run throughout her writing as well as the personal obstacles she faced and overcame, including her own faultering health. This timely and important biography will give readers a glimpse into the life of one of America's most important, influential, and enduring writers.

This book (hardcover) is part of the TREDITION CLASSICS. It contains classical literature works from over two thousand years. Most of these titles have been out of print and off the bookstore shelves for decades. The book series is intended to preserve the cultural legacy and to promote the timeless works of classical literature. Readers of a TREDITION CLASSICS book support the mission to save many of the amazing works of world literature from oblivion. With this series, tredition intends to make thousands of international literature classics available in printed format again - worldwide.

A literary memoir of exile and survival in Soviet prison camps during the Holocaust. Most Polish Jews who survived the Second World War did not go to concentration camps, but were banished by Stalin to the remote prison settlements and Gulags of the Soviet Union. Less than ten percent of Polish Jews came out of the war alive-the largest population of East European Jews who endured-for whom Soviet exile was the main chance for survival. Ellen G. Friedman's The Seven, A Family HolocaustStory is an account of this displacement. Friedman always knew that she was born to Polish-Jewish parents on the run from Hitler, but her family did not describe themselves as Holocaust survivors since that label seemed only to apply only to those who came out of the concentration camps with numbers tattooed on their arms. The title of the book comes from the closeness that set seven individuals apart from the hundreds of thousands of other refugees in the Gulags of the USSR. The Seven-a name given to them by their fellow refugees-were Polish Jews from Warsaw, most of them related. The Seven, A Family Holocaust Story brings together the very different perspectives of the survivors and others who came to be linked to them, providing a glimpse into the repercussions of the Holocaust in one extended family who survived because they were loyal to one another, lucky, and endlessly enterprising. Interwoven into the survivors' accounts of their experiences before, during, and after the war are their own and the author's reflections on the themes of exile, memory, love, and resentment. Based on primary interviews and told in a blending of past and present experiences, Friedman gives a new voice to Holocaust memory-one that is sure to resonate with today's exiles and refugees. Those with an interest in World War II memoir and genocide studies will welcome this unique perspective.

The first biography about Bertram Fletcher Robinson, who acted as 'assistant plot producer' to Arthur Conan Doyle over the Sherlock Holmes story The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901/02).

On the day I was born we bought six hair-bottomed chairs, and in our little house it was an event, the first great victory in a woman's long campaign; how they had been laboured for, the pound-note and the thirty threepenny-bits they cost, what anxiety th