Mar 12 Watch 1:33 The life of Frances Marion, a trailblazer for women in Hollywood By John Yang, Lorna Baldwin, Harry Zahn This Women’s History Month, we’re highlighting stories of success that have faded over time. Tonight, we look back at the life of Frances Marion, a pioneer in the film industry whose storied career made her one of the most prolific… Continue watching
Dec 14 The objects that carried us through 2020 By Joshua Barajas The PBS NewsHour spoke with 11 artists and writers about which memento best expressed their experience, an artifact they’d tuck inside a time capsule. Continue reading
Dec 08 A childhood accident didn’t impair James Thurber’s comic vision By Dr. Howard Markel This minor genius of mirth lost his left eye at the age of 6. Continue reading
Jan 09 Buck Henry, writer-actor who helped pen ‘The Graduate,’ dies at 89 By Associated Press Henry was an established film and television writer who became widely recognizable during the early years of “Saturday Night Live.”… Continue reading
Apr 23 Why Shakespeare’s own finale remains a closed book By Dr. Howard Markel In "Hamlet," William Shakespeare contemplated the fact that once a person dies, no living person knows where that departed soul goes. That same uncertainty hovers around the final hours of the Bard of Stratford-upon-Avon. Continue reading
Nov 07 ‘Reading is part of my job,’ and more writing advice from author Katie Kitamura By Elizabeth Flock Kitamura, author of the November book club pick "A Separation," says reading "should be taken as seriously as the act of writing itself."… Continue reading
May 15 Watch 8:14 Remembering Tom Wolfe, American writer with an ‘anthropologist’s delight’ New Journalism pioneer Tom Wolfe captured American culture in groundbreaking nonfiction like "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" and novels like "The Bonfire of the Vanities." Journalist Susan Orlean joins Judy Woodruff to remember Wolfe, who died Tuesday at the age… Continue watching
Mar 12 Watch 3:05 How to retrain your shrinking attention span By PBS News Hour What’s the secret to writing novels? Or baking a perfect cake? Or even being a good friend? Author Ann Patchett says it’s all about the ability to stay focused and stop multitasking. Patchett gives her humble opinion on stretching your… Continue watching
Aug 17 Watch 3:39 What Calvin Trillin learned from his college writing course By PBS News Hour As a longtime writer for The New Yorker, Calvin Trillin was less interested in directly explaining why what he was writing was important than in just telling a good story. Trillin offers his Brief but Spectacular take on some of… Continue watching
Apr 04 Watch 5:56 Giving advice to young writers, Colum McCann wants to see the fire in their eyes By PBS News Hour It's the sort of thing that Colum McCann says he would have liked to have had when he was younger. In his new book "Letters To A Young Writer," McCann says he writes advice about plot and characterization, as well… Continue watching