Showing titles in Art & Literature

From prize-winning journalist to chat show king on a show voted one of the top ten British TV programmes of all time, Michael Parkinson's starry career spans over four decades. Now an international celebrity himself, the man from a humble but colourful Yorkshire mining family who can tease out...

When Roxana Robinson’s definitive biography of O’Keeffe was first published in 1989, it received rave reviews and was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. This new edition features a new foreword by the author, setting O’Keefe in an artistic context over the last thirty years since the book was first published, as well as previously unpublished letters of the young O’Keeffe to her lover, Arthur MacMahon. This book also relates the story of Robinson’s own encounter with the artist.

Step into the life of one of history’s greatest thinkers and discover how a curious boy from a small village in Italy changed the world forever. From the delicate brushstrokes of the Mona Lisa to the engineering marvels scribbled into secret notebooks, Leonardo da Vinci didn’t just create art—he imagined the future. In this richly detailed and accessible biography, listeners young and old will explore ten fascinating aspects of Leonardo’s genius. Each chapter unlocks a new side of the man whose mind refused to be confined by any single label.

Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. He was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, an MP, a priest, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral—and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. He converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, was imprisoned for marrying a high-born girl without her father's consent, struggled to feed a family of 10 children and was often ill and in pain.

Brought to you by Penguin. 'We see with everything that we are' On the morning of 12 October 1654, in the Dutch city of Delft, a sudden explosion was followed by a thunderclap that could be heard more than seventy miles away. Carel Fabritius - now known across the world for his exquisite...

Brought to you by Penguin. An illuminating new essay collection from one of the most distinctive, exciting and acclaimed writers of her generation, Zadie Smith In this keenly awaited new collection, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects which have...

A classic of modern travel writing, An Area of Darkness is Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul’s profound reckoning with his ancestral homeland and an extraordinarily perceptive chronicle of his first encounter with India. Traveling from the bureaucratic morass of Bombay to the ethereal beauty of Kashmir, from a sacred ice cave in the Himalayas to an abandoned temple near Madras, Naipaul encounters a dizzying cross-section of humanity: browbeaten government workers and imperious servants, a suavely self-serving holy man, and a deluded American religious seeker.

On 14 February 1989, Valentine's Day, Salman Rushdie was telephoned by a BBC journalist and told that he had been "sentenced to death" by the Ayatollah Khomeini. For the first time he heard the word fatwa. His crime? To have written a novel called The Satanic Verses, which was accused of being "against Islam, the Prophet and the Quran". So begins the extraordinary story of how a writer was forced underground, moving from house to house, with the constant presence of an armed police protection team.

Richard Ellmann has revised and expanded his definitive work on Joyce's life to include newly discovered primary material, including details of a failed love affair, a limerick about Samuel Beckett, a dream notebook, previously unknown letters, and much more.

Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874-January 29, 1963) was an American poet who frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. The following recording is from a 1954 lecture Frost gave on poetry and writers Charles Dickens, Henry David Thoreau, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, Theodore Dreiser, William Faulkner, Walter Savage Landor, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Percy Shelley, and John Masefield.

When 8-year-old Lou Del Bianco finds out that his Grandpa Luigi was the Chief Carver on Mount Rushmore, his young life is instantly changed. Follow Lou’s journey as he and his Uncle Caesar make the painful discovery that Luigi is not even mentioned in the most definitive audiobook on Rushmore. Cheer them on as you discover the historic documents they unearth from the Library of Congress that not only tell Luigi’s story but also prove his great importance. Finally, ride the roller-coaster of the 25 year journey to get Luigi the recognition he deserves.

In ihrem Tagebuch erzählt Gabriele von Arnim ein Jahr lang über Abschiede, über Gegenwartsängste und das Ringen um Zukunftszuversicht, über Abschiede von sich selbst, von Lebenslust und über die Unausweichlichkeit des letzten Abschieds. Abschiede sind unsere täglichen Lebensgefährten und Lehrmeister. Aber Abschied ist nicht nur Verlust und Traurigkeit, Abschied ist auch befreiend.

Ces onze textes entre autobiographie et essai nous font (re)découvrir l’une des écritures les plus fortes du XXe siècle italien. Qu’il s’agisse du souvenir du confinement dans un petit village du Sud ou du portrait de Cesare Pavese, d’une réflexion sur la valeur de l’argent et surtout d’une bicyclette pour un enfant, ou de son métier d’écrivaine, Natalia Ginzburg écrit des « histoires » qu’elle puise dans la mémoire toujours explosive de ce siècle retentissant. Son expérience, qu’elle partage comme un devoir et une nécessité, est exemplaire et bouleversante.

On the surface, Julianna Glasse had it all: her husband was a huge sports star, she had three beautiful children and a career as a Christian pop singer. But in reality, Julianna's life was far from perfect. It was only when she began to read, and read widely, that she started to question the fundamentalist Christian community that she had spent her life inside. From Simone de Beauvoir to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Virginia Woolf to the Persian poet Rumi, she began to realise how shackled her mind had been. And when her husband tried to stop her from reading, it gave her every reason not to stop.

Lo trágico del destino que presento aquí, es que ofrece la imagen de un sufrimiento innato, que viene de lo más hondo del ser, que lo roe sin tregua y no lo abandona sino hasta haberlo destruido. Uno de los tipos más poderosos de esta gran raza humana, que desde hace diecinueve siglos llena el Occidente con sus gritos de dolor y de fe, es el cristiano. Por eso os amo, cristianos, porque os compadezco.

A poignant and heartfelt memoir uncovering the highs, the lows, and the paintings of an artist with a lifetime of stories to tell. Mary Marquiss invites you into the world behind her canvas and reveals the personal story behind each piece of art. Through serious life challenges, including divorce, family suicide and cancer, Marquiss discovered a relationship with her art in the form of a circular language. Throughout her life, Mary Marquiss has turned to her art as a constant source of inspiration and strength, navigating life’s challenges and changes through her creative expression.

Disney experiences enthrall millions of guests around the world. How does it all become a reality? Find out in this action-packed narrative journey! Dream Chasing is a recounting by author Bob Weis of four decades of creating and seeing to completion challenging projects, leading teams from the...

Incisive, funny, and deeply-researched insights into the life, writing, and legacy of Jane Austen, by the preeminent scholar Devoney Looser. "[Narrator] Marisa Calin's pleasant British accent is perfect for this exploration of Regency-era social codes and wild-hearted women." — AudioFile...

From award-winning author and creative writing professor at Tulane University comes an intimate and powerful memoir exploring inherited trauma, family secrets, and the enduring bonds of love between mothers and daughters. On her second birthday in 1967, Bernice McFadden died in a car crash near...

Compelling and intimate, this collection of never-before-seen letters between the celebrated art critic and essayist, John Berger and his son Yves, an artist, is a moving look at their musings on art, memory, life, death, and beyond. Written between 2015-16, with color images of well-known old...