During his battles with mental illness and depression, there were times when Wallace thought writing was not worth the anxiety it caused, and other times when he felt writing was the only way to subdue the maddened voices in his head.
It was a marriage of minds. An accomplished writer herself, Hardwick would become the cradle for Lowell's life and poetry, carrying him through his bouts of madness and even infidelities.
Sexton's poetry held nothing back. She wrote about mental illness, infidelity, erotic fantasies, incest, even the abuse she wrought on her own children.
33 years after a fatwa was issued because of The Satanic Verses, Rushdie was attacked by someone who hasn’t even read any of his books.
Among the most eloquent, most tireless and most passionate voices of the post-colonial Arab world, Said was both objective and revolutionary, both demanding and understanding - his plight for Palestine as full of idealism as disappointments.
The ancient Maya were meticulous historians and master storytellers. Artist-scribes wove their tales in an intricate script that took 500 years to decipher.
Sometimes our lives weave such drama that fiction can’t compare. And the true story of Zelda and Scott surpasses the greatness and sadness of Gatsby.
Plath wrote poetry from the time she was eight then killed herself at 30. Her own descent into madness vividly described in 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙅𝙖𝙧 - a too-intelligent girl broken by the pressures of having to be a normal one.
For Mario Vargas Llosa, history and literature are inseparable. Spanning over eight decades, his life and writings perfectly capture the changing landscape, people and politics of Peru.
Anaïs Nin lived a life of love and passion, traipsing among her many lovers, sometimes Henry Miller, sometimes his wife June, many times numerous men in between her husband, even her own father.
