“Thus began what Kennedy calls his annus mirabilis... Suddenly everything hits for this guy who couldn’t get Ironweed published.” On our website, Paul Grondahl @nyswi.bsky.social reflects on his friend and mentor, the great novelist William Kennedy, whose Albany Trilogy was just published by LOA.

Premiering tonight on @pbs.org American Masters, a new documentary on W.E.B. Du Bois from Peabody Award-winning director Rita Coburn featuring leading scholars (and LOA friends and contributors) Eric Foner, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Eddie Glaude Jr., Imani Perry, and more. www.pbs.org/wnet/america...

Discover giants of American literature during our annual boxed set sale, going on now through May 31! 2-volume sets $50 3-volume sets $75 4-volume sets $95 Browse the full collection on the LOA Web Store: loa.org/books/collections/3-boxed-sets/

Last night, living legend William Kennedy celebrated publication of the LOA edition of his Albany Trilogy (which includes the masterful Ironweed) at the NYS Writers Institute @albany.edu. Joined by novelist Colum McCann, Kennedy read and signed copies for fans and friends. loa.org/books/832

“This was Albert Murray’s century; we just lived in it,” wrote Henry Louis Gates, Jr., about the uncategorizable essayist, music critic, and novelist, born 110 years ago today, in 1916. Discover his deep erudition and the inherent musicality of his prose, channeling the creative freedom of jazz.

“What do oranges, deep time, and the Swiss Army have in common? Very little, I would think, except John McPhee.” Via @newrepublic.com: newrepublic.com/article/2067...

Gary Snyder, “poet laureate of deep ecology” and one of a tiny handful of living writers in the LOA series, turns ninety-six today. His work, in his own words, “speak[s] of place, and the energy-pathways that sustain life. Each living being is a swirl in the flow, a formal turbulence, a song.”

Tom Turner teamed up with the indomitable environmentalist David Brower at the Sierra Club in 1968, just as John McPhee began writing Encounters with the Archdruid (originally published in @newyorker.com in 1971). Read Turner’s reflection on this pivotal time in the environmental movement.

Last night, historians Steven Hahn and Kidada Williams delved into the astonishing 1880 Senate testimony of Henry Adams, freedman, faith healer, and leader of the “exodus” movement of formerly enslaved people out of the South. Catch their full talk for a powerful picture of post–Civil War America.

Congratulations, Clemente Class of 2026! The partnership between the @theclemente.bsky.social and The Library of America goes back to 1999, and at this year’s Harlem graduation, LOA was proud to present students with volumes of Black Writers of the Founding Era to mark their accomplishment.

Tomorrow, two eminent historians discuss the remarkable 1880 Senate testimony of Henry Adams: freedman, former soldier, laborer, faith healer, political activist, undercover operative, and a leader of the “exodus” movement of formerly enslaved people out of the post-Civil War South. RSVP for free.

LOA’s new series of online classes with leading contemporary authors, scholars, and critics kicks off in June with @agordonreed.bsky.social on Black responses to the Declaration of Independence. See the full lineup (and you can use coupon code EARLYBIRDREADING to get 15% off tickets until 5/13).

Another review of George Templeton Strong: Civil War Diaries, by Matthew Wills! @libraryofamerica.bsky.social daily.jstor.org/inside-a-fou...

The transcendent pulp of Jim Thompson in @thebaffler.com: “As the new Library of America edition of five Jim Thompson novels indicates, some crime fiction stands in vexed relation to the nation’s longstanding fascination with violence,” writes Harilaos Stecopoulos. thebaffler.com/latest/red-n...

In @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social, Colum McCann examines the craft of William Kennedy’s Albany Trilogy. “When Kennedy’s oeuvre is examined—come all ye bootleggers of the soul!—it becomes obvious that he, like all great writers, has been continually scouring the intricate landscape of the human heart."

LOA President and Publisher Max Rudin reflected on our mission to keep great American writing a vital part of the culture at the @whitingfoundation.bsky.social Awards (series volumes have long been the prize's “equivalent of the Oscar statue”). Read the full speech on @literaryhub.bsky.social.

Pulitzer Prize winner Steven Hahn and acclaimed historian Kidada E. Williams join LOA LIVE on 5/5 for a discussion of Henry Adams, Freedman, the soldier, faith healer, and leader of the “exodus” movement of formerly enslaved people from the South. RSVP for free: www.eventbrite.com/e/terror-hop...

By happy chance, Earth Day coincides with the birthdays of four of America’s greatest nature writers: William Bartram, John Muir, John James Audubon, and Frederick Law Olmsted. Explore classics of the environmental imagination in the LOA series: loa.org/books/topics/20-nature-environmental-writing/

“The whole wilderness in unity and interrelation is alive and familiar,” wrote John Muir, the Scottish-born author and naturalist, born on this day in 1838. “The very stones seem talkative, sympathetic, brotherly. No particle is ever wasted or worn out but eternally flowing from use to use.”

Starting this June, join leading contemporary authors including @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social, @agordonreed.bsky.social, and @jbf1755.bsky.social for a series of online classes on the LOA writers that resonate deeply with them and have something vital to tell us at this moment. RSVP on Eventbrite.

Wild news! John McPhee: Encounters in Wild America is one of @newyorker.com's best books of 2026 so far. “McPhee is a master at structural innovation while paying a fastidious amount of attention to language and detail throughout.” www.newyorker.com/best-books-2...

Last night, LOA LIVE welcomed historians Tyina L. Steptoe, Keisha N. Blain, and Manisha Sinha for a talk on courageous voices from the Jim Crow era, weaving together readings and powerful insights into the prolonged struggle for racial equality in America. Catch the recording: youtu.be/qCTWEYhSXL8

“[T]he most influential unread author in United States history” is unread no longer! Donald Barthelme would have turned 95 years old today. Discover the still-fresh stories of this major postmodernist voice, whose fiction impacted such contemporary writers as George Saunders and Dave Eggers.

Tonight at 6pm ET, three eminent historians join LOA LIVE for a discussion of revelatory and courageous writings from the era of Jim Crow. Confronting segregation and violence in the aftermath of the Civil War, Americans Black and white fought to create a better, more just nation. RSVP for free.

“[Jim] Thompson was part of the wave of artists in the 1950s who explored the darker, deviant impulses of American life,” writes Alex Belth in his excellent @wsj.com review of LOA’s new edition of five of the pulp maestro’s greatest novels. “It’s no wonder the French were early admirers.”

Michael Gorra reviews my new edition of Strong's Civil War Diaries in @nybooks.com. "It is the North's best record of the struggle's daily passions and woes, and essential reading for any student of the Civil War." @libraryofamerica.bsky.social www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

“Today, James Baldwin’s legacy seems assured, but this wasn’t always the case,” writes Ralf Webb in his @theguardian.com review of Nicholas Boggs’s Baldwin: A Love Story, the first major new biography of the genius essayist and novelist in thirty years: www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

Last week, acclaimed authors Joshua Cohen and Michael Cunningham explored the 19th-century American short stories that inspire them and remain resonant today. Catch a recording of their fascinating conversation, co-presented by LOA and the @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Center for American Studies.

John McPhee’s portraits of America’s wild places and the ingenious and resilient people who call them home are gathered in a new LOA collection, edited by David Remnick (@newyorker.com). Find the volume in bookstores today, or order a copy from our Web Store: loa.org/books/encounters-in-wild-america

George Templeton Strong was a “handsome, melancholy man” who wrote arguably the greatest civilian record of the Civil War. Funny as hell and a master of snark, his observations remain deeply relatable, writes @geoffwisner.bsky.social, editor of the new LOA edition of Strong’s classic diary.

“Kennedy is, at 98, a singular, ebullient literary voice. His novels keep alive the Albany of the 1930s: the domain of swells, sports, and bums, of women with appetites, of flophouses and bowling alleys in the dark hours.” On @literaryhub.bsky.social, a talk with the legendary author of Ironweed.

101 years ago, Mary Flannery O’Connor (she would drop the “Mary” during her time at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop) was born in Savannah, Georgia. “Mixing faith and grace with violence and dark comedy,” her biographer Brad Gooch wrote, “her shell-shocked attitude is neither sentimental nor dated.”

On April 7, join historians Tyina L. Steptoe, Keisha N. Blain, and Manisha Sinha for a discussion on powerful writings from the Jim Crow era, showing how Americans Black and white challenged racism and fought to create a better, more just nation. RSVP for free: www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-fro...

“It seemed that wherever history was being made, Jimmy Breslin was on the scene.” On our website, author Raj Tawney reflects on the streetwise language and truth-telling verve of the great New York City columnist, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary forty years ago. www.loa.org/news-and-vie...

Psst, Library of America is having a site-wide sale through this weekend. Get 15% off on all LOA books (including boxed sets and already discounted titles), no coupon code required. Browse new and recent volumes by William Kennedy, Jim Thompson, John McPhee, and many more at loa.org/books.

Philip Roth, born on this day in 1933, possessed, in his own words, a “passion for specificity, for the hypnotic materiality of the world one is in,” and sought in his writing “to discover the most arresting, evocative verbal depiction for every last American thing.” loa.org/writers/260-philip-roth/

“A truly great example of how writing helps people answer questions about what they think,” can be found in LOA's American Revolution volumes, writes @wsj.com. “Every last one... shows a mind grappling with difficult issues of law, historical events and an uncertain future.” loa.org/books/426

You may have seen that the British spy novelist Len Deighton died this week; what you may not have seen was that he illustrated the cover for the first UK edition of Jack Kerouac's On the Road in 1958! Check out this blog from the National Library of Scotland for more: blog.nls.uk/jack-kerouac...

James Madison—“the most astute, profound, and original political theorist among the founding fathers”—was born 275 years ago this week. A freshly reissued LOA edition of his writings features a striking new jacket and nearly 200 essential pieces by the Father of the Constitution. loa.org/writers/234

Last week, celebrated scholars Michael Gorra, Wendy Walters, and Brenda Wineapple delved into the era of the American Revolution and its aftermath with a trio of classic short stories that exert a profound (and profoundly spooky) influence on our national literature. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNXl...

Jack Kerouac, Beat icon and literary rebel, was born 104 years ago on this day, on March 12, 1922, in a French-speaking household in Lowell, MA. Discover the unknown side of the On the Road author in this LOA LIVE program exploring his complex relationship to language and identity.

Acclaimed novelists Joshua Cohen and Michael Cunningham discuss the 19th-century stories that have most influenced them. Join LOA and the @columbiauniversity.bsky.social Center for American Studies for this live, in-person talk on 3/25 at 6 pm ET. RSVP for free: www.eventbrite.com/e/modern-mas...

America’s “Dimestore Dostoevsky” gets his LOA due today, with the publication of Jim Thompson: Five Noir Novels of the 1950s & 60s! Discover the knockout novels of the underground writer Stephen King called “absolutely over the top.” Order your copy from the LOA Web Store and save 20%.

In @thebaffler.com, accolades for George Templeton Strong’s newly published Civil War Diaries: "Watching him navigate this new territory . . . is to observe a concerned citizen do his best to adapt as the political world changed rapidly and shockingly, a sobering object lesson for today’s reader."

In @parisreview.bsky.social, the unlikely link between the Civil War diaries of George Templeton Strong and Kamala Harris’s recent memoir: “It would seem that these writers... are main characters because their realities were, even during times of crisis and dissolution, like books.”

Our new edition of nonfiction giant John McPhee is an @airmail.news best! “Whether it be the Pine Barrens of New Jersey or the rivers of Maine and Alaska, McPhee is always in the company of locals whom he profiles as sharply as the terrain.” airmail.news/issues/2026-...

Look at this beauty! I renewed my @libraryofamerica.bsky.social membership & they sent it to me.

American literature has never been one-size-fits-all, and LOA’s upcoming releases explore great writing at every magnitude, from epic fantasy to blink-and-you’ll-miss-it micro-fiction. Read on for details about our lineup of titles hitting bookstores in Fall 2026. www.loa.org/news-and-vie...

Just arrived from @libraryofamerica.bsky.social:

The Black Fantastic: 20 Afrofuturist Stories, edited by me, is a nominee for best collection for the @bsfa.bsky.social Awards! @libraryofamerica.bsky.social bsfa.co.uk/bsfa-awards-...