Research Center: Literature

Premium resources

Bloom's Literary Reference Online

Examines great writers, important works, memorable characters, and influential movements and events in world literature. Available from Facts on File.

Contemporary Authors

Provides complete biographical information and references on more than 120,000 U.S. and international authors.

Literary Reference Center

Literary Reference Center (LRC) is a comprehensive literary reference database, which provides users with a broad spectrum of reference information from antiquity to the present day. LRC is a completely full-text database that combines information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, hundreds of literary journals, and unique sources not available anywhere else. LRC contains detailed information on the most studied authors and their works and is an essential resource for public, academic and high school libraries. Available from EBSCOhost.

Novelist Plus

Novelist lets you search among hundreds of thousands of popular fiction and readable nonfiction titles by using a favorite author or title to find other books of interest. You can retrieve author read-alikes, book lists, book discussion guides, and more. Lexile range searching is available in the advanced search page.

Novelist K-8 Plus

NoveList K-8 Plus focuses on nonfiction reading materials that support the school curriculum, as well as the recreational reading interests of children and students from preschool through middle school. Lexile range searching is available in the advanced search page.

 

Authors

A Celebration of Women Writers
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/writers.html

Hosted on the University of Pennsylvania Library web page, this site seeks to recognize the contributions of women writers throughout history. It includes a comprehensive listing of links to biographical and bibliographical information about women writers and complete published books written by women.

Yahoo! Authors
http://dir.yahoo.com/Arts/Humanities/Literature/Authors

Yahoo's browsable index includes over 8,000 pages for different authors and is divided into categories such as Literary Fiction, Nature Writers, Travel Writers, and more.

Awards

Nobel Prize for Literature
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature

The official website of the Nobel Foundation includes articles, biographies, photographs, and occasional excerpts from all of the Nobel Laureates since 1901.

Pulitzer Prize
http://www.pulitzer.org

This homepage of the Pulitzer Prizes includes a history of the prizes,guidelines and entry forms, and a searchable archive of all prize winners since 1917. A new addition to the site is the full texts of winning journalism entries from 1995-2000, including photographs and cartoons.

Powell's Books: Award Winners
http://www.powells.com/awards

Lists award winners in all major awards for fiction, nonfiction, and children's books.

Book Discussion Guides

Random House Reading Group Center
http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/categories.html

Find out how to start your own reading group or join an online book forum. Reviewed books are listed by title and category.

Welcome to Book Lust
http://www.nancypearl.com

Nancy Pearl, the recipient of the 2004 Women's National Book Award, is the author of Book Lust and its sequel, More Book Lust. Her website includes "Nancy Pearl's Picks," a weekly recommended reading list.

Genres

Internet Speculative Fiction Database
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/index.cgi

This searchable database for science fiction, fantasy, and horror includes author bibliographies, publication bibliographies, award listings, magazine content listings, anthology and collection content listings, yearly fiction indexes, and forthcoming books.

The Mystery Reader
http://www.themysteryreader.com

This companion site to The Romance Reader (see below) provides news, reviews of mystery novels, interviews, and an author address book. Reviews are divided into broad categories, including police/detective, historical,and romantic suspense.

Mystery Ink
http://www.mysteryinkonline.com

This "booklover's guide to mysteries and thrillers" features book reviews, author interviews, and related reference materials. Searchable, or browse by genre (mystery, suspense and thrillers, and crime and noir). Also includes award and top-10 lists, a "books into movies" section, and links to author Web sites.

Overbooked
http://www.overbooked.org

Overbooked is a web site for ravenous and omnivorous readers. Overbooked provides information about fiction and readable nonfiction.

The Romance Reader
http://www.theromancereader.com

This site provides book reviews, features, author interviews, and contests for readers of romance novels. There is also an "eagerly awaited" section that lists new releases for popular romance authors.

Romance Writers of America (RWA)
http://www.rwanational.org

The site for this national organization has material about the romance genre especially for readers, members, booksellers, and librarians. There is also a list of all RITA Award winners for the best published romances, upcoming releases, current bestsellers, and the "top ten favorite books" as selected by the members. An excellent site for reader guidance in the romance genre.