Randall Jarrell

What happens when a pandemic strikes and one of the region's most adventurous and exciting small theater companies is forced to close its doors to the public? It rummages through its archives and goes a?oevirtuala??!

Mad Cow Theatre has announced their virtual play reading series! This summer, they will be producing two full-length readings and corresponding Drama Club events via a virtual livestream. Both readings are free to the public with a $5 suggested donation, but patrons will need to reserve a spot to receive an access link.

Take an intimate look at the 30-year friendship between poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell in DEAR ELIZABETH, tonight, September 23 - October 18, 2015.

Take an intimate look at the 30-year friendship between poets Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell in DEAR ELIZABETH, September 23 - October 18, 2015. Milwaukee Chamber Theatre continues its 2015-2016 Season with a moving and innovative play by Sarah Ruhl, under the direction of Marie Kohler and starring real-life married couple Carrie Hitchcock and Norman Moses. DEAR ELIZABETH performs in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

An essential new anthology from the Library of America charts the glory days of Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Minimalism--a time of almost-unmatched vitality in art writing.

This fall, the Penn Libraries explores the world of children's books in two related exhibitions and a symposium. 'Children's books are unique teaching tools that ignite the imagination and bring form and meaning to language for younger and older generations alike,' shared Carton Rogers, Vice Provost and Director of the Penn Libraries. 'We are pleased to celebrate this genre of work, while at the same time acknowledging two very significant donations to our collections, by highlighting the lives and careers of William Steig, a children's book author who wrote stories that overturn traditional fairytale assumptions, and Atha Tehon, a master at collaboration who helped to shape the works of many of the world's best children's book authors. We hope that members of the Penn community as well as the greater art and literary communities are as inspired by these exhibits as we are.'

Academic satires are a favorite subgenre of mine, and I just read a hilarious one that immediately went on my buy-for-friends list: Dear Committee Members (reviewed below) by Julie Schumacher, faculty member at the University of Minnesota. We recently asked her about her favorite satires:

Author Jan Goddard-Finegold demonstrates her natural gift to weave words with 'The Bee in the Bottle.' An accessible and utterly remarkable poetry compilation, it touches on many a diverse themes, including the mysteries of existence, consciousness, memory, illness and death, feelings of loss and disappointment, and the wonders and beauties of life.

Just in time for the holiday season, The New York Public Library will display Charles Dickens personal prompt copy of his classic tale A Christmas Carol from December 5, 2008 through January 4, 2009 in the free display A Literary Christmas Miscellany which includes a selection of holiday material from the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature. The display is on view in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library's Rose Main Reading Room located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.