Akosua Annan is a confident and fiercely intelligent student at a posh girls' school in Cape Coast, Ghana. There she comes under the influence of a charismatic feminist teacher. Osman Said's background is very different. Upon the death of his parents, a police sergeant and an unschooled market trader, immigrants to the capital, Accra, from the impoverished north of the country, he is adopted by a retired school teacher, Hajia Zainab. After a spell as an apprentice in an auto workshop, he returns to school. There, finding the teaching inadequate, he becomes an avid reader and educates himself. Akosua and Osman are thrown together by chance in the course of a school visit to the slave dungeon at Cape Coast Castle. Their paths cross again as finalists in the national school debating competition where the subject is "The problem of poverty in Ghana is insoluble." They meet for the third time as students at the University of Ghana and as we leave them, it looks as if their relationship might develop into something permanent. This story won a Burt Award for African Literature in 2011. The judges commented: "This fascinating novel tells the story of how these two young people from disparate backgrounds are brought together as if by an unseen hand, in a process that teaches us about our history, our common humanity despite ethnic differences, the need to pursue our ambitions, the strength of human sexuality and the need for self-discipline, and, above all, the power of love."

An enchanted bookstore in a town full of magic.A story of childhood and best friends revisited.A town forced to face the music.A modern myth from a land before time.A charming collision of numbers and magic.Unwelcome change in a land of dragons. In this second fantasy short story collection from Kari Kilgore, she visits lands familiar and strange, mythological and fantastic. From Allsentia to Appalachia to Atlanta, from modern mythology to dragons to joys of distant childhood. Join this talented storyteller on a journey through magical bookstores and haunted towns, lands lost in time and friendships forged across new dimensions. Includes Odds and Endings, Dawn Visitor,?The Earworms, The Spider Who Ate the Elephant,?Little Five, and The Last Dragonkeeper. Odds and EndingsVisit an enchanted bookstore in a town full of magic.Chris Ramsey grew up visiting the Odds and Endings Bookstore in Lightning Gap, Virginia.Wandering the shelves. Finding endless adventures in the pages.Wishing he helped create the magic.Years later, Chris gets his chance.What would you do for the opportunity of a lifetime? Dawn VisitorA beloved dog brings a special gift, especially to a young girl’s life.One that lasts and endures no matter how many years pass.Toby welcomes Ellie home as only a first best friend can.A touching story of childhood and best friends revisited. The EarwormsWhat if your whole town had to face the music?Estonoa, Virginia. A lovely little town tucked deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains.Hiking and ATV trails. Kayaking along the scenic Clinch River.A thriving community focused on the future.Erin Evans loves her hometown, except for one thing.The Earworms.Will Erin find the answer before the music drives her and everyone else crazy? The Spider Who Ate the ElephantA Modern Myth.?An eerie natural phenomenon.In the distant past, in a distant land…Grandmother Spider faces a sad problem far too big and difficult for her to solve.The end of her family and all the creatures in her land.Find out how her triumph echoes from then to now, and into forever.A tale of compassion, survival, and love. Little FiveBarry Evans: An oddball in the oddest land of all.A gray-suited accountant navigating colorful hair, crazy clothing, and questionable businesses.After three months in Little Five, nothing surprises Barry anymore.Until the day he meets a true stranger in town.What happens when numbers meet magic? The Last DragonkeeperWyja, Senior Dragonkeeper of the Upper Abramshire Academy, tends to young dragons and keepers alike.Each group challenging, and exhausting, in their own way.Unwelcome change sets in when dragon birthrates drop to dangerous levels.No one knows why.Can Wyja solve the problem before it’s too late?

The reality is that little is known of Aristophanes actual life but eleven of his forty plays survive intact and upon those rest his deserved reputation as the Father of Comedy or, The Prince of Ancient Comedy. Accounts agree that he was born sometime between 456BC and 446 BC. Many cities claim the honor of his birthplace and the most probable story makes him the son of Philippus of gina, and therefore only an adopted citizen of Athens, a distinction which, at times could be cruel, though he was raised and educated in Athens. His plays are said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more realistically than any other author could. Intellectually his powers of ridicule were feared by his influential contemporaries; Plato himself singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as a slander that contributed to the trial and condemning to death of Socrates and although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher his carried the most weight. His now lost play, The Babylonians, was denounced by the demagogue Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. Aristophanes seems to have taken this criticism to heart and thereafter caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights. His life and playwriting years were undoubtedly long though again accounts as to the year of his death vary quite widely. What can be certain is that his legacy of surviving plays is in effect both a treasured legacy but also in itself the only surviving texts of Ancient Greek comedy.

If ever a writer needed an introduction Arthur Conan Doyle would not be considered that man. After all, Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the foremost literary detective of any age. Add to this canon his stories of science fiction and his poems, his historical novels, his political campaigning, his efforts in establishing a Court Of Appeal and there is little room for anything else. Except he was also an exceptional writer of short stories of the horrific and macabre. Something very different from what you might expect. Born in Arthur Conan Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. From 1876 - 1881 he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh following which he was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and, after his graduation, as a ship's surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast in 1881. Arriving in Portsmouth in June of that year with less than GBP10 (GBP700 today[13]) to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea. The practice was initially not very successful. While waiting for patients, Conan Doyle again began writing stories and composed his first novel The Mystery of Cloomber. Although he continued to study and practice medicine his career was now firmly set as a writer. And thereafter great works continued to pour out of him. Here Rodney Stone is another enduring example of the man and his work.

William Congreve was born on January 24th, 1670 in Bardsey, West Yorkshire. Congreve's childhood was spent in Ireland (his father, a Lieutenant in the British Army had received a posting there). He was educated at Kilkenny College and then Trinity College in Dublin. After graduating he returned to London to study law at Middle Temple. However his interest in studying law soon lessened as the attraction of literature, drama, and the fashionable life began to exert its pull. This first play, The Old Bachelor, was written, to amuse himself during convalescence, and was produced at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1693. It was an enormous success. Although his playwrighting career was successful it was also very brief. Five plays authored from 1693 to 1700 would prove the entirety of his output. Although no further plays were to flow from his pen Congreve did write librettos for two operas and to begin translating the works of Moliere as well as Homer, Ovid and Horace and to write poetry. He also took an interest in politics and obtained various minor political posts, including being named Secretary of the Island of Jamaica by George I in 1714. Congreve suffered a carriage accident in late September 1728, from which he never recovered (having probably received an internal injury); William Congreve died in London on January 19th, 1729, and was buried in Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson (1832 - 1910), the third man to ever win the Nobel Prize in Literature. However when considering the quality of his writing he is perhaps not as celebrated as he should be. Being also a Nobel Laureate in Literature, Bjornson has also been credited with many other impressive successes. These include writing the lyrics for the Norwegian national anthem, mastering all forms of literature; poetry, novels, short stories, essays and playwriting and being elevated to one of the Four Greats; the name for the classic Norwegian writers, others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie and Alexander Kielland. Here we look at one of his many plays. Much of his work was nearly as popular in his native Norway as Ibsen's and we now bring you these masterful works in English for you to compare. Our imprint Stage Door offers both Ibsen's and Bjornson's works in English.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground is both a fictional and philosophical work. It is considered by many critics as an early existentialist novella. The narrative takes the form of notes written by an unnamed narrator and is divided into two parts. In the first part entitled "e;Underground,"e; the protagonist is presented as a pessimist misanthrope who comments on a number of philosophical concepts such as the duality between determinism and free will. Basing his criticism on the work of Nikolay Chernyshevsky, he attacks modern schools of thought that purport to be founded solely on logical reasoning, namely utilitarianism and positivism. The second part of the book, entitled "e;Apropos of the Wet Snow,"e; is closer to fiction than to philosophical analysis. It rather seems to serve as a practical part for the theories exposed in the former through relating some events that happened to the narrator when he was a young man. The narrator often finds difficulty in socializing and even in interacting with the different people around him. Total misunderstanding and mistrust make him feel alienated in society. His feeling of indecision keeps on haunting him until the very end of the narrative when it is revealed that he has even been hesitating to conclude his notes.

The life of William Shakespeare, arguably the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, is relatively unknown. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1565, possibly on the 23rd April, St. George's Day, and baptised there on 26th April. Little is known of his education and the first firm facts to his life relate to his marriage, aged 18, to Anne Hathaway, who was 26 and from the nearby village of Shottery. Anne gave birth to their first son six months later. Shakespeare's first play, The Comedy of Errors began a procession of real heavyweights that were to emanate from his pen in a career of just over twenty years in which 37 plays were written and his reputation forever established. This early skill was recognised by many and by 1594 the Lord Chamberlain's Men were performing his works. With the advantage of Shakespeare's progressive writing they rapidly became London's leading company of players, affording him more exposure and, following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, a royal patent by the new king, James I, at which point they changed their name to the King's Men. By 1598, and despite efforts to pirate his work, Shakespeare's name was well known and had become a selling point in its own right on title pages. No plays are attributed to Shakespeare after 1613, and the last few plays he wrote before this time were in collaboration with other writers, one of whom is likely to be John Fletcher who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King's Men. William Shakespeare died two months later on April 23rd, 1616, survived by his wife, two daughters and a legacy of writing that none have since yet eclipsed.

Robert Greene was, by the best accounts available, born in Norwich in 1558 and baptised on July 11th.Greene is believed to have been a pupil at Norwich Grammar School and then attended Cambridge receiving his B.A. in 1580, and an M.A. in 1583. He then moved to London and began an extraordinary chapter in his life as a widely published author. His literary career began with the publication of the long romance, 'Mamillia', (1580). Greene's romances were written in a highly wrought style which reached its peak in 'Pandosto' (1588) and 'Menaphon' (1589). Short poems and songs incorporated in some of the romances attest to his ability as a lyric poet. In 1588, he was granted an MA from Oxford University, almost certainly as a courtesy degree. Thereafter he sometimes placed the phrase Utruisq. Academiae in Artibus Magister', "e;Master of Arts in both Universities"e; on the title page of his works.The lack of records hinders any complete biography of Greene but he did write an autobiography of sorts, but where the balance lies between facts and artistic licence is not clearly drawn. According to that autobiography 'The Repentance of Robert Greene', Greene is alleged to have written 'A Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance' during the month prior to his death, including in it a letter to his wife asking her to forgive him and stating that he was sending their son back to her. His output was prolific. Between 1583 and 1592, he published more than twenty-five works in prose, becoming one of the first authors in England to support himself with his pen in an era when professional authorship was virtually unknown.In his 'coney-catching' pamphlets, Greene fashioned himself into a well-known public figure, narrating colourful inside stories of rakes and rascals duping young gentlemen and solid citizens out of their hard-earned money. These stories, told from the perspective of a repentant former rascal, have been considered autobiographical, and to incorporate many facts of Greene's own life thinly veiled as fiction. However, the alternate account suggests that Greene invented almost everything, merely displaying his undoubted skills as a writer.In addition to his prose works, Greene also wrote several plays, none of them published in his lifetime, including 'The Scottish History of James IV', 'Alphonsus', and his greatest popular success, 'Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay', as well as 'Orlando Furioso', based on Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.His plays earned himself the title as one of the 'University Wits', a group that included George Peele, Thomas Nashe, and Christopher Marlowe.Robert Greene died 3rd September 1592.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is regarded by many readers and literary critics to be THE major English novelist of the Victorian Age. He is remembered today as the author of a series of weighty novels which have been translated into many languages and promoted to the rank of World Classics. The latter include, but are not limited to, The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, A Christmas Carol, Hard Times, Great Expectations and The Old Curiosity Shop. His talents extended to many other forms including short stories, poetry, letters and his serial magazines. Of course being such a talent he also wrote plays. We are very pleased to present his fourth of four plays: The Lamplighter

In 1986, gifted animator John Lasseter, technology guru Ed Catmull, and visionary Steve Jobs founded Pixar Animation Studios. Their goal: create a computer animated feature, despite predictions that it could never be done. An unprecedented catalog of blockbuster films later, the studio is honoring its history in this deluxe volume. From its fledgling days under George Lucas to ten demanding years creating Toy Story to the merger with Disney, each milestone is vibrantly detailed. Interviews with Pixar directors, producers, animators, voice talent, and industry insiders, as well as concept art, storyboards, and snapshots illuminate a history that is both definitive and enthralling.

LAIKA, the studio behind the hit films Coraline and ParaNorman, introduces audiences to a new breed of family: the Boxtrolls, a community of quirky, mischievous creatures who have lovingly raised an orphaned human boy named Eggs in the amazing cavernous home they've built beneath the streets of Cheesebridge. When the town's villain, Archibald Snatcher, comes up with a plot to get rid of the Boxtrolls, Eggs decides to venture above ground where he meets and teams up with fabulously feisty Winnie to devise a daring plan to save Eggs' family. The Art of The Boxtrolls features the amazingly detailed artwork that went into this film's creation, including character sketches, puppets, textiles, set dressing, and 3-D printed facial models, alongside the story of the film's development.

See the iconic, energetic art of Aardman Animations like never before! The Art of Aardman takes readers on an unforgettable, behind-the-scenes journey through the studio's archives. This collection features original character sketches and never-before-seen concept art, offering a unique look inside the studio that created Chicken Run, Morph, and, of course, Wallace ＆ Gromit. Kicking things off with forewords from founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton, this celebration of all-things Aardman is a must-have for all animation fans.

Nu cred c trebuie s interpretm altfel referirile lui Clinescu la vechimea poporului romn dect ca o proiecie mitic a unor date istorice i, mai ales, a unor intuiii i ambiii personale. Dar chiar i aa, aceste idei meritau s fie formulate i ncarnate n imagini, aceste pagini meritau s fie scrise, fie i numai pentru clipele de reverie istoric i de mobilizare afectiv pe care ni le produc, pentru ficiunile verosimile pe care ni le propun cu atta trie i n care suntem liberi s credem cu propria noastr trie ca ntr-un alt posibil destin.“ – Mircea Martin

uneori moartea vinedac? lumea arde multe lum?n?ri,dar muribunda astanu pricepe,nu vrea ca inima s?-i crape ?nc? ?ise tot pune pe partea st?ng?ca s-o lini?teasc?,?i url? c?t poate:?sunt vie! de ce pleca?i?“

Ianoi e viu, atent i emoionat de orice problem de parc acum abia ar ntra, aplecndu-se uor, sub naltul portic al Cunoaterii. Curios, profesnd acea dubl curiozitate, rar azi – fa de problem, dar i fa de cel ce o ridic. Fa de Fiin. Cultura romn se poate felicita, n zilele i anii notri un pic buimaci, unde Nordul valorilor pare a se fi rtcit undeva, n alte secole sau pe alte continente, c posed un cercettor, un profesor i un ins capabil de o asemenea cuprindere a unor platforme culturale att de auguste i, aparent, contradictorii. Unul din puinii supravieuitori ai acelei Mitteleuropa sapieniale, acei ndrgostii fr pricin de misterele artei i ale gndului, unul dintre acei, rari azi i n Europa, ce pesc uor peste granie istorice i mentale, rigide pentru atia, cu o graie, cu o uurin ce ne poate nela asupra acelui depozit afund de suferin i travaliu, de tenacitate unic pe care numai prezena unui ideal poate s-o explice. Iat unde putem gsi Idealul su Modelul, dezorientai nu rareori de propriile noastre ezitri i eecuri.“ (Nicolae Breban)Ianoi este un om pentru care problema morala exist, iar faptul acesta l aaz ntr-o postur extrem de fecund i de necesar, de mediator. ntr-o lume care devine tot mai conflictual, uneori n mod stupid, cu totul superficial i aberant. Ion Ianoi cred ca ne d o lecie de economie de conflict. Vd n aceast lecie i n persoana lui un model de senintate, de sinceritate intelectual, de europenitate.“ (Mircea Martin)[...] stilul Ianoi; un stil unic n cultura romn. Nu e vorba, n cazul d-sale, de cri de erudiie pedant, seac, ci de cri scrise cu un mare talent literar, cred eu, i cu extraordinare capaciti de evocare.“ (Gabriel Dimisianu)Am spus i cu alte prilejuri, am scris i cu alte ocazii c Ion Ianoi este un dar fcut literaturii romne. Oare avem puterea de a ne bucura de acest dar Avem fora de a-l onora i de a ne minuna de el, aa cum se cuvine Printre scriitorii romni, prietenul nostru e perceput drept un crturar evreu-maghiar atipic. Printre evrei e tratat drept un romn sadea. n Ianoi vd un model de prim rang, un mare crturar ce s-a nzidit n literatura romn, un scriitor care ar face onoare oricrei culturi majore a lumii. Ianoi este, apoi, un spectacol, n pofida felului su de a fi, aproape n ciuda sa...“ (Aura Christi)

Edi?ie alc?tuit?, coordonat? ?i ?ngrijit? de Iulian Boldea?Profilul c?rturarului Nicolae Balot?, pe care acest volum se str?duie?te s?-l contureze, adun? laolalt? expresivitatea, rigoarea ?i erudi?ia eseistului ?i criticului literar, dar ?i afectivitatea sublimat? a memorialistului. Sumarul c?r?ii e alc?tuit din mai multe texte semnate de Nicolae Balot?, relevante pentru concep?ia sa critic? ?i estetic?, dintr-o schi?? de portret apar?in?nd lui Matei Boil?, din dou? dialoguri ?n care se ?mpletesc accentele confesive ?i proiec?iile teoretice ?i din dou? sec?iuni exegetice. Prima, Interpret?ri, con?ine abord?ri ale operei critice sau memorialistice a lui Nicolae Balot? ?n ansamblul ei, ?n timp ce a doua, Lecturi, cuprinde analize aplicate asupra unei anumite c?r?i. La toate acestea se adaug? necesarele repere bio-bibliografice. Textele au fost ini?ial tip?rite ?ntr-un num?r al revistei Vatra consacrat lui Nicolae Balot?; a?a se explic? unele referiri ale autorilor la binecunoscuta revist? din T?rgu-Mure?. Le mul?umesc, ?i pe aceast? cale, domnului Nicolae Balot?, pentru amabilitatea cu care a r?spuns provoc?rii noastre, ?i celorlal?i autori, pentru disponibilitatea domniilor lor, f?r? de care acest volum ar fi fost imposibil de realizat.“ – Iulian Boldea

Cartea reprezint? o minimonografie spectaculoas? despre proza, publicistica ?i poezia unuia dintre cei mai mari poe?i interbelici, Tudor Arghezi. M.V. Buciu are un instrumentar critic adus la zi, ca ?i bibliografia de altfel, aten?ia exegetului fiind focalizat? asupra operei acestui mare scriitor, contestat vehement ?n perioada post-decembrist?. ?n esen??, monografia lui M.V. Buciu, constituie o temeinic? tentativ? de rea?ezare a lui Tudor Arghezi ?n actualitatea literar?, readuc?nd ?n discu?ie, dar nu mai pu?in ?n actualitate, complexitatea personalit??ii argheziene, un urma? al poetului na?ional, Mihai Eminescu.

nainte de orice altceva, Poezia de la Gndirea este o carte despre slbiciunea conceptelor. Ce mai definesc azi cuvinte precum tradiionalism sau modernism ntre rzboaie, termenii au polarizat probabil toate disputele, nelsnd n stare de neutralitate aproape nimic. Nu-i vorba, nu ideologiile fac literatura. Iar cnd este vorba despre poezie, lucrurile sunt cu atat mai complicate. Or, privind napoi cu suspiciune, Mircea A. Diaconu realizeaz nu doar o descriere comparativa a principalelor constante ale poeziei de la Gndirea, ci si o anatomie – sceptic mcar – a conceptelor n disputa lor cu realitatea de fapt. Criticii conceptelor – dublate de o ncercare de refundamentare a lor – i rspunde o analiz minuioas, fr parti-pris-uri, a realitii de fapt. n distana aceasta, dintre concept i realitate, ptrunde ochiul deopotriv al istoricului i al criticului literar. Iar ceea ce rezult nu mai este o sum de adevruri apodictice, ci o proiecie hermeneutic fundamentat interogativ.

Volumul reprezint? punctul de finalizare a unor preocup?ri anterioare ale autorului, afirmat ?n c?mpul semioticii ?i al stilisticii prin studii ?i eseuri dedicate cu prec?dere poeziei rom?ne?ti de-a lungul evolu?iei ei. F?r? a-i ignora pe creatorii medii, importan?i pentru c? dau expresie continuit??ii, el ?i-a propus s? explice, cu mijloacele puse la dispozitie de progresul ?nregistrat de disciplinele umaniste ?n ultima jum?tate de secol, ?misterul“ care transforma limba ?n opera. Sunt discuta?i marii poe?i na?ionali, de la Mihai Eminescu la Nichita St?nescu, relev?ndu-i-se fiec?ruia specificitatea, a?a cum se deta?eaz? ea pe fundalul unor constante care definesc ?ns??i esen?a poeticit??ii.

Citindu-l, recitindu-l pe Nietzsche, citind i recitind nietzscheenii, dostoievskienii, m recream, m remodelam, strunjindu-m pe mine nsmi i, n acelai timp, m reapropiam altminteri, de fiecare dat, de continentul Nietzsche, iar n timp probabil, iari i iari, mai rapid – prin intermediul celui care l-a creat pe Zarathustra – de mine nsmi. Scrierile mele, romanele, poemele, eseurile se afl, volens nolens, sub auspiciile dionisiace ale acestui scriitor spre care m harponeaz, instinctiv, de bun seam, i voina de a deveni ceea ce sunt: poet. Un poet care propaga un soi de stranie religie a viului, n esen de neexprimat, o religie-mit de sorginte nietzschean, construit pe un exces de personalitate.(...) Boala, cu un pic de noroc, poate fi pintenul dat de un nesfrit zeu rutcios i perspicace n bolgiile luminoase ale destinului. ntlnirea mea cu acest spectacol de un dramatism randiose – care este Nietzsche – din ntmplare cred c s-a transformat n destin. Da. i totodat n voina de Destin“. – Aura Christi.Am terminat de citit cu nfrigurare Nietzsche i Marea Amiaz (oricum, verbul a citi nu sintetizeaz dect imperfect efortul sinestezic pe care-l necesit o carte att de complex i de bogat n idei). La un prim nivel, volumul poate fi lecturat ca un impresionant catalog al marilor teme“ din literatura european (german, francez, englez, rus, romn), aceea nrudit, direct sau indirect, cu suflul zarathustrian al fostului profesor de la Universitatea din Basel. La un nivel secund ns, mult mai profund i mai semnificativ, el este un elogiu excepional adus vitalismului injectat de solarul divin, reflectat magistral prin textele unor Berdiaev, Sestov, Kierkegaard i mai ales Nietzsche. Filiaia cea mai puternic i mai transparent care mi vine n minte dup parcurgerea paginilor tale este Rudolf Otto: dei nu are nevoie s-l citeze niciodat explicit, cartea este infuzat de conceptul de numinos, acel sacru inefabil intuit de teologul german n lucrarea sa capital, Das Heilige. Te felicit pentru acest volum, exemplar n toate sensurile, i sunt convins c oamenii crora li se adreseaz nu vor mai fi aceiai dup parcurgerea sa.“ – Ctlin Ghi.