Ventura College Library Guides: English: Internet Sources

Author Interviews

BBC - Archive - In Their Own Words: British Novelists - Interviews with remarkable modern writers

BBC collection of interviews with some of the 20th Century's most read authors reveals something of those imaginations and the personalities which lie behind some of the greatest modern novel.

Interviews - Paris Review - Writers, Quotes, Biography, Interviews, Artists

The Paris Review is a literary magazine featuring original writing, art, and in-depth interviews with famous writers.

*Adapted from Library Services, Austin Community College

Specific Collections

A Celebration of Women Writers

"Recognizes the contributions of women writers throughout history" with the goal of promoting "awareness of the breadth and variety of women's writing." Browse by author name, by century or by country.

Geoffrey Chaucer

In addition to the text of the stories, there are translations and lots of background information. From Harvard University.Knowing Poe

The life and works of Edgar Allan Poe are explored in this attractive site.

Middle English Prose and Verse

A searchable, browsable collection of Middle English texts, assembled from works contributed by University of Michigan faculty and from texts provided by the Oxford Text Archive.

Open Source Shakespeare

A general source and index for Shakespeare's works.

The Victorian Women Writers Project

Full texts of many works by 19th Century British women.

Walt Whitman Archive

Texts of poetry (including sound recordings), biographical info, and criticism of the American poet.

*Adapted from Library Services, Austin Community College

Podcasts

AAWW Radio | New Asian American Writers & Literature
The Asian American Writers Workshop podcast provides audio from the workshop's literary events, where they feature and discuss popular and emerging Asian American authors. They'll discuss new works of literature, common topics across Asian American literature and more.
The History of Literature
Literary enthusiast Jacke Wilson journeys through the history of literature from ancient epics to contemporary classics. The History of Literature takes a fresh look at some of the most compelling examples of creative genius the world has ever known.
The National Review
This podcast focuses specifically on classic literature. Each show lasts roughly thirty minutes and features a different guest who discusses a chosen classic. The podcast isn't limited to novels and will occasionally discuss plays by authors such as Shakespeare and Chekhov.
New Yorker Podcasts
Podcasts from The New Yorker, which is considered by many to be the most influential magazine in the world, renowned for its in-depth reporting, political and cultural commentary, fiction, poetry, and humor.

General Literature Collections

Note: Due to copyright, the great majority of online literature collections on the public part of the Web are of authors before the 20th Century.

The Academy of American Poets

The texts of over 600 poems, both old and new. A "listening booth" provides sound files of more than 100 poets (requires Real Audio 3.0).

American Verse Project

Electronic versions of volumes of American poetry, published before 1920, can be searched, read and downloaded. May be particularly useful to students of American poetry for research.

Bartleby

The full text of many books of fiction, poetry, and reference works related to literature, reserarch, and writing.

Poetry Magazines

Searchable digital archive of 19th and 20th century poetry magazines.

*Adapted from Library Services, Austin Community College

Evaluating Websites

Remember, anyone can publish anything online! Make sure you take a critical look at any websites you are considering using for your research!

Watch the video below and check out our Information Evaluation guide for more details.