Lucian Freud dedicated his life to portraying the people in his world without flattery or refinement. Although his technique and style evolved tremendously over the decades, Freud never wavered in his uncompromising standards or unsentimental approac...

Picasso was arguably the most influential artist of the 20th century. Over the course of a career that spanned seven decades – and included thousands of paintings, sculptures, ceramics, drawings, prints, and tapestries -his work continued to evolve i...

Komotau, the Czech Republic, late summer, 1945. Four women – seventy-year-old Johanna, her two daughters Hanna and Maria, and Hanna's daughter Anna – are ordered by the new Czech authorities to leave their homes and assemble with other Germans at the...

Comprehensive and easy to use, this guide covers the architectural riches of Ireland's largest county. The many atmospheric castles and tower houses include Carrigadrohid, Lohort, and Kanturk; among later country houses, Kilshannig and Fota represent...

What is poetry? If music is sound organized in a particular way, poetry is a way of organizing language. It is language made special so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work – over the centuries countless thousands of poems h...

What is sleep? How can this most unproductive of human states – metaphorically called death's shadow or considered the very pinnacle of indolence – be envisioned as action and agency? And what do we become in sleep? What happens to the waking selves...

"we find ourselves deep in the future of fairy tale. we are the offspring of our own imaginings" Ulrike Almut Sandig's second volume of poems to be translated into English is a journey through a world that is imaginary yet entirely recognizable. Pre...

For nearly four decades, Maryse Conde, best known for her novels "Segu" and "Windward Heights", has been at the forefront of French Caribbean literature. In this collection of essays and lectures, written over many years and in response to the challe...

In Bab Al-Saha, a quarter of Nablus, Palestine, sits a house of ill repute. In it lives Nuzha, a young woman ostracized from and shamed by her community. When the Intifada breaks out, Nuzha's abode unexpectedly becomes a sanctuary for those in the qu...

From the publication of his first book in 1953, Yves Bonnefoy has been considered the most important and influential French poet since World War II. A prolific writer, critic, and translator, Bonnefoy continues to compose groundbreaking new work sixt...