Guardian Unlimited Books "The most intelligent, thoughtful and lively books site on the web. Combining the literary content of the Guardian and Observer with a web sensibility and original material in different genres, it exists to offer you the best in literary journalism and online resources and to provide a forum for book lovers of all kinds."
You can search this site, or access it a number of ways, including by:
Genre
Reviews
Authors: "One-page guides to a mix of key authors"
Extracts
online Reading Group
and much more, including an extensive set of categorised 'Literary Links' for both readers and writers.
See their Help Page for more information on this excellent site. http://books.guardian.co.uk - Guardian Unlimited Books
http://books.guardian.co.uk/help/ - Help & Introduction to the site
This site is definitely worth a visit! Particularly useful for information on contemporary authors.
The Books section of BBC Arts includes resources for both writers and readers (PLEASE SEE BML write gide) http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/books/index.shtml
The Literary Encyclopedia " is a state-of-the-art reference work focused on literature originally written in English or translated into English. All of its entries have been written since 1999 by a network of over 1500 scholars and experts (listed here) and edited by a distinguished scholarly board. It can therefore be cited and quoted with authority."
It "aims to provide detailed profiles of authors and texts, and basic knowledge on their cultural contexts"
Although this is a subscription service it does make some of its resources freely available, including around the first 600 words of most of its articles, and its glossary. Also the annual fee for membership is fairly low at around £10 a year (2007) and provides many benefits utilising the various ways the contents can be viewed and combined.
The Quick Introduction provides more information.
It is possible to search for People, Works or Topics & Events and/or to browse them A - Z. If you choose to browse then be aware that not all the entries contain any substantial information, some have only the index entry, presumably as an indication that it is intended to cover that entry in the future.
Also, available free, on this site for personal or educational use, The English Style Book, A Guide to the Writing of Scholarly English http://www.litencyc.com - The Literary Encyclopedia
http://www.litencyc.com/stylebook/stylebook.php - The English Style Book
Web English Teacher, a U.S. based site, although it is intended for the English Teacher, many of its resources are of more general use, including:
Index to Literary Sites, an A - Z listing of selected authors, both contemporary and classic, with a set of briefly annotated, categorised links for each.
Young Adult Literature, again, an A - Z listing by author with annotated links for each.
Children's Literature follows the same pattern with annotated links for each author covered.
Poetry "The Poetry Collections page has links to poetry available online. Poetry protected by copyright may not be available."
Vocabulary links to a wealth of vocabulary related sites.
and more...
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/ - Web English Teacher
The Literature Network "offer(s) searchable online literature for the student, educator, or enthusiast." Currently (summer 2007) "over 1900 full books and over 3000 short stories and poems by over 250 authors. Our quotations database has over 8500 quotes."
Individual works may be selected via the Author list There is also a search facility, mainly for searching within a particular work, or all works by a particular author. With some noteable exceptions, e.g. Plato, Shakespeare, most authors represented are from the last two hundred years and out-of-copyright, mostly writing in the English language, although there are also some works available in English translation, e.g. by Jean Jacques Rousseau, Franz Kafka etc.
For each author there is a biography, usually a portrait, and a searchable collection of works. Additional material, such as forum posts, quizzes, is added for some authors.
There is a separate Quotations Search page
Some of the books covered are available, for sale on CD
There are a number of Forums available, registration is free and there is an associated searchable Forums FAQ http://www.online-literature.com/ - The Literature Network
The Luminarium, created by Anniina Jokinen, is a really beautiful site, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. It covers a range of English literature, including poetry, from the medieval, Renaissance, 17th Century and Restoration periods. There is also, recently added, small sections on 19th Century literature (currently only that of Robert Louis Stevenson), Contemporary Women Writers and a a link to another website, also by Anniina Jokinen, Irish Literature, Mythology, Folklore and Drama
For a quick view of the authors covered, by period, scroll towards the bottom of the Home page. For most authors covered it includes biographical information, quotations, extracts (often full text) from their work, and more. The site also includes some lovely illustrations, - a very special site indeed! http://www.luminarium.org - The Luminarium
The Literary Encyclopedia, a subscriber organisation (around £10 a year) makes the beginings of its articles freely available, including, for example, a Biography of Elizabeth Gaskell, an article about Cranford, a list of works by Gaskell and Contemporaries for Mrs Gaskellhttp://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1699 - Gaskell biography (Introduction only)
http://www.litencyc.com - The Literary Encyclopedia
The Alliance of Literary Societies is an alliance of around 100 Literary Societies (mostly, possibly all, UK based) with a wide subject coverage, from Jane Austen to Charlotte Yonge. Includes details of member societies, A - Z, along with a map & gazeteer giving geographical links for individual authors covered by member societies.
Also a conference announcement page, a 'Help!' message board and pages for new authors and poets.
A useful starting point for resources on a particular author. http://www.sndc.demon.co.uk - The Alliance of Literary Societies
Bartleby.com "Great Books Online"
This useful site "publishes the classics of literature, nonfiction, and reference free of charge" These works are largly out of copyright, so you won't find contemporary authors here, but it is an excellent source for some of the greats of English language literature. The Reference section however "combines the best of both contemporary and classic reference works into the most comprehensive public reference library ever published on the web."
Access is by category:
Reference
Verse
Fiction
Nonfiction
or by Index:
Author
Subject
Title
It is also possible to search the whole site, a particular category or a particular work.
If you prefer a physical copy of one of these books, then they can be purchased at the Bartleby Online Bookstore http://www.bartleby.com - Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/bookstore/ - Bartleby Online Bookstore
The British Library is, of course, a treasure trove of historical documents and some of these can be accessed online. These include:
British Library Treasures These are mainly literary works (e.g. Shakespeare in Quarto, Caxton's Chaucer etc) but include the Magna Carta. Here you can see images of the original (click to magnify), read an English translation and supporting material by Library curators and other experts.
Learning at the British Library The Library runs a variety of workshops an other activities, but also provides "a wealth of source material online" covering the following areas:
http://www.bl.uk/ - The British Library
http://www.bl.uk/treasures/treasuresinfull.html - British Library Treasures
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/themes/histtexts.html - Gallery of Historical Texts
http://www.bl.uk/learning/index.html - Learning at the British Library
http://www.bl.uk/about/ontheweb.html - The British Library on the web
The Oxford Text Archive, OTA is home to a varied mix of several thousand electronic texts, many of which are electronic versions of very old works, such as those of Pliny & Hippocrates, but it also includes much more recent works, e.g by Sylvia Plath, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy etc. The subject matter is very varied too, including fiction, poetry, reference, philosophy science etc. Not confined to literature in English some works are offered in translation, some in their original language. Aimed primarily at the academic community the indexes and many of the texts appear to be freely available to all, however you must agree to their conditions of use & provide a valid email address each time you wish to see a text.
The OTA does not create electronic texts, but rather acts as a repository, it states that "The OTA collects high-quality scholarly electronic texts and linguistic corpora (and any related resources) of long-term interest and use across the range of humanities disciplines. These digital resources either support, or result from, UK-based Higher Education research activities. Rather than reproduce holdings which are available elsewhere, the OTA may seek to make these available to the UK Higher Education community through the development of data exchange and access agreements." As such, many of the texts are freely available immiediately, online while for some users must fill in and return (in hard copy) a request form.
More information is available by clicking on 'About the OTA' in the lefthand margin - see in particular their 'Collections Policy', to be found half way down the first 'About the OTA' page - this is a frames site, so it is not possible to give the address of individual pages. http://ota.ahds.ac.uk/ - The Oxford Text Archive, OTA
The Electronic Text Center (Etext Center), of the University of Virginia Library, has a wealth of free electronic resources. Many are available to all over the web, but some are restricted to students and staff of the university, and others are only held offline so must be consulted by physically visiting the Library. Restricted access items are labelled 'VIVA only' or 'UVA only' or 'UVA users', generally those not so labelled, or marked 'Non-UVA users', or 'Public' are available to all.
It is possible to Search only the Publicly-Accessible Collections, or to browse all by Language (these collections are by no means restricted to works in English) or by subject, within collections it is also possible to browse by author. English language collections, with at least some publically available texts, include:
The Modern English Collection (AD 1500-present) "This heterogeneous collection contains fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, letters, newspapers, manuscripts and illustrations from 1500 to the present, arranged for browsing by author's last name or by category of interest." The subject categories mentioned are listed below the author A - Z and include e.g. 'Texts by and about Native Americans', 'Texts by Women Writers', 'Texts about the American Civil War', 'Best Sellers, 1900-1930' etc
The Middle English Collection "65 titles, most of which are publicly-accessible" & many provided by the Oxford Text Archive This collection may be browsed by author, 'Anonymous' to the Paston family, with a large chunk devoted to Geoffrey Chaucer. Restricted texts are listed below those that are publically availabel. A search button is also provided.
Shakespeare Resources "The Electronic Text Center's holdings include a variety of Shakespeare resources that range from early Quartos, the complete 1623 First Folio, and early playhouse promptbooks, to more modern editions and to many bibliographical articles that discuss Shakespeare's works." Many are publicly-accessible and these are listed first. (Please see Burton Manor Learning Web's Shakespeare Resources on the Internet for more details of this and other Shakespeare resources)
Various Special Collections which include some African-American Resources, Mark Twain in His Times, various letters, many by Thomas Jefferson etc
A small collection of British Poetry 1780-1910: a Hypertext Archive of Scholarly Editions includes the first 4 volumes of 'The Germ' an 1850 Poetry Journal (various authors. Also a small collection of 'Other British Poetry, outside the period 1780-1910', includes 'Beowulf', 'Paradise Lost' etc.
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/collections/subjects/ - English Online Resources (plus other languages)
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ - Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia
The University of Virginia Electronic Text Center (Etext Center) also hosts a Free eBook Library containing "Over 2,100 publicly-available ebooks from the University of Virginia Library's Etext Center, including classic British and American fiction, major authors, children's literature, American history, Shakespeare, African-American documents, the Bible, and much more"
Again users must agree to adhere to Conditions of Use
"Each text on this list can be accessed in HTML (web version) for online viewing, and can be downloaded as both a MS Reader E-book for the Microsoft Reader and a Palm-readable text for the Palm Reader. For a step-by-step guide on how to get and use other ebooks and ebook software, look at Candida Martinelli's informative site (How to download E-Texts and E-Books to your PC)"
The collection can be searched or browsed (further down the page) by 'Best Sellers', 'Staff Picks', by Subject and by Author. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ebooks/ - eBook Library
ttp://etext.lib.virginia.edu/ - eText Center
The Internet Archive, now declared officially a Library!, "is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public."
The Archive covers moving images, live music, audio and texts - currently, summer 2007, there are 223,716 texts. These are hosted in seven sub-collections:
Once selected each sub-collection presents a few examples, then further down the page there is a browse facility, by author or Title, and some also by subject or keyword. Alternatively it is possible search across all the sub-collections, or just one, or, indeed, across the whole Archive, using the search box toward the top left of the screen. http://www.archive.org/details/texts - Internet Texts Archive
http://www.archive.org/ - The Internet Archive
The Online Books Page "Listing over 25,000 free books on the Web " Edited by John Mark Ockerbloom at the University of Pennsylvania
The main sections of this site include:
The Indexes, or Book Listings which you can search by Title or Author, or browse by author, title or subject, or browse new additions
There is also a section Books in Progress or Requested, i.e. books that someone is in the process of entering into digital format, or that someone has requested to be entered
Browse the Serials Archive which "lists freely accessible archives of serials (such as magazines, journals, newspapers, and other periodicals)" also accessible from the Indexes, or Book Listings
Get Involved! information on ways you can support this, and similar, project/s
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu - The Online Books Page
Renascence Editions "An Online Repository of Works Printed in English Between the Years 1477 and 1799"
"Renascence Editions is an effort to make available online works printed in English between the years 1477 (when Caxton began printing) and 1799, the date of the first edition of Wordsworth and Coleridge's collaboration on a new kind of poetry. These texts have been produced with care and attention, but are not represented as scholarly editions. They are available to the public for educational and nonprofit purposes only. The publisher and general editor is Risa Stephanie Bear at the University of Oregon. For news about Renascence Editions, see the Renascence Editions Weblog. " http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/ren.htm - Renascence Editions
Travellers' Tales, from the Vision of Britain website, includes the full text of the travel journals of several famous travellers, from the medieval monk
Giraldus Cambrensis, 1188, to George Borrow's 'Wild Wales, 1854. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/travellers/index.jsp - Traveller's Tales
http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk - A Vision of Britain through the Ages
Literature in English from the Voice of the Shuttle at the University of California, Santa Barbara
This splendid and very extensive site provides links to worldwide resources on Literature in English. The links are arranged partly by type & partly by time period, including:
English Departments & Courses in English & American Literature(mostly University courses)
http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=3 - Literature in English (Gateway)
http://vos.ucsb.edu/ - Voice of the Shuttle
Another extensive set of Links to Literary Resources on the Net is provided by Jack Lynch at Rutgers University. This guide covers various languages, but the majority of links, especially those covering more recent time periods, are for Literature in English. This site does not appear to have been updated since 2006, so a few links do not work.
The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival site includes the programme, information on booking and venues, Friends of the Festival, staying at Christ Church etc. There is also mailing list.
The 2007 festival runs from March 20th to March 25th
Includes events for children and schools http://www.sundaytimes-oxfordliteraryfestival.co.uk/ - Oxford Literary Festival
The Cambridge Word Fest site includes the festival programme, information on venues and booking, how to become a Friend etc. There is also an email Newsletter.
The 2007 festival runs from April 27th to April 29th
Includes events for children and young people. http://www.cambridgewordfest.co.uk/ - Cambridge Word Fest
Lincoln Book Festival "the city's celebration of books and the many other art forms they inspire."
The 2007 festival runs from May 11th to May 20th
Includes events for schools and children
The site includes details of the programme, how to book tickets, some accomodation help and membership of the 'Festival Friends' and relevant local links. Lincoln Book Festival's One Read, "one of the Lincoln Book Festival's biggest events ", is an invitation for as many people as possible to read a particular book (for 2007 this is 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by Lewis Carroll) and post a review of it in the festival's online Guestbook (select from lefthand menu)
http://www.lincolnbookfestival.co.uk/ - Lincoln Book Festival
http://www.lincolnbookfestival.co.uk/cityread - One Read
The Hay Festival company now organises Literary Festivals around the world, as well as the famous Hay-on-Wye festival. Details of thir events are given and for the Hay-on-Wye festival ther eis also help with accomodation and details of The Friends of the Hay Festival etc.
The 2007 Hay-on-Wye Festival runs from May 24th to June 3rd
Includes events for children and young people.
Audio & video archive material is available for download at the Hay Festival Archive. Most of the downloads are charged (usually between £1 & £3) using a micropayments system (purchase a package of credits which can then be used to purchase the downloads)although a few podcasts are available for free. RSS feeds signal new content for both the charged & free downloads.
For more details on how to use the archive see the bottom half of the Archive home page or their Archive Help http://www.hayfestival.com/ - Hay Festival
http://www.hayfestival.com/archive/ - Hay Festival Archive
The Edinburgh International book Festival "The world's largest celebration of the written word"
The 2007 festival runs from August 11th to August 27th, the programme should be available from June 14th
Includes events for schools, children and families
The schools programme includes a 5 day Outreach Programme - details from Catriona Scott at Scottish Book Trust on 0131 524 0160
There is an online booking office on the site and press releases are available for download. http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/ - Edinburgh International book Festival
http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/schools/education.html - Schools Outreach Programme (half way down page)