Today we share another excerpt from First Words, a collection of early writings by famous authors, edited by Paul Mandelbaum.  Our previous posts have highlighted the work of Stephen King and Margaret Atwood.  Today’s installment features a short story written by Joyce Carol Oates at age 17 that was published in her high school’s magazine. Continue reading

“One day while I was happily pretending to myself that I was Madame Curie, I blew up the lab,” recalled Madeleine L’Engle in her 1983 Library of Congress address. These days, L’Engle is known and loved for her vibrant imagination. Her high school chemistry teacher probably wasn’t so smitten. In First Words, a collection ofContinue reading

Today we have another excerpt from First Words, a collection of early writings by famous authors, edited by Paul Mandelbaum. Last week we shared one of Margaret Atwood’s first short stories. This week, we have a grisly fairytale that Stephen King penned at the tender age of nine.         Jhonathan and theContinue reading

First Words is a collection of early writings from twenty-two famous authors, collected and edited by Paul Mandelbaum. Today we’re featuring one of Booker Prize-winning author Margaret Atwood’s first stabs at short fiction, in which she grapples with some of the themes that will inform her later work. Check back in a couple weeks forContinue reading