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

I always get anxious when writing the word “February.” There are just so many ways it can go wrong. It’s like “Wednesday.” Very confusing. And does anyone really pronounce that first “r”? We should just change it to “Febuary” and call it a day. Well, call it a month. . 1. Shelf Heaven. I haveContinue reading