Can you name all the trees, flowers and birds around you? According to legend, the great novelist Vladimir Nabokov once met a Cornell University who asked Nabokov for writing advice. The writing student received this curt reply:

Nabokov looks up from his reading he points to a tree outside his office window. ‘What kind of tree is that?’ he asks the student. ‘What?’ ‘What is the name of that tree?’ asks Nabokov. ‘The one outside my window.’ ‘I don’t know,’says the student. ‘You’ll never be a writer.’ says Nabokov.”

Debut novelist Brian Kimberling published Snapper this week, a novel drawn from his own experience as  a bird researcher. His book is filled with careful and unexpected descriptions of nature, so we caught up with Kimberling for some nature writing advice…

Read more

As Hurricane Sandy swept through New Jersey, Halloween celebrations were moved to November 5th. To celebrate, we are re-running 25 free horror books that you can download right now for your eReader, smartphone or tablet. Follow the links below to read.

If you want to help with hurricane relief, you can donate money to Red Cross disaster relief right now. You can also make an appointment to donate blood to the Red Cross.

In 2010, novelist Neil Gaiman created the “All Hallow’s Read,” literary holiday, a night to give someone you love a scary book. The writer explained the new tradition in the video embedded above–here’s more from the official site:

Obviously, we support bookshops and authors, but more than that, this is about making a holiday tradition of book-giving. So feel free to give second-hand books or books from your own shelves. And feel just as free to buy a beautiful new book from a small independent bookseller, or from online or… look, there’s no wrong way to buy a book. You can even gift it to their Kindle … If you do not know what scary book to give someone, talk to a bookseller or a librarian. They like to help. Librarians will not mind even if you admit that you are not planning to take out a book, but instead you are going to buy one and give it to someone.

Read more

Dorchester Publishing closed earlier this year and sold 1,000 titles to Amazon. Now the publisher is working to transfer rights back to its authors, but they have a long list of writers that they cannot contact.

Click here to see the list of authors Dorchester hopes to contact. If you know any of these authors, help them connect with Dorchester and complete the revision process. Oddly enough, the list includes a few authors who have passed away, including Louis L’Amour, Robert Louis Stevenson and H.P. Lovecraft.

Check it out: “Thank you for your support over the last 75 years. At this time, we are completing the reversion process, transferring all titles back to their respective authors. Though we have made great strides, our research has uncovered a number of authors for whom we have no contact information. In addition, there are a number of titles without corresponding authors. To complete this reversion process, we will need your help.” (Via Stacia Kane & Sarah Weinman)

In honor of National Poetry Month, we’ve dug up a video featuring UK actor Billy Connolly reading Robert Louis Stevenson‘s “My Shadow.” The video features scenes from Disney’s 1953 animation film, Peter Pan.

Connolly is currently acting in Peter Jackson‘s two-part Hobbit movies; he plays a dwarf named Dáin II Ironfoot. In the past, he has starred in many literary adaptations including Gulliver’s Travels (2010) and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).

Stevenson wrote Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde. He also published poetry, short stories and travel writing. “My Shadow” comes from a collection of children’s poetry entitled A Child’s Garden of Verses. Internet users can download that book for free on Project Gutenberg.

Actor Elijah Wood will return to Middle Earth in the two-part film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Hobbit. Update: This spoiler-filled post explains how Wood’s Frodo character will fit into the adaptation.

Deadline New York reported: “Wood is confirmed to star in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit to be shot in New Zealand. In addition, he has signed on to play ‘Ben Gunn’ in Stewart Harcourt’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island along side Eddie Izzard.”

Besides Wood (pictured, via), other castmates returning from Lord of the Rings include: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf, and Andy Serkis as Gollum. At the moment, Orlando Bloom is rumored to be considering his return as Legolas.

Penguin Group (USA) and Egyptian publisher Dar El Shorouk have partnered to bring Penguin Classics to the Arabic world.

Some of the planned titles include Robert Louis Stevenson‘s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Miguel de Cervantes‘ Don Quixote, and Jonathan Swift‘s Gulliver’s Travels.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Dar El Shorouk chairman Ibrahim El Moallem. Here’s an excerpt about censorship in the Arab world: “Mr. El Moallem said that presenting the Penguin library as a series of the world’s greatest books may help trump the censorship issue. In addition, while the books will be launched as printed physical copies, planned digital editions will prove difficult to repress.”

Read more