1943: Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is published…
Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a story about growing up poor in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn, shines a light on first- and second-generation Americans living in poverty. More
How Harlequin Became Romance
When Richard H.G. Bonnycastle, a former Arctic explorer with the Hudson Bay Company, launched Harlequin Books in Winnipeg in 1948, he had little interest in building a publishing empire around romance novels. More
Emily Post’s Etiquette
This “bible of etiquette” has been published by HarperCollins for more than three decades. More
The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book
An innovative landmark from “one of the really great cooks of all time” (James Beard). More
Rosemary Sullivan
I write out of compulsion. “The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner,” as Alan Sillitoe remarked—the exhilaration and discipline of the run; the finish line unknown until you get there. More
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Award-winning first book in the If You Give series, which has sold more than 15 million copies. More
Original contract for Thorn-Apple Tree
Grace Campbell’s debut novel, Thorn-Apple Tree, was one of the earliest works of fiction written by a Canadian to be published by William Collins Sons & Co. Canada Ltd. More
Letter to Eleanor Roosevelt regarding a new autobiographical book
Harper editor and chairman of the board Cass Canfield sent this letter, dated April 10, 1951, to Eleanor Roosevelt... More
Lauren Oliver
I read so that I can learn and I write so that I can explore. More
Henry Huggins
The debut novel from Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary. More
Dorothea Benton Frank
You’ve asked me to tell you why I write but I think the answer might be longer than the fifty or one hundred words you’ve allotted me. More
Bridge to Terabithia
Newbery Medal–winning novel; a true modern classic and touchstone of children’s literature. More
To Kill a Mockingbird
When J. B. Lippincott (later acquired by HarperCollins) editor Therese (Tay) von Hohoff saw the first draft of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), she saw a promising story, but one in need of some reshaping and editing. More
1949: Harper & Brothers publishes the Pulitzer-Prize winning Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks…
Harper & Brothers publishes Annie Allen by Gwendolyn Brooks, which wins the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry and makes Brooks the first African American writer to receive the award. More
Sarah Morgan
I read for many reasons. More
Bel Canto
Patchett’s critically acclaimed novel that won the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction. More
Emma Freedman
Why I read: To escape the everyday in worlds that wildly creative people invite us into, and to expand the mind. More
Katherine Applegate
I write to see where I’ve already been. More
1863: Harper & Brothers takes a clear stand in favor of abolition
Harper & Brothers takes a clear stand in favor of abolition with the publication of Fanny Kemble’s Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838–1839. More
Brenda Jackson
Of all the books I’ve read, it was a romance story that influenced me the most. More
The Year of Magical Thinking
Winner of the 2005 National Book Award for Nonfiction and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. More
Anne Hillerman
I read to take a mini-vacation in my own living room, to go back in history, forward in time, or to a place I love and had forgotten. More
Go Set a Watchman
This newly discovered novel from beloved author Harper Lee became the bestselling book of 2015. More
Social Change: Sex in the 20th Century
In between the two world wars, Harper authors tackled the then taboo subject of sex. More
Judith Kerr
Why I write: Usually, so that I can do the illustrations. More
Journey to Jo’burg
Groundbreaking book set in South Africa during the apartheid era and banned by its government. More
Barbara Taylor Bradford
When I say I have the need to write, I do mean need. More
