Suspend Your Disbelief

Posts Tagged ‘lit and art’

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Bookish Gift Idea #7: Retro reading posters

by Celeste Ng

We’ve already looked at some posters to encourage kids to read, but what about adults? Take a peek at these amazing vintage-y reading posters. There’s the “Be Kind to Books Club” poster above, as well as several reminding you to read each month, like this one for March: How great would these look over your desk–or in your library, should you be so lucky? Available—along with other historical reading posters—at Art.com. And check back every day in December for another bookish gift idea from FWR!


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Whittle a spoon, write more?

by Celeste Ng

If you’re not a geek (and I use that term as a positive term), you may not know who Mark Frauenfelder is.  But you need not be a geek to learn from his recent post on LifeHacker.  Frauenfelder is editor of DIY-geek-tech MAKE Magazine, and two of his tips on accomplishing more in the day are useful to creative writers, too. The first is a time-honored writing trick—he talks about going into “Robot Mode” when running down his to-do list: I don’t think about how many items are on the list or how many I have left to accomplish. I […]


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Bookish Gift Idea #3: Posters to encourage reading (for kids)

by Celeste Ng

Here’s a gift for a young reader in your life—or any reader who is young at heart and has a little wall space to fill. Remember those “Give a hoot–read a book” posters at the public library when you were a kid? Here’s a roundup of newer, cooler versions to spruce up a book nook or bedroom. Above, the Edgar Allen Poe “READ” print is available from MonsterGallery. Or how about this lovely hand-drawn fox with a Faulkner quote, from Gayana? This cheerful giraffe from Bunch of Bees offers some reading-related wisdom: Check back every day in December for another […]


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Lit Wall Decor

by Celeste Ng

Am I the only one that does spring cleaning in the fall?  Maybe it’s the cold, rainy weather that makes me want to brighten up my house and settle down with a good book and a cup of tea. Should you, too, find yourself simultaneously wishing to spruce up your digs and get some reading done, here are some options for incorporating literature into your wall decor. First, Spineless offers posters made out of the full text of classic novels. That’s right–whip out your magnifying glass, and you could read The Wizard of Oz (right) from start to finish. Says […]


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The essence of a story

by Celeste Ng

Kid-and-design blog OhDeeDoh pointed me to these beautiful, minimalist posters of children’s stories by artist Christian Jackson. Here are a few more: What I love most about these—aside from the obviously amazing graphic design—is the way each poster strips the story down to its most basic elements. It’s the visual version of the old writing exercise: can you tell your story in one paragraph? One sentence? One word? Here, each story is condensed into one image. You can see all of Jackson’s children’s story posters, as well as buy prints (or iphone skins!) featuring the artwork, on his website.


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A Portrait of the Artist as His (or Her) Own Words

by Celeste Ng

Artist and author John Sokol creates portraits of artists out of lines from their own works. Here’s another of his stunning “word portraits”—this is William Faulkner as The Sound and The Fury: Visit Sokol’s Facebook page to see more of his portraits, and should you wish to buy one to inspire you at your writing desk, they’re for sale on his website. (Via Flavorwire.)


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A Kindle for Dickens

by Celeste Ng

If Charles Dickens had had a Kindle, what would it have looked like? That’s the question art student Rachel Walsh tried to answer for her design class, which asked her to explain something modern to someone who died before 1900. Walsh’s explanation involved creating a visual metaphor: Since a 19th-century author wouldn’t have had any concept of downloads, e-readers, or the Internet, Walsh had to create a metaphor for the device that would resonate with Dickens. Realizing that a Kindle is just a lot of books inside a big book, she created an old-school version consisting of literal little books […]




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