Frank Carlson Library

Nim Rusoe is a young girl who inhabits an isolated island with her scientist father and communicates, via e-mail, with the reclusive author of the novel she has been reading. Nim's existence mirrors that of her favorite literary character, Alex Rover, the world's greatest adventurer. But Alexandra, the author of the Rover books, leads a reclusive life in the big city. When Nim's father goes missing from the island, Nim gets Alexandra to come to her...

Examine the visionary work and the turbulent life of Ernest Hemingway, one of the greatest and most influential writers America has ever produced. Interweaving his eventful biography, a life lived at the ultimately treacherous nexus of art, fame, and celebrity, with carefully selected excerpts from his luminous short stories, novels, and non-fiction, viewers will see beyond the faȧde of the public man, becoming intimately familiar with this brilliant,...

In an attempt to heal from the deterioration caused by the pressures of sudden fame and too much alcohol, famous Beat author Jack Kerouac escapes to an isolated, mist-shrouded cabin in the primitive landscape of the Big Sur woods. Instead of finding the peace he desires, he is foiled once again by his own inner demons and sets off on a visceral collision course of paranoia, sex, delirium tremens, misery and madness.

Recounts Mark Twain's life told primarily through his own words. Includes interviews with Hal Holbrook, Arthur Miller, William Styron and many others.

In 1959, Truman Capote was a popular writer for The New Yorker. He learns about the horrific and senseless murder of a family of four in Halcomb, Kansas. Inspired by the story, Capote and his partner, Harper Lee, travel to the town to do research for an article. However, as Capote digs deeper into the story, he is inspired to expand the project into what would be his greatest work, "In Cold Blood." He arranges extensive interviews with the prisoners,...

A romance writer, seeking her kidnapped sister in South America, experiences the adventures of a story-book heroine when aided by a rugged jungle hunter.

Amidst the adventure, hardships, and excitement of her teenage years on the Dakota prairie, Laura Ingalls Wilder puts pen to paper and begins to document her extraordinary life. Laura matures from young girl to woman, making sacrifices to help her family survive. She also meets her loving husband, Almanzo Wilder, and together with their daughter, Rose, they set off on their own pioneer adventure in Missouri.

Based on the landmark memoir by John Howard Griffin, Black Like Me stars James Whitmore as Griffin, who medically altered his pigment and, with the help of a sunlamp, reinvented himself as an itinerant black writer navigating his way through Mississippi and Alabama. Along the way he experienced firsthand both crushing racism and the incredible life force of the Afro-American communities.

An artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the acclaimed novelist. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to '70s-era book tours with Muhammad Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics, and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature.

John Farley grew up as a chubby kid with no athletic skills and poor self-esteem. During his early teenage years his nemesis was Mr. Woodcock, the school's gym teacher. Woodcock took a sadistic glee in tormenting John and others like him. Years later, John has slimmed down and has come to terms with his self-image. He has become a best-selling author, publishing a self-help book on overcoming the specters of the past. John comes home to visit his...