PBS
How Manga Took Over American Bookshelves (Feat. Princess Weekes)
Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, Akira, Sailor Moon, Demon Slayer, Death Note all these interesting, iconic anime have something very much in common they started off as: manga. Manga, by its most simplistic definition, are comics or graphic...
Curated Video
Octavia Butler
First popularized as a genre of literature in the 1920s, for decades science fiction was dominated by white male authors. That is until Octavia Butler, an African American woman, rewrote the script.
PBS
An Ode to the Romance Novel
Love it or hate it, the romance novel is the highest grossing literary genre. Its history is long and winding (like your favorite romance novel), and romance novels are full of tropes reflected upon its history. It has been the subject...
Curated Video
The Evolution of YA
Young Adult Fiction (YA) is dominating literature, and more young people are reading now than ever before. Lindsay Ellis explores how YA carved a place in publishing with It's Lit! from PBS Digital Studios.
Oxford Comma
The Forgotten Character in Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"
Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” is an archetype for the horror genre. So, much has been said about Rodrick, his sister Madeline, and the house they both represent and dwell within. But the third character, Rodrick’s...
Curated Video
How Do You Write a Bestseller? (Feat. @Lindsay Ellis)
Here on It’s Lit!, we spend a lot of time pontificating on the high canon of books: Your Shakespeares, your Tolstoys, your… erotic beast wars fanfiction. But today we’re craving something a little lighter, a little fluffier… you know,...
Curated Video
To Kill, To Kill a Mockingbird?
One of the trademark texts of the American school system is Harper Lee’s 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird. For decades it has been widely read in high schools and middle schools as a key anti-racist text. But how did this novel, with its...
Curated Video
How Fantasy Reflects Our World
Fantasy novels are more than just hundreds of pages worth of swords and magic! Okay, there's some of that. But it's also a lens to what our society finds important to our pasts, our presents, and future.
Curated Video
Why Sci Fi is a Mirror on Society
While science fiction is associated with Mars, robots, and cyberpunk, its origin story is shaped throughout several centuries. Check out the origin of science fiction with Lindsay Ellis!
The Great War
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
While many can identify Ernest Hemingway's famous works, they may be unaware of his service during World War I and how that affected his literary contributions. An video details Hemingway's service in World War I and explains events and...
TED-Ed
Why Should You Read "One Hundred Years of Solitude"?
How does One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez represent the genre of magical realism? Scholars explore the topic by watching an informative video. Next, they answer quiz questions and join an online discussion about...