bellairsia

A Note of Thanks

2026-02-20T00:01:00.005-06:00

Happy Birthday, John Bellairs

2026-01-17T01:00:00.005-06:00

Join us in celebrating what would have been the 88th birthday of John Bellairs! His dancing soul doth celebrate!

The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring: 1976-2026

2026-01-15T09:00:00.001-06:00

2026 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Dial Books publishing John Bellairs's The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring, the third book in the Lewis Barnavelt series.

Something About Wool Over the Aye-yi-yis in Pompeii

2025-12-31T12:00:00.001-06:00

The Longevious Centennial

2025-02-22T00:01:00.037-06:00

We're celebrating the 100th birthday of Edward St. John Gorey (1925-2000) today.

What Influenced Edward Gorey

2025-02-21T22:01:00.001-06:00

The Gothic Dispatch (Feb. 19) ran through a list of some of Edward Gorey's influences:

Edward Gorey’s “Great Simple Theory About Art”

2025-02-20T19:00:00.002-06:00

Emily Temple discussed this week (Feb. 19) at Literary Hub those trying to "figure out" what makes some people - like Edward Gorey - tick.

Ghastly and Great: Edward Gorey at 100

2025-02-19T22:16:00.001-06:00

David Templeton, the Community and Arts and Entertainment Editor of the Petaluma Argus-Courier (California) shared some thoughts about Edward Gorey earlier this month (Feb. 10):

10 Outrageous Acts Committed by Renaissance Popes

2025-02-18T22:48:00.000-06:00

John Bellairs’s long-time friend from college, Alfred Myers, shared with us once how he and John were both “attracted to the rogues, eccentrics, and general foul balls of the papacy than the much more numerous austere, competent and virtuous examples.” Bellairs wrote a few fictional hagiographical studies of popes belonging to the former categories in Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies (1966) (title character pictured).

The Library of Congress Celebrates Edward Gorey

2025-02-05T00:30:00.002-06:00

First, some souring news --

It seems that the campaign for a 2025 Gorey postage stamp, to be issued on Feb. 22, the centennial of his birth, was unsuccessful. ... In 1979, Gorey purchased an 18th-century sea captain’s home, now the Edward Gorey House...when the museum opens for the season on April 10, its namesake’s 100th birthday will have passed. Likewise, it appears that a documentary by Christopher Seufert, who interviewed and filmed the author in the last five years of his life — Gorey died of a heart attack at age 75 on April 15, 2000 — won’t be finished in time.

However --

Ironton Celebrates a Century of Edward Gorey

2025-02-03T13:21:00.005-06:00

Some recent comments (Jan. 15, 2025) about noted author and illustrator Edward Gorey from the Ironton (Ohio) Tribune:

Happy "Figure in the Shadows" Day

2025-02-02T06:30:00.015-06:00

Actually, it's Groundhog Day here in the United States. February 2 is the only day of the year when "figure in the shadows" refers to a rodent named Phil. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will persist for six more weeks. I wonder if there were groundhogs on the Weatherend estate.

Happy Birthday, John Bellairs

2025-01-17T12:00:00.002-06:00

The calendar rolls around again as we celebrate the 87th birthday of John Bellairs.

Memoriam: Melanie Lea Hayes

2025-01-10T13:31:00.015-06:00

Melanie Lea Alford Hayes of Carbondale passed away on Dec. 31, 2024. She was 48.

The Figure in the Shadows: 1975-2025

2025-01-01T01:00:00.005-06:00

2025 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Dial Books publishing John Bellairs's The Figure in the Shadows, the second book in the long-running Lewis Barnavelt series.

Memoriam: Barbara Dane

2024-10-21T14:53:00.003-05:00

We're remembering American musician and activist Barbara Dane, who died Sunday, Oct. 20. She was 97.

What's Ticking in The Walls

2024-09-15T01:00:00.009-05:00

What's Ticking in The Walls

2024-08-15T01:00:00.059-05:00

What's Ticking in The Walls

2024-07-15T01:00:00.109-05:00

What's Ticking in The Walls

2024-06-15T00:30:00.004-05:00

A Century Since The Crime Of The Century

2024-05-20T15:00:00.001-05:00

May 21 marks one hundred years since Chicago teenagers Nathan Leopold (1904-71) and Richard Loeb (1905-36) murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks as part of their plan to execute a "perfect crime". The two randomly chose Franks and picked him up a few blocks from his home. Following his death, the boys dumped the body near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana, 25 miles south of Chicago. But it wasn't a perfect crime. Police found a pair of eyeglasses near Franks's body with a unique hinge purchased by only three customers in Chicago, one of whom was Leopold. Things escalated quickly, and their confessions were announced ten days later.

Sum þing Māra Abūtan Englisċ

2024-05-06T01:00:00.062-05:00

Hƿæt sǣde hē?

Something About April 11, 1954

2024-04-08T01:00:00.003-05:00

Celebrating something dull.

Memoriam: Richard Strader

2024-03-25T22:00:00.005-05:00

Something About Nero's Theater

2024-03-11T01:00:00.001-05:00

Golden boy strikes again.