* These resources require a Houston Public Library Power Card for access from your home or office.
Includes the full-text of American and British poetry from the 20th century. *
Directory of manuscript and primary source material across the United States. It contains the National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMC) from 1959 to the present.
A collection of passages, phrases, and proverbs traced to their sources in ancient and modern literature.
Contains the full text of plays written from the mid-1800s to the present by playwrights from North America, English-speaking Africa, the Caribbean, and other African diaspora countries.*
Short fiction produced by writers from Africa and the African Diaspora from the earliest times to the present compiled from early literary magazines, archives, and the personal collections of the authors.*
Presents literature and essays by authors from Africa and the African Diaspora.*
A collection of online reference titles especially useful for homework assignments. Titles for older students cover science, literature, and history. Titles for younger users introduce basic concepts such as shapes and numbers. *
Dictionary of Literary Biography Complete Online features profiles of more than 143,000 past and present authors, historians, journalists, screenwriters, publishers, and playwrights. The biographies discuss the lives and careers of the literary figures profiled, along with the critical response to their works.
Full-text reference books on topics including biography, business, the environment, history, law, social sciences, medicine, religion, the sciences, and multicultural studies.*
Classic titles frequently found on school reading lists. Quick links to search the Library Catalog for locations.
Literary Reference Center combines information from over 1,000 books, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, and hundreds of literary journals.*
Includes Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Shakespeare Criticism, Literature Criticism 1400-1800, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Short Story Criticism, Drama Criticism, and Children’s Literature Review.
Biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors and their works.*
The Modern Language Association's definitive bibliography on topics related to language and literature. Some full text.*
Download audiobooks from Recorded Books on a variety of PCs and mobile devices. Separate account set-up in netLibrary is required.* Please Note: NetLibrary has been acquired by EBSCO and now has a new interface. We are having issues with NetLibrary/EBSCO downloadable audiobooks. The problem is being worked on.
Read e-books on all subjects including some vocational textbooks, technical manuals, and Texas history. Note: downloadable e-books available by remote use only.* Please Note: NetLibrary has been acquired by EBSCO and now has a new interface.
A complete readers resource with information on well over 200,000 fiction and narrative nonfiction titles.
An online reference e-book that provides comprehensive coverage of literature covering the entire history of literature in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland in the major literary languages. It includes substantial accounts of individual authors and detailed histories of particular themes, movements, genres, and institutions, whose impact upon the writing or the reading of literature was significant.
An online reference e-book that comprehensively documents and interprets the books read by children throughout the world. It includes brief biographies of every major author and illustrator. Also included are essays on all genres of children's literature, individual works, prominent trends and themes, and the traditions of children's literature in many countries throughout the world.
Find books in the HPL collection with selected articles and/or essays of criticism on Shakespeare's works.
Something About the Author Online brings you thousands of illustrated biographical profiles of children's authors and illustrators totaling more than 12,000 entries and nearly 17,000 images.*
Online streaming video of plays and film documentaries.*
For more information, search in the databases listed under Magazines, Scholarly Journals and Publications.