The author of the novels Grendel, October Light, and The Sunlight Dialogues as well as legendary books such as On Becoming a Novelist and The Art of Fiction, had a tremendous influence as a creative writing teacher. Watch Gardner's children discuss their father's rigorous teaching style and his devotion to the craft of fiction—then see the man in action in this clip from Open Road Media.

Here's a pleasant daydream in the form of an animated New Yorker cartoon by Charles Barsotti.

Monday was Emily Dickinson's birthday (born on December 10, 1830). To celebrate, the Poetry Foundation and PBS presented an animated version of “I Started Early–Took My Dog,” part of the Poetry Everywhere series. The poem is animated by Maria Vasilkovsky and read by actress Blair Brown.

Listen to this 1985 recording of Orson Welles reading “The Secret Sharer," a story by Joseph Conrad. “I think I’m made for Conrad,” Welles once said. “I think every Conrad story is a movie.”