In Boston, the past and the present carry on in parallel. One such literary place, where numerous authors have made their homes over the year, is Beacon Hill, and in this series we’ll take you on a tour of Four Doors of Pinckney Street.

In Boston, the past and the present carry on in parallel. One such literary place, where numerous authors have made their homes over the year, is Beacon Hill, and in this series we’ll take you on a tour of Four Doors of Pinckney Street.

In Boston, the past and the present carry on in parallel. One such literary place, where numerous authors have made their homes over the year, is Beacon Hill, and in this series we’ll take you on a tour of Four Doors of Pinckney Street.

In Boston, the past and the present carry on in parallel. One such literary place, where numerous authors have made their homes over the year, is Beacon Hill, and in this series we’ll take you on a tour of Four Doors of Pinckney Street.

You may have grown up singing “America the Beautiful,” but do you know about the woman behind its words? Local author Clara Silverstein gives us the story behind the interesting life of the poet - who was also a literature professor, prolific writer, traveler, and mentor.

Fanny Goldstein was the director of the West End branch of the Boston Public Library from 1922-1957 – the first Jewish woman to direct a BPL branch – and in her time there she curated the second largest collection of Judaica in the state, founded Jewish Book Week (which became the Jewish Book Council of America), compiled “must-read” lists of Jewish authors, and more. Learn more about her life and literary activism, and the lasting contributions she made to Boston and the world.

Last week was National Boston Cream Pie Day, the official dessert of Massachusetts that originated at the Omni Parker House. There was another sweet, rich contribution to American society that came out of the Omni Parker House: It was one of the hubs of Boston literary society. Read more about the Saturday Club, the Dickens Door, Twain, Wharton, Cather, and more.

Did you know that the first book printed in Colonial America happened right in the vicinity of Harvard Square? And did you know that the first printing press in America was owned by a woman? Learn more about the Bay Psalm Book and the first printing press in the New World.

Hannah Webster Foster published the novel The Coquette in 1797, based on a scandalous real-life tale. Find out more about the story behind The Coquette, Foster's life and work, and why her novel has endured into the 21th century.

Boston has a rich literary history, and in honor of Black History Month we wanted to highlight some of the literary personalities - from first published authors to journalists to literary magazine editors to literary society creators - of Boston's past.

Edgar Allen Poe was born on January 19, 1809 in Boston, just blocks from the Common. Yet he had a fairly tumultuous relationship with Boston.

Listen my children and you shall hear/as we speak about his painfully glorious career…

Nathaniel Hawthorne married his wife Sophia Peabody at 13 West Street in Boston - which is still there.

Did you know that Oliver Wendall Holmes coined the term "Boston Brahim" in his 1861 novel Elsie Venner?