ArteFact

The first time I went birdwatching with an avid birding enthusiast, my guidebook-knowledge transformed into an experience of joy and contemplation. A robin was no longer a familiar bird flittering in my backyard. I could distinguish it now by its song of rippling notes and clear, syllabic whistles. But it wasn’t an ornithologist who helped me notice these subtleties, simply a person in awe of birds who helped refine my senses.

The luminous novel Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, takes the form of a book-length epistle from a Congregationalist minister to his seven year old son...

Tears are a gift. So say masters of the Christian mystical tradition like Ignatius of Loyola. To be moved by the tragedy of sin, and by God's abundant love and mercy, even to the point of tears, is a boon to the soul...

Earlier this year the literary world was rocked by the news that an old manuscript by Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, had been discovered and was going to be published in July...

Two works written and directed by one of the most profound living film-makers were recently released within two years: The Tree of Life and To the Wonder...