All articles from Common Reader

John Carey: the Common Reader’s Professor

The affectionate obsession of a great critic

Cymbeline book club

SUNDAY 7 p.m. UK time, 2 p.m. Eastern

Why we love Jane Austen more than ever after 250 years

She wrote about what really matters

John Mullan. What makes Jane Austen great?

An anniversary interview for her 250th birthday

Seamus Heaney: a jobber among shadows.

The development of his poetic idiom

Hamnet, the movie

excellent despite its flaws

2025 was a very good year for literary writing on Substack

too much to choose from

SHAME! SHAME! LET CHILDREN READ BOOKS!

The philistine supremacy in schools (and at Netflix)

Is it unliterary to oppose AI?

My "position" on AI

Persuasion book club

SUNDAY 7 p.m. UK time, 2p.m. Eastern time

Pope's contempt

A guest post

Jane Austen's first biographer

celebrating a masterpiece