Library

Libraries are the wardrobes of literature, whence men, properly informed may bring forth something for ornament, much for curiosity, and more for use’ - William Dyer

Welcome to the Great Writers Inspire Resources Library. Here, you can search for and access thousands of literary open education resources such as audio and video podcasts, essays, ebooks, images and more. Explore the virtual shelves by searching by keyword in the title, author, and by media type.

If you don’t know where to begin, you can access our writer collections and themed collections for inspiration.

Format Resource Title Contributor Source Date Published
Audio Literature and Form 2: Chapters Catherine Brown https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Audio Literature and Form 1: Unreliable Narrators Catherine Brown https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Video Literature and Form 1: Unreliable Narrators Catherine Brown https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Video What is a Great Writer? An academic panel discusses the question. Rebecca Beasley, Ankhi Mukherjee, Peter McDonald, Margaret Kean, Seamus Perry https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Audio What is a Great Writer? An academic panel discussion. Rebecca Beasley, Ankhi Mukherjee, Peter McDonald, Margaret Kean, Seamus Perry https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Essays Victorian Poetry and Fiction: some historical and cultural dates Charlotte Barrett
Essays Character and Environment in Thomas Hardy's Fiction Charlotte Barrett
Essays Thomas Hardy Charlotte Barrett
Video Dons, Deaths and Detectives: Oxford in Crime Fiction Colin Bundy https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Audio Dons, Deaths and Detectives: Oxford in Crime Fiction Colin Bundy https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Audio Julian Thompson on Wilkie Collins Julian Thompson https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/
Handout/Transcript Ben Johnson, 'The Alchemist' and Blackfrairs (transcript) Andrew Gurr https://www.gresham.ac.uk/
Handout/Transcript Shakespeare, 'The Tempest' and its City Connections David Daniell https://www.gresham.ac.uk/
Handout/Transcript Citizen Authors and Their Heroes: Thomas Dekker, Thomas Heywood and Sir Thomas Gresham (transcript) Julia Gasper https://www.gresham.ac.uk/
Handout/Transcript Literary Londoners: William Blake Peter Ackroyd https://www.gresham.ac.uk/
Handout/Transcript Literary Londoners: Charles Dickens Michael Slater https://www.gresham.ac.uk/
Video The face of Charles Dickens - portraits of the great author Andrew Xavier https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-face-of-charles-dickens-portr…
Video The Dictionary Garret - Anatomy of a Room Natasha McEnroe https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-dictionary-garret-anatomy-of-…
Video Dickens and the Moving Age (lecture) Tony Williams https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/dickens-and-the-moving-age
Video Dickens’s law makers and law breakers: Barnard's Inn and beyond Andrew Sanders https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/dickenss-law-makers-and-law-break…
Video ‘Lesser breeds within the law’ - Dickens and minor legal officers Angus Easson https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/lesser-breeds-within-the-law---di…
Video Phiz, Dickens and London Valerie Browne Lester https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/phiz-dickens-and-london
Video Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities Tony Williams https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/dickens-a-tale-of-two-cities
Video A history of the dictionary: Dr Johnson, I presume? Henry Hitchings https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/a-history-of-the-dictionary-dr-jo…
Video Literature and Politics in Seventeenth Century London (lecture) Anna Beer https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/literature-and-politics-in-sevent…
Audio The Life and Times of Wilfred Owen (lecture) Peter Bunyan, Chris Cuff https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/the-life-and-times-of-wilfred-owen
Other Dulce Et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen - Muvizu 3D Animation war poem https://youtu.be/3pVpTsXu4cc
Pictures Aphra Behn by John Riley https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
eBooks A Memoir of Mrs. Behn https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/behn/aphra/b42m/
Pictures Aphra Behn by Mary Beale https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
eBooks The Rover or The Banish'd Cavaliers https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/behn/aphra/b42r/
eBooks Love-letters between a nobleman and his sister; with the history of their adventures. In three parts. https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks
Essays Aphra Behn: A "Life dedicated to Pleasure and Poetry" Kate O'Connor
eBooks Villette https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks
eBooks Shirley https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks
eBooks Jane Eyre : an autobiography https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks
Pictures Charlotte Brontë https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
eBooks The professor https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks
eBooks Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks
Essays Charlotte Brontë: A Wish for Wings Erin Nyborg
Other Science of Middleton (images) Patrick Lockley https://www.flickr.com/photos/76886454@N02/collections/72157629487236176/
eBooks The Oval Portrait (Life in Death) https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/poe/edgar_allan/p74r/
eBooks The Pit and the Pendulum https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/poe/edgar_allan/p74pi/
Pictures The Fall of the House of Usher https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/
eBooks The Fall of the House of Usher https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/poe/edgar_allan/p74fa/
eBooks Bleak House https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/dickens/charles/d54bh/
Pictures The Carpet Merchant - Jean-Léon Gérôme https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
eBooks Rasselas https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/dbooks
eBooks Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/j/johnson/samuel/rasselas/
Pictures Whitby goth couple https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page