Survey: Your Favorite Mercer Mayer Artwork in "Figure"

Mercer Mayer created 13 full page illustrations for The Figure in the Shadows and, in celebration of its 40th anniversary, we want to know which one is your favorite.

Richard Dyer-Bennet: Modern Troubadour Covers Wide Range

It's been fifty years since musician Richard Dyer-Bennet visited the College of Saint Teresa campus in Winona, Minnesota, which is where Bellairs taught during 1964-65 school year.  Bellairs first encountered Dyer-Bennet when the singer visited the University of Notre Dame campus during the 1957-58 school year.

This Is My Birth-Day

We celebrate the 77th birthday of John Bellairs with this posting from Suzanne Fischer at HiLoBrow.com, whose members pay tribute to high- or low-brow heroes on his or her birthdays. Or something like that, we suppose.

Richard Dyer-Bennet: Tenor, Guitarist To Sing at College

It's been fifty years since musician Richard Dyer-Bennet visited the College of Saint Teresa campus in Winona, Minnesota, which is where Bellairs taught during 1964-65 school year.  Bellairs first encountered Dyer-Bennet when the singer visited the University of Notre Dame campus during the 1957-58 school year. Dyer-Bennet performed on the Saint Teresa campus on Jan. 20, and we'll discuss the event in a few days.

Who's Who: Charles Atlas

Experiencing bully problems of his own, Lewis sees an ad in the back of a comic book featuring this bodybuilder and decides to mail in the coupon with a quarter to begin his muscle building program [The Figure in the Shadows; 44].

Time Capsule: Jan. 2, 1925

It's the ninetieth anniversary of the death of former Marshall librarian and John's great aunt, Victoria Monk (1869-1925).  Victoria’s brother was John Monk; his daughter, Virginia, was the mother of John Bellairs.

Bellairs-Related Gorey Artwork At Auction

Right off the bat this year we have news of a forthcoming auction that includes some gems created by Edward Gorey.  Goreyana reports the auction on January 22, 2015 at Swann Galleries in New York City features three pieces of original art by Edward Gorey, two of which have ties to the Bellairs corpus of books.