New Manx literature website with poetry, prose and plays from the Isle of Man – all free to read online and download. What a wonderful resource!
The site ManxLiterature.com makes available 40 books of poetry, fiction and plays, some of which have effectively been inaccessible for 175 years.
Although many have heard of Hall Caine and T. E. Brown, it was the lack of awareness that their writings are a part of a wider literature of the Isle of Man that was the inspiration behind this recently completed project.
The creator of the website, James Franklin, said: ‘I was amazed at the gap between how little-known most of island’s literature is and yet how good it is.
‘Having picked up my first Hall Caine novel years ago, the deeper I delve into it the more I am surprised at how rich and varied Manx literature is in terms of its quality and depth.
‘But sadly nearly all of it was inaccessible.
‘So I created the website to make this rich part of Manx heritage easily available to anyone.’
ManxLiterature.com offers 40 books central to the Island’s literature, organised both by their type (15 books of poetry, 10 novels, three collections of short stories and 19 plays) and by author.
The 18 authors featured on the site include TE Brown, Hall Caine, Cushag and Mona Douglas, plus a canon of St German’s Cathedral, a founding member of the Manx Labour Party and one of the UK’s leading gardening journalists.
The site was created with the intention of making the island’s literature as accessible as possible.
This was not just a matter of it being free and available, but in a format that was simple, attractive and as easy to use as possible (including for mobile devices and in downloadable formats).
All books are available to be viewed as virtual books on the website, as PDF downloads and in text formats. Extensive information is provided on all authors and books, many of which are the most extensive descriptions anywhere online.
(source: main text from an article on IOMToday; photograph courtesy of ManxLiterature.com)
