Author Archives: Erika Harlitz-Kern

About Erika Harlitz-Kern

Erika Harlitz-Kern is a historian and freelance writer with more than ten years of experience from teaching, writing, editing, and publishing. She has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Gothenburg, and is currently teaching ancient and pre-modern history at Florida International University. Dr. Harlitz-Kern's publishing credentials include The Washington Post, Ploughshares, Foreword Reviews, Book Riot, Quirk Books, and Scribd. She is featured as an expert on The Story of God with Morgan Freeman on the NatGeo Channel.

Power and Powerlessness in Alexander Chee’s Essay “The Querent.”

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On July 8, 2018, I published my first critical essay in literature for Ploughshares, titled “Power and Powerlessness in Alexander Chee’s Essay The Querent.”

I am very excited about this essay. Not only because it gave me an opportunity to delve deeper into the wonderful writings of Alexander Chee, but because being published by Ploughshares is something that I have been striving for . With this essay being published on Ploughshares’s blog, I need to set a new goal for myself.

If you wish to read the essay, please click here.

In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.

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Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature Announced

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On July 2, 2018 I published the following post on Book Riot.

Alternative Nobel Prize in Literature Announced

Nobelmedaljen

The Swedish Academy has announced it will not be awarding a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018. Instead, an alternative Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded by a recently founded Swedish non-profit organization called The New Academy (Den nya akademien).

If you would like to read the post in its entirety, please click here.

In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.

We Think These Are the Best Science Fiction Authors

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On June 26, 2018, I published the following post on Book Riot.

We Think These Are the Best Science Fiction Authors

best-science-fiction-authors | Book Riot | The Boomerang

In this post, I name eight authors as the best science fiction authors for the past 150 years. Curious to see who they are, and if you agree with me?

In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.

How a Forgotten War Can Help Us Solve the Crisis in Syria

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I am on Washington Post’s history blog Made by History today talking about how learning about the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) can help us better understand how to deal (or not to deal) with messy conflicts, such as, e.g., the civil war in Syria.

How A Forgotten War Can Help Us Solve the Crisis in Syria

If you would like to read the piece in its entirety, please click here.

In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.

Anthony Bourdain and the Yangambi Research Library on the Congo River

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Anthony Bourdain was one of the few people who touched me deeply without me ever having met him. That is why the news of his death from suicide on June 8 came as a blow that I am still grappling to understand. To commemorate a unique human being I wrote the following post on Book Riot, published on June 13, 2018.

Anthony Bourdain and the Yangambi Research Library on the Congo River.

If you wish to read the post in its entirety, please click here.

I have blogged about Anthony Bourdain here on The Boomerang as well.

The Yangambi Research Library.

The Literary Anthony Bourdain, Master Chef and Traveler.

In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.

 

 

50 Must-Read Books about Tudor England

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On May 31, 2018 I published the following post on Book Riot.

50 Must-Read Books about Tudor England

50 Must-Read Books about Tudor England

Great Gate at Hampton Court Palace, London, England. Source: Wikipedia.

Tudor England. Undoubtedly one of the most intriguing historical time periods in European history. Books about Tudor England conjures images of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth as Gloriana, the Spanish Armada, and last, but absolutely not least, William Shakespeare.

But as always, there is so much more to any historical time period and to any society of the past than a few infamous personalities and events. So, too, with Tudor England.

If you wish to read the post in its entirety, please click here.

In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.

Interview on Book Riot’s podcast Annotated

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Curious to hear my voice? I am being interviewed on Book Riot’s podcast Annotated today about the scandal surrounding the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Swedish Academy. I had such a great time doing this interview. Yet another example of the awesomeness of Book Riot and the Book Riot community

Click here to listen.

In the words of my friend, the Australian, I shall return.