Bidwell Hollow

Bidwell Hollow publishes true stories about famous authors and poets.

Subscribe to receive true but little-known tales about your favorite writers. New issues arrive in your inbox on Monday mornings.

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Who should read Bidwell Hollow?

Bidwell Hollow is for writers and book lovers.

If you enjoy learning about Jane Austen, Bidwell Hollow is for you. If you’d love to find out how Shirley Jackson wrote The Haunting of Hill House, Bidwell Hollow is for you. And, yes, if you’d like to know how poet William Blake invented self-publishing, Bidwell Hollow is for you.

Who writes Bidwell Hollow?

A handful of contributors write for Bidwell Hollow. The primary writer is Nicholas E. Barron, who also edits and publishes the newsletter. Nick is a freelance writer who lives in Washington, D.C.

About Bidwell Hollow

Bidwell Hollow started in January 2018. I, Nicholas E. Barron, was an avid reader of The Writer’s Almanac. When that abruptly shut-down in November 2017, I lost my daily dose of creative inspiration. I suspected others were, too.

So I launched Bidwell Hollow originally to replace The Writer’s Almanac. Since then, the Almanac has returned, and Bidwell Hollow has grown. Along with interesting stories about authors and poets, I now publish author/poet interviews and a weekly roundup of the best book lists of the week.

Bidwell Hollow can help you discover new authors and poets. It can inspire your writing and creativity. And it can give you a few minutes of each day when you get to relax and delight in your love of literature and poetry.

This newsletter is named after a rugged valley in the eastern fingers of Missouri's Ozarks. Located in Ste. Genevieve County, the hollow is near the small farm where I grew up. As it's known to locals, Bidwell Holler is, appropriately enough, part of Mark Twain National Forest.

My dad grew up hunting in Bidwell with his father. Then my brother and I spent hours in those woods with our dad, too. We hunted, cut firewood, and hiked. It’s a special place for me, making Bidwell Hollow a fitting name for this newsletter.

A thing about sources

Significant effort goes into ensuring the information shared in writers’ stories is factual and accurate. However, because the pieces are often written based on secondary research, errors can occur.

All sources cited in Bidwell Hollow’s stories must be reputable organizations and authors with trusted fact-checking and editorial processes to minimize these risks. Some examples of these sources include mainstream media outlets, academic papers, and non-fiction books.

If you see a factual error, please let me know. I'll make every effort to verify and correct any factual inaccuracies.

About Nicholas E. Barron

I’m a freelance writer in Washington, DC, but I grew up on a small Missouri farm. Where I come from, making a living as a writer isn’t something people do. So it took me a few too many years to realize, yes, I can do what I love and get paid for it.

Along with Bidwell Hollow, you can find me on Instagram and LinkedIn.