On this day...

Harvard College is named after clergyman John Harvard in 1639. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the college is Harvard University's oldest school, and is run by the Faculty of Arts and Science. As such, the institution boasts a number of famous literary alumni. William S. Burroughs, T.S. Eliot, E.E. Cummings, Norman Mailer, Erich Segal, Michael Crichton and John Updike all received their education at the esteemed college and, alongside several Presidents, have contributed much to its reputation.

Harvard is also famous for its well known publications. The 'Harvard Advocate' is the oldest continuously published college literary magazine, and the 'Harvard International Review', is one of the most widely-distributed undergraduate journals in the world with 35,000 readers in more than 70 countries.

On this day...

Celebrated film director Steven Spielberg was born in 1946. Named by 'Life' as the most influential person of his generation, Spielberg has transformed numerous literary works into major box office movies; often proving pivotal in reigniting interest in the original text. Two of his most famous, and successful, projects, 'Jurassic Park' and 'Jaws', were both based on novels of the same name by Michael Crichton and Peter Benchley respectively. The latter in its own right was a bestseller for forty four weeks, and both novels drew commercial success from the release of the film. Other literary adaptations by Spielberg have included, J.G. Ballard's 'Empire of the Sun' and Thomas Keneally's 'Schindler's Ark' (Schindler's List).

Posthumous pirates...

The first posthumous novel by author Michael Crichton, is set to be published this week. 'Pirate Latitudes', was discovered as a complete manuscript on Crichton's computer soon after his death in 2008, and centres on piracy in Jamaica in the late 17th century. Steven Spielberg has already signed a deal to adapt the novel for film. Another script, only a third complete, was found on Crichton's computer. A writer is to be selected to finished the 'techno-thriller' and it will be published in Autumn next year. Born in 1942, Crichton has been one of the few writers who is genuinely successful across the media; becoming the first creative artist to have works at number one simultaneously in television, film and book sales - ER, Jurassic Park and Diclosure respectively. The 6'9" author, has seen his novels translated into 36 different languages, over 150 million copies of his books sold and 13 of his works turned into films. Other famous titles include, 'The Andromeda Strain', 'Rising Sun', and 'The Great Train Robbery'.