resources for a worldwide community of writers

The Burry Man Writers Center

Fiction Writing:
Fiction, mystery, literature, poetry, romance, science fiction, writing for comics

100 Swears / 20 Languages
The Alternative Dictionaries slang, profanities, insults and vulgarisms from all the world
American Dialect Society scholarly association dedicated to the study of the English language in North America and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it
American Dialect Links some good sources, some not so good
American Slanguages
Anagram generator
Bartlett's Quotations
British Navy Slang
Cambridge Dictionaries Online direct from Cambridge University Press
Canadianisms
Chiasmus.com devoted to the literary and rhetorical device known as chiasmus
Chronology of English how it came to be what it is and when
Circus Slang
Cliche Finder for when you just can't hit the nail on the... uhm...
ClichSite.com a list of clichs with definitions and explanations
Cockney Rhyming Slang complete with translator
Collect Britain English accents and dialects from the British Library
Dialect Maps where in America do they say "pee-CAN" and where do they say "pee-KAHN" ... fascinating stuff
Dictionary of American Regional English visit for the free newsletters
Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Dictionary of Slang English slang and colloquialisms used in the United Kingdom
Double Tongued Dictionary records undocumented or under-documented words from the fringes of English, with a focus on slang, jargon, and new words
Elizabethan Accents the proper way to pronounce "yoiks"
English-Yiddish Online Dictionary
Ethnologue the separate languages, probable languages and dialects of the world
The European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages of Europe's 370 million citizens, nearly 50 million speak a language other than the official language of the State in which they live
Evolution of Alphabets this is a lovely site, with animated depictions of the change in letters and alphabets
Food and Cooking Terminology: British to American
Forvo All the words in all the languages pronounced by native speakers
Free Translation machine translation in six languages
Glossarist searchable and categorised directory of glossaries and topical dictionaries
Historical Dictionary of American Slang
Hobo Slang
The Human Languages Page this great resource returns after a brief delay
International Dialects of English Archive downloadable files of English language dialects and English spoken in the accents of other languages
The Japanese Slang Jisho
Jazz Age Slang words used in the 1920s
Language Tools online dictionary, thesaurus and translator
Languages of the World
The Linguistic Atlas Projects collection of projects that quantitatively describe American speech patterns
Linguistic Geography of the Mainland United States
Mercator overviews of territorial minority languages in the European Union and the media in those languages
More Words find dictionary words for crossword puzzles, code words and word games
Naval Terminology, Jargon and Slang
New Zealand English to U.S. English Dictionary
Nonverbal Dictionary of Gestures and Signs
Online Dictionary of Playground Slang mostly British and quite enlightening
Online Etymology Dictionary
Online Rhyming Dictionary put in a word, get a rhyme
Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-words an informative and hopefully educational entry on a potentially controversial topic - bad language, from the BBC
The Oxford Text Archive several thousand electronic texts in a variety of languages
The Oxford English Dictionary now online
Phonological Atlas of North America sound samples of regional dialect "shifts"
Phrase Origins this site is a piece of cake
Pronounce Names audio cues for worldwide name pronunciation
Research-It dictionary, thesaurus, translator and more, all on one page
Reverse Dictionary type in the definition, you get the word
Riptionary surf lingo glossary
Roget's Internet Thesaurus
Selected Vocabulary Differences Between British and American English
Sioux Heritage: Lakota Sioux language dictionary and audio
Slim Gaillard Vout-O-Reenee Dictionary The Oroony Oreeney O'Routee Mellow MacVouty Groovy Site in Vout
Speech Accent Archive samples of accented speech from many 362 different language backgrounds reading the same sample paragraph
Trivia About the English Language and Word Origins
United Kingdom English for the American Novice British (pardon the expression) colloquialisms
Variety Slanguage Dictionary
World War I Slang
Word Reference free online translation dictionaries - Spanish/French/Italian to English
Word Spy recently coined words, existing words that have enjoyed a recent renaissance, and older words that are now being used in new ways
World Wide Words the history, quirks, curiosities and evolution of the English language
Your Dictionary index of language dictionaries

American Crime Writers League reviews, interviews and new book info
Anatomy of a Murder a step-by-step procedural into the US court system during a murder trial
Clue Lass news about books, awards, movies and more
Crime & Clues the how-tos of fingerprints, crime scene investigation, forensic science and more
Crime Writers of Canada
Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain membership open to any author who has had one crime novel produced by a bona fide publisher
Criminal Justice Links from Florida State University
The Federal Judiciary Homepage how the US Federal Courts work
Forensic Entomology the use of insect knowledge in the investigation of crimes
Gumshoes, Sleuths & Snoopers a crime fiction content database
Latent Print Examination an in-depth and highly technical overview of fingerprint, palmprint and footprint investigation
Mystery Writers of America
Police 10-codes
Police Writers Association
Short Mystery Fiction Society
Sisters In Crime "to combat discrimination against women in the mystery field and promote the professional advancement of women who write mysteries."
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics
Tangled Web latest news about mystery authors and their work
Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories originally published in the American Magazine, 1928, by S.S. Van Dine
Uniform Crime Reports from the FBI
United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network info about criminal justice systems from around the world

Academy of American Poets
Advice to Poets from Copper Canyon Press
Apples & Snakes England's leading organisation for performance poetry
Aukland Poetry Auckland's live poetry scene
Blues n' Rebellion the contemporary voice of Black British poetry in downloadable audio files
Canadian Poetry Magazines
City of Bits an online poem by Thomas Swiss - an example of new ways to present work
Classical Chinese Poetry in English and Chinese
Club des Poètes (France)
Electronic Poetry Center resources in electronic poetry and poetics from the University at Buffalo
The e-poets Network RealAudio and video performances by poets from Chicago
Fishouse promotes the oral tradition of poetry, showcasing emerging poets reading their own poems
The Internet Poetry Archive a collection of contemporary poets
Laurable Poetry Audio links to sound files of poetry and poets
League of Canadian Poets
MP3 Sound Poetry Archive (offline for the summer) a library of sound recordings, from the likes of Hugo Ball, Samuel Beckett, William Burroughs, Paul de Vree and much more
National Federation of State Poetry Societies non-profit organization to recognize the importance of poetry with respect to national cultural heritage, sponsors fifty annual poetry contests
On-line Poetry Magazines
Poet and the Poem Webcasts a fabulous collection of readings, from the Library of Congress
Poetry Archive recordings of poets reading their own work
Poetry Around the World
Poetry Book Society founded by TS Eliot to promote a love and understanding of contemporary poetry
Poetry Can supports the development of poetry in South Gloucestershire and across the whole of the South West region
The Poetry Foundation
Poetry Ireland dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting poetry throughout Ireland
The Poetry Kit international poetry magazines and competitions
Poetry Links a quite remarkable list of poetry journals from Drowning Man
Poetry Magazines full-text digital library of 20th and 21st century English poetry magazines
Poetry Magic resource centre for the theory and craft of writing poetry
PoetryPoetry dedicated to audio poetry, with pre-recorded readings by the original artists
Poetry Presses from the Electronic Poetry Center
Poetry Publishers big and small presses
Poetry Slam
The Poetry Society
Poetry Society non-profit poetry education organization US
Poets House library, reading room and events in NYC
Poets on Fire live poetry in the UK
Poets Union
Poets' Corner library of works that spans thousands of works by hundreds of authors covering thousands of years
Poets of London founded in 1997, its members and audience are people who live, work, or are studying in or visiting London
Representative Poetry On-line 2,200 English poems by more than 340 poets from the Old English period to the verge of copyright in the twentieth century
Rhyme free rhyming dictionary program with more than 100,000 words
Scottish Poetry Library
Turkish poetry
Types of Poetry a guide
Ubuweb "sound poetry" - historic archives, Realaudio files, highly recommended
Write Out Loud Poetry Gig Guide

Arts & Letters Daily ideas, criticism, debate updated six days a week
Australian Storytelling interviews, articles and stories from around the world
Directory of Writers' Conferences
Funds for Writers updated listings of grants, awards, contests, fellowships and more, with a free newsletter
International Children's Digital Library thousands of online books in 100 languages
Ireland Literature Exchange
Irish Arts Council funding, developing and promoting the arts in Ireland.
Lifewrite.com a free writing class from author Steven Barnes
The Muse's Muse songwriting tips & tools
New Writer UK-based magazine for writers
Poets & Writers online version of the magazine
Preditors and Editors including its own "Warnings" page
Random Name Generator stuck for a name?
Rejection Collection you are not alone everybody gets rejection slips
Salon Audio the mp3 revolution comes to literature free sample online readings from hundreds of authors - and you can submit your work
Shaw Conference Guide a searchable index of conferences
Writers FM podcasts from and about writers