Every New Year brings something fun: a fresh start, a few ambitious resolutions, and—my personal favorite—an entire new batch of creative works entering the public domain. On January 1, 2026, a wave of books, films, songs, and characters became fair game for sharing, adapting, remixing, and reinventing (at least in the United States). That means no licensing headaches, no permissions dance—just a wide-open playground for creators, teachers, and curious fans.
I love this moment because it’s like the culture’s attic gets unlocked. Stuff that used to sit behind a legal velvet rope is suddenly available for anyone to reprint, stage, sample, illustrate, parody, or reimagine. Want to turn a classic mystery into a graphic novel? Score a short film with a vintage tune? Build a classroom project around an old movie without jumping through hoops? Public domain makes that kind of creative tinkering feel wonderfully possible.
Here are some standout works now in the public domain in 2026:
- The Murder at the Vicarage (Agatha Christie) — Miss Marple’s debut
- The Secret of the Old Clock — the first Nancy Drew mystery
- The Little Engine That Could (Watty Piper)
- As I Lay Dying (William Faulkner)
- The Maltese Falcon (Dashiell Hammett)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (film)
- Animal Crackers (Marx Brothers film)
- Anna Christie (film starring Greta Garbo)
- Dizzy Dishes — an early Betty Boop cartoon
- Early Pluto appearances in Disney shorts
- “I Got Rhythm” (George & Ira Gershwin)
- “Georgia on My Mind” (Hoagy Carmichael & Stuart Gorrell)
- “Dream a Little Dream of Me” (my favorite work on this list)
- Early Blondie comic strips
Some of these I grew up reading in school or catching on late-night TV. Now they belong to everyone again—ready to spark new art, new lessons, and new stories. Honestly? That feels like a pretty great way to start a year.
PHOTO CREDIT: Graffiti Betty Boop à Champrosay. (by ManoSolo13241324 via Wikimedia)
