Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
I spent a couple of hours turning an ESP32-powered e-paper display into something a little unusual: a literary clock.
Instead of showing 2:30, for example, it finds a quote from a book that mentions “half past two” and displays that quote on the screen. Every minute, the quote changes along with the time.
For this project, I used an Elecrow CrowPanel ESP32 4.2-inch e-paper display, combined its sample code with the quote database from the excellent LitClock project, and uploaded everything using Arduino IDE.
The complete code and other important details are available on our GitHub repository: github.com/itsfoss/literary-clock
You don't necessarily need this exact display either. With the quote data and a little modification, you could build your own literary clock using an e-paper display, Raspberry Pi, or another display device.
A fun little weekend project for your desk, home or homelab. :)
I spent a couple of hours turning an ESP32-powered e-paper display into something a little unusual: a literary clock.
Instead of showing 2:30, for example, it finds a quote from a book that mentions “half past two” and displays that quote on the screen. Every minute, the quote changes along with the time.
For this project, I used an Elecrow CrowPanel ESP32 4.2-inch e-paper display, combined its sample code with the quote database from the excellent LitClock project, and uploaded everything using Arduino IDE.
The complete code and other important details are available on our GitHub repository: github.com/itsfoss/literary-clock
You don't necessarily need this exact display either. With the quote data and a little modification, you could build your own literary clock using an e-paper display, Raspberry Pi, or another display device.
A fun little weekend project for your desk, home or homelab. :)
