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Poetry newslog May 2003
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January 18, 2006
‘Plath no victim of Hughes’
A new American study on the marriage of poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, to be published in October, argues that Plath was not the martyred victim that American feminist theory commonly holds her to be. According to a report in The Guardian, author Diane Middlebrook based her conclusion on the papers in Hughes’ archive, left to the library of Emory University in Atlanta after his death.
City Lights Books turns 50
Once centre of the Beat movement, and now the heart of literary San Francisco, the famous City Lights bookstore will turn 50 next month. In a tribute, the Los Angeles Times interviews founder and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as various other poets and writers.
May 26, 2003
Larkin blues lyrics found
Two blues lyrics by British poet Philip Larkin were presented last weekend to to a "surprised but captivated audience at the National Jazz Archive in Loughton, Essex", The Guardian writes. After several unexpected samples of {id="280" title="light verse"} by Larkin were unearthed last October, the jazz and blues lyrics, discovered among Larkin’s papers at Hull University, shed new light on a poet who was called "a gloomy old sod" by his critics. The Philip Larkin Society expects to find more lyrics among Larkin’s papers.
May 25, 2003
Mansion of Yeats’s beloved to be sold
A 19th-century stately home in County Sligo, which was frequented by the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, went on sale last Thursday despite calls to preserve the home, the BBC reports. Lissadel, once home to the Irish nationalist Countess Constance Markievicz, was described as "a monument to the heroine of the 1916 Rising".
May 23, 2003
Verse by Queen Elizabeth II
A poem by Queen Elizabeth II, reprinted in full in The Guardian, has been found in the visitors' book at the Castle of Mey. "Shakespeare and John Donne won't be losing any sleep. But it's perfectly decent, and I'm astonished that she wrote that," Al Alvarez commented, whereas James Fenton called the work "admirable" and "very touching".
Poetry magazine suing bank over Lilly bequest
The Poetry Foundation of Chicago, which publishes Poetry magazine, is taking the National City Bank of Indiana to court over a big drop in value of the {id="275" title="endowment"} the group received from Ruth Lilly, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The Foundation accuses the bank of mismanaging the money and not selling the Lilly stock to diversify the fund.
May 12, 2003
Poetry Library celebrates 50th birthday
The Poetry Library at the Royal Festival Hall in London is marking its anniversary with a series of debates, talks and events featuring famous poets, the BBC reports. The Library, which is widely considered to hold the UK's most comprehensive collection of modern poetry, houses 90,000 books, magazines and videos of verse.
May 11, 2003
Ted Joans, 1928-2003
Beat poet Ted Joans, a contemporary and friend of Beat icons Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, has died in his home in Vancouver at the age of 74. According to an AP obituary, he had been in poor health with diabetes. Joans is perhaps best known for his graffito, written on the streets of New York after jazz great Charlie 'Bird' Parker died in 1955: "Bird Lives". Joans's work is characterized by a black consciousness, AP writes, and has a musical language closely linked to the blues and the best of avant-garde jazz.
May 8, 2003
Rare poetic recordings on CD
The British Library Sound Archive has released two CDs with some of its rarest recordings of poets and writers reading their own work. Amongst the poets featured are Alfred Lord Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling and Robert Browning. The CDs are available from the British Library bookshop or its website.
May 4, 2003
Mohammed Dib, 1920-2003
Mohammed Dib, one of Algeria's best-known writers and poets, died at home in La Celle-Saint-Cloud outside Paris last Friday. He was 82. Dib, the author of 20 books, chose to write in French though he grew up speaking Arabic, writes AP. French Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon called Dib a "spiritual bridge between Algeria and France, between the north and the south of the Mediterranean."
‘Plath no victim of Hughes’
City Lights Books turns 50
Larkin blues lyrics found
Mansion of Yeats’s beloved to be sold
Verse by Queen Elizabeth II
Poetry magazine suing bank over Lilly bequest
Poetry Library celebrates 50th birthday
Ted Joans, 1928-2003
Rare poetic recordings on CD
Mohammed Dib, 1920-2003
May 28, 2003‘Plath no victim of Hughes’
A new American study on the marriage of poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, to be published in October, argues that Plath was not the martyred victim that American feminist theory commonly holds her to be. According to a report in The Guardian, author Diane Middlebrook based her conclusion on the papers in Hughes’ archive, left to the library of Emory University in Atlanta after his death.
City Lights Books turns 50
Once centre of the Beat movement, and now the heart of literary San Francisco, the famous City Lights bookstore will turn 50 next month. In a tribute, the Los Angeles Times interviews founder and poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as various other poets and writers.
May 26, 2003
Larkin blues lyrics found
Two blues lyrics by British poet Philip Larkin were presented last weekend to to a "surprised but captivated audience at the National Jazz Archive in Loughton, Essex", The Guardian writes. After several unexpected samples of {id="280" title="light verse"} by Larkin were unearthed last October, the jazz and blues lyrics, discovered among Larkin’s papers at Hull University, shed new light on a poet who was called "a gloomy old sod" by his critics. The Philip Larkin Society expects to find more lyrics among Larkin’s papers.
May 25, 2003
Mansion of Yeats’s beloved to be sold
A 19th-century stately home in County Sligo, which was frequented by the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, went on sale last Thursday despite calls to preserve the home, the BBC reports. Lissadel, once home to the Irish nationalist Countess Constance Markievicz, was described as "a monument to the heroine of the 1916 Rising".
May 23, 2003
Verse by Queen Elizabeth II
A poem by Queen Elizabeth II, reprinted in full in The Guardian, has been found in the visitors' book at the Castle of Mey. "Shakespeare and John Donne won't be losing any sleep. But it's perfectly decent, and I'm astonished that she wrote that," Al Alvarez commented, whereas James Fenton called the work "admirable" and "very touching".
Poetry magazine suing bank over Lilly bequest
The Poetry Foundation of Chicago, which publishes Poetry magazine, is taking the National City Bank of Indiana to court over a big drop in value of the {id="275" title="endowment"} the group received from Ruth Lilly, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The Foundation accuses the bank of mismanaging the money and not selling the Lilly stock to diversify the fund.
May 12, 2003
Poetry Library celebrates 50th birthday
The Poetry Library at the Royal Festival Hall in London is marking its anniversary with a series of debates, talks and events featuring famous poets, the BBC reports. The Library, which is widely considered to hold the UK's most comprehensive collection of modern poetry, houses 90,000 books, magazines and videos of verse.
May 11, 2003
Ted Joans, 1928-2003
Beat poet Ted Joans, a contemporary and friend of Beat icons Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, has died in his home in Vancouver at the age of 74. According to an AP obituary, he had been in poor health with diabetes. Joans is perhaps best known for his graffito, written on the streets of New York after jazz great Charlie 'Bird' Parker died in 1955: "Bird Lives". Joans's work is characterized by a black consciousness, AP writes, and has a musical language closely linked to the blues and the best of avant-garde jazz.
May 8, 2003
Rare poetic recordings on CD
The British Library Sound Archive has released two CDs with some of its rarest recordings of poets and writers reading their own work. Amongst the poets featured are Alfred Lord Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling and Robert Browning. The CDs are available from the British Library bookshop or its website.
May 4, 2003
Mohammed Dib, 1920-2003
Mohammed Dib, one of Algeria's best-known writers and poets, died at home in La Celle-Saint-Cloud outside Paris last Friday. He was 82. Dib, the author of 20 books, chose to write in French though he grew up speaking Arabic, writes AP. French Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon called Dib a "spiritual bridge between Algeria and France, between the north and the south of the Mediterranean."
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