2017 T. S. Eliot Lecture, Abbey Stage

The second of five annual lectures inspired by T. S. Eliot’s impact on modern literature.

Former U. S. Ambassador to the U. N., Samantha Power will give a lecture on the Abbey Stage, followed by an interview with Fintan O’Toole. Bob Geldof will introduce the evening.

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Eliot in the Wartime Classroom, 1916–1919

On Tuesday 16 May 2017,  Ronald Schuchard gave the University of London International Programmes’ inaugural 1858 Charter Lecture, ‘Eliot in the Wartime Classroom, 1916–1919’. The lecture is reproduced here in full to coincide with the University of London’s publication of the lecture. READ

‘I have taken to the vice of Dining Clubs’

T. S. Eliot in a letter to Virginia Woolf, 27 April 1937.

 

 

A look through Eliot’s letters and personal papers reveals that he was a member of several clubs – quiet, private places where he could meet or play host to business and personal acquaintances and friends. READ

The New Yorker on Eliot House

In last week’s New Yorker Louis Menand wrote up his visit to Eliot House, destination of the Eliot family summers, purchased by the T. S. Eliot Foundation in 2015 and subsequently turned into a writers’ retreat. Read here for his thoughts on the house, and the Eliot Foundation’s programme more generally. READ

T. S. Eliot Festival 2017

Actor Jeremy Irons and novelist Ali Smith now head the line-up for this year’s T. S. Eliot Festival, to be held at Little Gidding on Sunday July 9th.

The Festival is held each year in the grounds of Little Gidding: a day of talks, readings and discussions, with the opportunity for visitors to see inside the church which inspired the last of Eliot’s Four Quartets. READ

For the love of cheese

Included in the latest volume of the Letters of T. S. Eliot is a letter to the Editor of the Times entitled ‘Stilton Cheese’, written on 25 November 1935 and published a few days later. Eliot is replying to a letter from poet and literary editor J. READ

2017 T. S. Eliot Prize judges announced

2017 T.S. Eliot PrizeThe T. S. Eliot Prize has announced the judges for the 2017 Prize for the best new poetry collection published in the year. W. N. Herbert will be Chair of the judging panel, alongside poets James Lasdun and Helen Mort.

The call for submissions has now gone out, with the submission window closing on 4 August. READ

The 1858 Charter Lecture: Professor Ronald Schuchard and Jeremy Irons

On 16 May 2017 the University of London is hosting a special event, to mark the centenary of T. S. Eliot’s association with the university.

Professor Ronald Schuchard will deliver the inaugural 1858 Charter Lecture, entitled ‘Eliot in the Wartime Classroom 1916–1919’, which will focus on Eliot’s early writing, much of which was shaped during his time as an extension tutor for the University of London. READ