To celebrate T. S. Eliot’s 129th birthday, we take a look at how he spent some of his birthdays, the gifts he received and a special birthday cake tradition …
Eliot’s letters suggest that he did not make much of his birthday in his twenties and thirties: other than the occasional letter to thank his mother for a birthday cheque, there are no thank-you letters to be found for birthday greetings, gifts, or a shared celebratory meal. READ
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.
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
A wide-ranging article in the Boston Globe on Eliot’s relationship with Cape Ann, Massachusetts, and America generally, with more information on T. S. Eliot House and the Foundation. READ
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
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
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
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
The 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
John Haffenden reflects on his edition of the Letters of T. S. Eliot, Volume 7: 1934-1935, which is to be published by Faber & Faber on 1 June.
Perhaps the most newsworthy aspect of volume 7 of the Letters of T. READ
