Following the sale last year of all my books by and about Sylvia Plath (including works by and about Ted Hughes, Frieda Hughes and Assia Wevill, too), this blog post is to announce that more materials are now at Utica University. I am grateful to Distinguished Professor of English Gary Leising for getting a Plath course permanently a part of the curriculum, and to James Teliha, Dean of the Library & Learning Commons, for their willingness to acquire these items.  This collection of materials consists of the following: Archival copies of 172 poems (plus a few other poem-related things); Archival copies of 177 prose works; Archival copies of letters to, from, and about Sylvia Plath (more than 1,890 items); Photocopies of periodical and early book appearances ( view list here ); A few odds and ends like copies of unpublished manuscripts (biography, memoir, etc.); A digital collection on a flash drive of 455 photos of SP; and 296 Printed photographs I took of Plath's houses and ot

I am pleased to promote the Sylvia Plath Symposium at Hunter College in New York City which is to be held at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College on Thursday, 30 March 2023. The address of the venue is 47-49 East 65th Street, New York, NY 10065. The Symposium is organized by Paul Alexander , editor of  Ariel Ascending: Writings about Sylvia Plath  (1985), author of Rough Magic:  A Biography of Sylvia Plath (1991), and author of Edge (2003), a one-woman play about Sylvia Plath. The Keynote speakers are Kathleen Chalfant reading Plath's poems followed by a conversation between Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem..  Before that, throughout the day, there will be three panels including the following participants, in alphabetical order, is Susan Cheever, Heather Clark, Mark Doty, Amanda Golden, Richard Kaye, Donna Masini, Honor Moore, Eva Salzman, Vijay Seshadri, and Peter K. Steinberg. I will be participating in Panel 1 on Plath's works with Amanda Golden and

2023 is the 60th anniversary of the publication of Sylvia Plath's novel The Bell Jar  by Heinemann. It also marks---today, in fact---the 60th anniversary of Plath's death. Where is Sylvia Plath now?  Bigger than ever. More widely read than ever. There are still people desecrating her grave due to some heinously flawed thinking and beliefs. And, too, there are still legions of inconsiderate, insensitive people out there that crassly make mental health jokes at her expense. This is a sad, sad thing.  There are several Sylvia Plaths out there. "Popular culture" Sylvia Plath is massive. But, she is very different from both the literary Sylvia Plath and the actual Sylvia Plath.   Popular culture Sylvia Plath's reputation is somewhat death-centric. Maybe this will never change and that is simply sad, too. Popular culture Sylvia Plath is defined by her "depression" and her death. It sees in her life and in her writing nothing but depression and death. It does n

It is an immense honor to have been asked to teach on Sylvia Plath at the Ted Hughes Arvon Centre,  Lumb Bank, located in Heptonstall, England, in June 2023. The Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes Summer School course runs from the 18th to the 24th of June 2023, and I will be joining Heather Clark and Steve Ely, among others.  Together, we will explore the work of Sylvia Plath (and Ted Hughes) in Hughes's Yorkshire home. My own classes will focus on Plath's prose, specifically The Bell Jar . Timing is everything as I had to re-buy a copy of the novel after I sold all my books to Utica last June!    Spaces at the summer school are limited, so if you are interested in the course, please do register . I am very much looking forward to and am grateful beyond expression for this opportunity. And, I am looking forward both to meeting new people and seeing old friends.    All links accessed 11 December 2022.

Hello. I hope that each of you is well and had a nice summer.  This is a brief blog update to let you know that later this fall, in early November probably, I will be closing down 'A celebration, this is', my website for Sylvia Plath, at the url www.sylviaplath.info.  I recognize that many people have the website bookmarked and may even refer to it frequently, or infrequently. Like you, I do value the information and do not want to see it just completely disappear. Even I use my own website now with, possibly, alarming regularity.  So, I have started migrating all the information to a new, permanent digital asset management system called Preservica. I am using their Starter option which is free.  The below QR code will take you there. To be honest I only did the QR code because I think it looks cool. You can also just simply click this link if you have not got your mobile phone handy. Each page has been saved as a PDF. Self-referring links to images and pages on the website we

The selling of my entire Sylvia Plath library to Utica University posted yesterday may have forecasted this blog post.  Effective today the fifteen-year-old Sylvia Plath Info Blog is on hiatus. Whether it is temporary, semi-permanent, or permanent is yet to be determined. (There is still one blog post drafted...) This decision is the result of several years of serious thought, reflection, and deliberation. I have one or two current projects/obligations that I will honor.   This hiatus includes the Sylvia Plath Info Twitter  social media platform (plathform?), started a decade ago in June 2012.   My website "A celebration, this is" ---which I began twenty-four years ago in 1998---may be updated from time to time, but no longer with such frequency. Ownership of the domain is set to expire in late 2023 or early 2024. It will not be renewed. I will entertain offers if someone or some entity is interested in buying both the domain and its content. Otherwise, please check the Inter