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Links, reviews, etc. - Week ending 29 August 2009

  • I received an email about a Concert of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes settings‏ called, 'Setting Agendas', to be held on 18 September, at 6pm, at St. Nicholas' Church, Chawton, Alton, Hamshire, GU34 in England.

    This chamber concert features four song cycles by contemporary British composers, including settings of poems by Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes. Featured composers include Michael Finnissy, George Holloway,Will May, and Michael Zev Gordon. Works set include Plath's 'Winter Trees', 'Sheep in Fog', and 'The NightDances', and Hughes' 'Remains of Elmet' poety sequence. The latter is a world premiere by Michael Zev Gordon, winner of the 2008 British Composer Award for Choral Composition.

    The works will be performed by soprano Lucy Williams, baritone Terence Ayebare, and pianist Lucy Coluquhn. Admission is free with a suggested £5 donation to St. Nicholas' Church. More information about thechurcn and its location can be found here.

  • Thanks to P. Viktor for pointing out an archived Women's Hour recording on "The Art of Sylvia Plath" from 5 November 2007. It's just over 11 minutes long. This is, wonderfully, seemingly, available everywhere. It's an interview with Kathleen Connors and Ruth Fainlight and includes a clip of an interview with Plath from "Two of a Kind." Ruth Fainlight reads "The Ghost", a poem she wrote about Plath. Kathleen Connors' and Sally Bayley's Eye Rhymes: Sylvia Plath's Art of the Visual is a remarkable book, heavily illustrated with high quality, clear reproductions of Plath's artwork and wonderful essays to discuss Plath's art. It's required reading for Plath's readers.

  • Plath receives some coverage in Elaine Showalter's recently published A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Anne Proulx. (New York: Knopf, 2009). Plath is covered in some depth in the following sections: "The Poetess of America - Sylvia Plath" on pages 415-417 and "Plath - the Death of the Poet" and "The Bell Jar: A 1960s Jury of Her Peers" on pages 434-440.

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