Stephen Enniss, the Eric Weinmann Librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC and former Director of Emory University’s Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, has an article in the current Times Literary Supplement called " Ted Hughes, archives and alligators: How – and why – writers' papers end up in British and American libraries ." A fascinating article.

Today Sylvia Plath Info Blog is four years old. In blog years, that is about 80 - which is half as old as Joan Rivers. With that - and I have been thinking about this a long time - I have done a redesign of the blog, which I hope you all like! Here are some trivia questions for you to consider. The answers will be posted in a few days. In the fall of 1954, during the first semester of her senior year at Smith College, which charitable activity did Sylvia Plath do? A. Pick up trash on Green Street B. Tutor extraterrestrial creatures in the theory of haiku C. Hold open church doors Sunday’s D. Read aloud to a dear old blind man E. Fly kites on behalf of handicap children F. Grade freshwomen German assignments G. Plant excitable tulips H. Assist the college librarian in tracking down overdue books I. Help police and boy scouts search for missing 20 year olds J. Skim Paradise Pond of algae K. Crochet blankets for cold local grandmothers L. Start a petition to force Smith to go co-ed M. Giv...

If you have tried to access A celebration, this is , my website for Sylvia Plath since the weekend you may have noticed that it has been down. The host for the site is doing a server migration and this has lead to some down time. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you but hopefully the down time will cease soon! Thank you!

Readers of Sylvia Plath, be on the lookout for Eavan Boland’s A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet (published April 11, 2011, by W. W. Norton & Company). In addition to "The Other Sylvia Plath," Boland writes on herself, Adrienne Rich, Charlotte Mew, Elizabeth Bishop, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Denise Levertov, Anne Bradstreet, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Paula Meehan. Thanks to Melanie in Australia for bringing this to our attention. Most of the chapter on Plath can be read if you do not mind toggling between Amazon.com and Google Books. Additionally, S. A Jones has a piece entitled "A Peanut-Cruncher’s Defence: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes" in Kill Your Darlings (issue 5, pages 51-64). The article is very well written and argued. It gives a brief review of the history of why we should probably hate Ted Hughes, centering on the who owns the facts of ones (SP's) life; but it evens out I feel and gives ample evidence as to why we should probably not ha...

So, it seems like today I'm just sending you away. However, please come back If you've anything to say... Over on ladylazarus.tv, Florian Flur has posted a rare photograph of Sylvia Plath , taken by the poet, translator, and photographer Siv Arb. He has posted next to it the color photograph from the same photo shoot that we should all more or less be familiar with. However, this black and white shot shows Plath with Frieda and Nicholas Hughes from a different angle. Thank you Florian!

The following was recently sent to me for your consideration. The event will be at the Forbes Library in Northampton, Mass. on Wednesday 13 April, and starts at 7 P.M. Join us for an evening inspired by twentieth century poet Sylvia Plath. Coolidge Room. Karen V. Kukil, Associate Curator of Special Collections at Smith College, will give a general introduction to Plath’s poetry entitled, “The hot steamy drench of the day: Plath on Poetry.” Cornelia Pearsall, a Professor of English at Smith College, will give a talk entitled “Plath’s Arrow.” Poet Nancy K. Pearson will read both new poems and ... work from her book, Two Minutes of Light, published by Perugia Press, http://www.perugiapress.co m/ , which is based in Florence. Karen V. Kukil, Associate Curator of Special Collections at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, edited the Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950-1962, published by Faber and Faber in London and Anchor Books in New York in 2000. The creative ma...

Did you know that from 1962 to 1995, British editions of The Bell Jar contained a typo? The word "and" was spelled "amd" in Chapter 16 in the scene where Esther Greenwood reviews clippings from her disappearance given to her by Joan Gilling! See below: The clipping amd image described by Plath is without a doubt that which ran in The Boston Globe on August 26, 1953. The article title reads "Day-Long Search Fails to Find Smith Student" amd it is the only image of the family that ran in any of the newspapers that I have searched amd seen. By the way, did you know that The Boston Globe articles on Plath's first suicide attempt from August 1953 are now available via Google's News Archive? These are not free, but require purchase through The Boston Globe 's digital archive ($4.95 per article, or you can buy a four-pack for $9.95). Anyway... The typo was corrected in 1996 when Faber released The Bell Jar as part of their Faber Library. The Faber ...

My article "Proof of Plath" on the proof of the Victoria Lucas edition of The Bell Jar is now available through Fine Books & Collections . You can find it on pages 11 and 12! Order your copy of the Spring 2011 issue here . Later on this week I'll have - for a change - a post about Sylvia Plath.

The following is a guest post, answering my recent request for contributions to this blog by those who collect Sylvia Plath books or have interesting stories about their collections. If you collect Plath too, and want to share, please email me! **** **** **** **** * Peter's recent postings on Plath books and manuscripts at auctions and his history of highlighting collecting, collectors, and archives on his Plath blog spurred me into writing this post. Like many I am mainly a lurker of this wonderful blog but not usually willing to participate in discussions, even though the atmosphere here is friendly and welcoming. And as you will see, this post is as much to tell a story - my story - about acquiring a unique book as it is possibly to make a wider audience known to what proves to be for me a devastating loss. In the mid 1960s I was living in England, attending university in Plymouth. My boyfriend at the time, William, was British and came from a small town near Woolfardisworthy, i...