Is it too early to look at 2013? It is now officially summer, which means the countdown to winter and 2013 has begun. We will lose daylight like I am losing hair... But, while it might indeed be early, the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Colossus in America has me thinking again about the 50th anniversary of two major Sylvia Plath events that occurred in 1963. The first was the publication of The Bell Jar in England on January 14, 1963; and the second - you might have guessed - was her death on February 11. Keep in mind since it is so far out, the dates below might change. On 3 January 2013, Faber will publish a new edition of The Bell Jar . I have been dreaming that Faber can or will re-use the original cover . And as you might imagine, Plath will be the subject of dozens of articles, but also a few monographs. Below is a list of what's expected so far. Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson (Simon & Schuster Ltd) 3...

Who was Sylvia Plath was the $1200 question on Jeopardy today. Of course, that 2005 drawing is no longer the only known drawing of Ted Hughes by Sylvia Plath. There are at least three known drawings of Ted Hughes, drawn by Plath, as I wrote about last November in my catalogue review of Sylvia Plath: Her Drawings . And speaking of three's, especially since Plath loved things in three's, this is the third time, at least, in three years that Plath has been on Jeopardy! The sketch in question (or answer) can be seen here .

Did you know that in The Bell Jar , Esther Greenwood & her fellow guest editors do not work at/for Ladies’ Day ? The name of the magazine where they did work was never actually named. The most we are told is that, "We had all won a fashion magazine contest...and as prizes they gave us jobs in New York for a month" (1971, 3). And, in the text of the novel, whenever Ladies’ Day is named, it is actually quite clear that the guest editors are visitors there, or that they are visiting a separate location. The first mention of Ladies' Day comes in Chapter Three. From the way Greenwood describes it, Ladies' Day is "the big women's magazine that features lush double-page spreads of Technicolor meals..." (27-28). Then, on page 30, Greenwood says, "None of our magazine editors or the Ladies' Day staff members..." which further illustrates the point. Lastly, when recovering from ptomaine poisoning, "Those dodos on Ladies Day " ...

Camden New Journal reports that Sylvia Plath's GP, Dr. John Horder, has died. A full obituary will appear on their website next week.

A small battle was waged twenty years ago in the spring of 1992 over the selling of the a copy of a first edition Knopf The Colossus , signed and inscribed by Sylvia Plath to Ted Hughes. On June 3, 1992, a letter was published in The Times called "War-Plath" (p. 14). The article quotes expresses the concern of the "Sylvia Plath Society" that this one sale might be "the first of a tranche of Plath's books and papers Hughes might sell." The article quotes Elizabeth Sigmund as saying, ''I think it is amazing that he is selling this book, which should go to the family. If he does not want it he should give it to the children, Frieda and Nicholas, or to one of Britain's libraries.'' It also says Sigmund is the president of the Society! It was then stated that, "[t]he next volume to reach the market would be Plath's annotated version of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets *." Hughes and his wife Carol responded, "This vol...

Two poems by Plath - "Hardcastle Crags" and "Wuthering Heights" (the latter read by Ted Hughes) are part of the current British Library exhibition "Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands." The exhibit list is posted online here ; and you can read a little bit about the exhibit here, too . Archival materials from Hughes's River and the Elmet books are included as well, and the exhibit runs until 25 September 2012. A thoroughly modern sounding exhibit that features a plethora of different information formats including "sound recordings, videos, letters, photographs, maps, song lyrics and drawings - as well as manuscripts and printed editions." Thanks to ~VC for the information. And... Plath Profiles 5 is in the final stages of production. Who's ready for it?