It seems to have been going on for ages, but The Letters of Sylvia Plath really took off sometime in 2011. Work began before this, by several years, but the daily grind of locating, transcribing and all the rest started about then. I think... It has been the most immense privilege to get to work so closely with Plath's letters and archives, with Karen V. Kukil (the co-editor), with Frieda Hughes, and the very good people at Faber and HarperCollins on this project. Not to mention the archivists and librarians and private citizens who have offered tireless help and information. After living with the manuscript in various states and sizes for so many years, it is with the utmost pleasure that I am publishing this blog post to let you know that the hundreds of letters comprising Volume 1 (1940-1956) is off my hands and has passed now the point of no return. THANK YOU ALL for your support and patience during this project. You will never really know, and nor can I ex...

Earlier this week I tweeted the cover of the Faber edition of the forthcoming The Letters of Sylvia Plath . It met with a wide spectrum of praise and criticism but I think the designers at Faber perfectly capture the essence of Plath that is reflected in the letters. Radiantly happy and in full color. In addition to the Faber cover, the HarperCollins design is now finalized and approved. In the meantime, when not blogging or tweeting...I am working alongside of the co-editor Karen V. Kukil furiously and fastidiously on the index and all the other final things. The first volume of the Letters of Sylvia Plath is scheduled to be published on 5 October (UK) and 17 October (US) . All links accessed 7 July 2017.

One Life: Sylvia Plath  is an exhibition on the poet and writer on at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The exhibit opened yesterday and is on view through 20 May 2018. I visited the exhibit on opening day, of course, and was thoroughly impressed with the selection of materials and narrative of the show, curated by Dorothy Moss of the NPG and guest co-curated by Karen V. Kukil of Smith College. From the website: "One Life: Sylvia Plath" is the first exploration of the poet and writer's life in an art and history museum. The exhibition reveals how Plath shaped her identity visually as she came of age as a writer in the 1950s. Visitors will get a look into Plath's personal life and her dualistic nature she explained as her "brown-haired" and "platinum" personalities. Through personal letters, her own artwork, family photographs and relevant objects, this exhibition highlights Plath's struggle to understand her own self ...