Published today, Michael Rosen has a long piece on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes on the New Statesman 's website (and maybe in the periodical itself, but who can find a bloody copy in Boston?). Read " A Minotaur in the Maze ", on Ted Hughes' poem "Last Letter".

Over at the New Statesman blog, read two responses to Ted Hughes' "Last Letter" to Sylvia Plath by the poet Michael Rosen and Plath's dear friend Elizabeth Sigmund.

Karen V. Kukil, Associate Curator of Rare Books and Curator of the Sylvia Plath Collection at the Mortimer Rare Book Room, was interviewed today by WFCR's Jill Kaufman about the new letters from Plath to Clarissa Roche and the Plath collection at Smith College. Listen to it here .

Al Alvarez's reaction to Ted Hughes' "Last Letter" appeared on The Guardian 's website a short while ago. The article, from what I can tell & was told, was in Saturday's Review section of said newspaper. Elisabeth Gray's "Wish I had a Sylvia Plath" was reviewed by TheaterMania.com and by BroadwayWorld.com . I saw "Three Women" twice on Saturday and have a review of it; but with all this other news going on will wait a day or so to post it. Emily Banas at Indiana University Northwest has written the following news release: IU Northwest English professor William Buckley publishes Volume Three of Plath Profiles . You will find the announcement to which I refer in the title of this post within the news release.

Robert McCrum of The Observer reports on Ted Hughes' poem "Last Letter." Click here to read "Ted Hughes's final lines to Sylvia Plath bring closure to a tragic tale." *** Update: Paul Vallely at the Independent also contemplates Ted Hughes' "Last Letter" to Sylvia Plath in his " A last letter seared in fierce flames "

The Guardian Books section recently posted a Podcast in which they discuss, among other topics, National Poetry Day and the "difficulties surrounding the publication of a newly discovered Ted Hughes poem written immediately after Sylvia Plath's death." Written immediately? Seriously?

The Independent 's Cahal Milmo writes " The Ted Hughes lost poem: Who wants to live forever? " This is almost a moralistic "high road" piece of journalism which calls into question to appropriateness of publishing unpublished or unfinished works by dead authors from their archives or estates. However, the article concludes on a note of support I completely agree with by Anthony Thwaite who says, "There is always a difficult judgment to be made in these cases. In the case of Ted Hughes, if Carol Hughes has said that it is time for this poem to be published then that is right and we should be happy about it." I couldn't agree more. The article includes links to other related articles such as John Walsh's " Hughes's inner turmoil laid bare " and the Independent 's "leading article" " Shock of the new ." Walsh's article leaves me wanting; he simply misreads the poems or has misread accounts in memoirs an...

The BBC Reports " Ted Hughes poem on Sylvia Plath's death published ." "A poem in which Ted Hughes describes the night his first wife Sylvia Plath took her own life in 1963 has been published for the first time." The poem, called "Last Letter" appears in the New Statesman and was culled from the recent British Library acquisition of Ted Hughes' papers which opened for research earlier this year. The BBC report says, "The poem begins: 'What happened that night? Your final night.' "It then details, in chronological order, the last weekend of Plath's life, in February 1963, when she and Hughes were still married but living apart. "It begins with Plath sending Hughes a letter, which is intended to arrive after the weekend, but is delivered early. "The poem goes on to describe Hughes rushing to her house, where Plath reassures him that everything is fine. He leaves and she ultimately takes her own life." See the Ne...

The new British Library Spoken Word CD Sylvia Plath is garnering much interest. Concurrently, the British Library have announced the acquisition of Ted Hughes' copy of the Saint Botolph's Review , complete with wine stains from a Luke Myers bicycling accident! The news first appeared via the Herald de Paris in their article " Library Acquires Stained Ted Hughes Journal ." This timing of this acquisition, which they've known about for sometime, is likely intentional as the Spoken Word CD includes Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes in conversation discussing their lives together, how they met, etc.. How they met is the stuff of legend, captured with rapture by Plath in her journal the morning after. The Independent 's article " The Poetry of Courtship: Plath and Hughes Caught on Tape " by Jonathan Browne is a little uneven (they had been married nearly five years when the recording of "Two of a Kind" was made). The title of the article itself is a...

The newspapers and internet sources have caught wind of the British Library's newest Spoken Word CD. Rachel Hayward at Cuture24 has the distinct honor of being the first news story I've seen on this new Sylvia Plath publication. Read her " Listen to Poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes " here. The British Library has a nearly 8 minute podcast , too. Richard Fairman , producer of the Spoken Word series, discusses this enlightening CD which includes Sylvia Plath reading her own work and an interview with Plath and her husband, Ted Hughes, discussing their relationship and writing. Interviewed by Ellie Russell .

Louise Jury at The Evening Standard is reporting that Ted Hughes will receive a memorial in Westminster Abbey's coveted Poets' Corner. Ben Hoyle at The Times says so, too, in " Ted Hughes to join the great and the scandalous in Poets' Corner ." __________________ Update - 23 March 2010 More news stories picked this up... " Bard of Nature " in The Times . " In Praise of...Ted Hughes " in The Guardian . Afria Akbar in The Independent " contributes " Hughes to Join Literary Elite with Poets' Corner Memorial ." Tom Payne writes " Ted Hughes' Poetry Explored England's Myths " for The Telegraph . Also for The Telegraph , there is Heidi Blake's " Ted Hughes to be Honoured at Poets' Corner following Campaign by Seamus Heaney ." __________________ Update - 24 March 2010 But wait, there's more. John Burnside at The Guardian Blog says " Ted Hughes's Poetry Enriches Us Spiritually and M...

Below is a list of links and other newsworthy items from the week that was. The Cambridge Introduction to Sylvia Plath by Jo Gill has had a somewhat roaming US publication date. Having moved from 30 September to 30 October to 30 November, Amazon.com now has the publication date set for Monday, 27 October . Also know as the birthday of Sylvia Plath, Dylan Thomas, and countless others. The book is listed as In Stock according to Cambridge University Presses US site; and it is also available as an eBook using the Adobe eBook Reader. Blake Morrison remembers Ted Hughes in The week in books in The Guardian . The Guardian also gives us a glimpse into A. Alvarez's writing room . The Chronicle Herald (Canada) reports last Sunday on the sale of the Hughes papers. The Whitman College Pioneer (Walla Walla, Wash) reports that the Citizens for Academic Responsibility wants Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar should be removed from school curriculum. [Go ahead: If you ban it, it will be ...

The following is a list of articles and links of the recent sale of Ted Hughes papers to the British Library... Last updated: 17 October 2008 Rough-hewn genius of Ted Hughes laid bare in unfinished verses - The Times British Library's £500,000 Ted Hughes catch - The Guardian Library acquires Hughes archives - BBC Ted Hughes 'regretted not publishing Sylvia Plath Birthday Letters sooner' - The Daily Telegraph Ted Hughes archive to remain in UK - The Times Ted Hughes and the Birthday Letters - The First Post (Cheltenham) Fishing for inspiration - Ted Hughes' journals - The Scotsman British Library acquires Ted Hughes archive - The Peninsula (Qatar) British Library buys $1-million archive of poet Ted Hughes - The Canadian Press British Library acquires Ted Hughes archive for nation - The Herald For more information, please see the Ted Hughes page at the British Library.

Over the next week, The Guardian will publish small booklets of poems by the 20th century's greatest poets. The poets include T. S. Eliot (today), W. H. Auden (12 March) Sylvia Plath (13 March), Philip Larkin (14 March), Ted Hughes (16 March), Seamus Heaney (17 March), and Siegfried Sassoon (18 March). Each booklet includes a foreword by a prominent scholar, writer, or critic. Read more...

From the Guardian, www.guardian.co.uk , on 15 August, 2007: Arts diary Revealed: Sylvia Plath's unseen art, discovered in the attic Francesca Martin Wednesday August 15, 2007 Paintings and drawings by Sylvia Plath, many of which have never been seen before, are to be published in October to mark the 75th anniversary of the birth of the American poet and novelist. In the book Eye Rhymes: Sylvia Plath's Art of the Visual, editor Kathleen Connors reveals illustrated childhood letters that Plath wrote when she was seven, which were found in the Plath family attic in 1996. There are also schoolbook sketches, portraits and a series of photographs and paintings from when Plath was an art student at Smith College, Massachusetts, including this self-portrait. The works were all completed by the time Plath was 20, at which point she decided to concentrate on her writing. As Connors points out, it was no small decision. "While few would argue with Plath's career choice, it is unf...