Rosemary Tonks, the lost poet

Rosemary Tonks was a feted poet, trenchant reviewer and literary socialite. And then she 'disappeared'. Following her death last month, Neil Astley traces her extraordinary storyThe "disappearance" of the poet Rosemary Tonks in the 1970s was one of the literary world's most tantalising mysteries. Bizarre theories abounded as to her whereabouts if she was still alive. As the poet Brian Patten put it in a BBC radio feature about her in 2009, she "evaporated into air like the Cheshire cat". One contributor imagined her living in Cuba, "smoking cigars in a doorway". Other commentators over the years have made her into a nun; consigned her to a sect; had her communing with the ghost of Charles Baudelaire; or put her in a shed at the bottom of someone's garden. For some reason, these mythmakers always required her to be living in poverty.Having tried to visit her myself, 10 years ago, I knew all these theories to be far from the truth. But out of respect for her declared wish, maintained by her family, that she should be left in peace, I kept her address and situation secret. Tonks died last month at the age of 85 (all the existing records had her as four years younger). She had indeed been living as a near-recluse but out of choice, quite comfortable in her circumstances. Even so, she remained restless in spirit, defiantly independent and quite alone in her continuing search for God, for she was ever alert to the "brainwashing", manipulative tendencies in the religious... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #years younger

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Rosemary Tonks, the lost poet

Rosemary Tonks was a feted poet, trenchant reviewer and literary socialite. And then she 'disappeared'. Following her death last month, Neil Astley traces her extraordinary storyThe "disappearance" of the poet Rosemary Tonks in the 1970s was one of the literary world's most tantalising... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #years younger


US Poet Laureate Ada Limon is publishing a new anthology of 50 poems by 50 poets.

Lit Hub is pleased to announce a new books, published in cooperation with the Library of Congress and edited by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, a collection of poems reflecting on “our relationship to the natural world by fifty of our most celebrated contemporary writers.”... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-06 14:00:57 UTC ]
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Robert Hershon, Artful Poet Who Published Poets, Dies at 84

He was a founder of Hanging Loose Press, which started as a loose-page poetry journal and became a book publisher as well. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2021-03-31 21:53:23 UTC ]
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'AI is a crap poet': Margaret Atwood isn't worried about artificial intelligence

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[ CBC | 2024-10-28 23:31:38 UTC ]
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The Internet Archive lost their latest appeal. Here’s what that means for you.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2024-09-06 13:00:06 UTC ]
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“Examine Every Atom”: The Capacious Career of Poet, Editor, and Critic T. R. Hummer, by Chard deNiord

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[ World Literature Today | 2024-07-31 13:31:02 UTC ]
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Read a poem written by America’s best young poets.

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[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-21 14:00:54 UTC ]
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A Secret Letter to the KGB Turned A Lost Family History Into a Novel

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[ Electric Literature | 2024-04-25 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Oakland’s Poet Laureate Receives Rainin Arts Fellowship, Plans Anthology with New Indie Press

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-04-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Hundreds of Small Presses Just Lost Their Distributor. Now What?

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[ The New York Times | 2024-04-17 09:03:54 UTC ]
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A poet's novel of utopia shows less an ideal than, perhaps, a road map

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-02-24 11:09:13 UTC ]
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City Lights Rallies for a Palestinian Poet

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Resisting sentimentality, Laird Hunt's latest book is an elegy for a lost generation

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2024-02-07 17:33:54 UTC ]
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Life a Cold Crematorium: A Long-Lost Memoir from a Holocaust Survivor

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[ Literrary Hub | 2024-01-25 09:53:48 UTC ]
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At Generous Press, Two Poets Fall for Romance

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-01-09 05:00:00 UTC ]
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California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick opens up and performs at the L.A. Times Book Club

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[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-12-12 20:24:33 UTC ]
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