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 ]
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The California Independent Booksellers Alliance has released 'This Wander State: Poems from Alta,' the first volume in a series of poetry collections, which will be focused on a region of the vast state. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In her memoir 'I Am Debra Lee,' BET's former CEO gets candid about her tenure at the cable network and shares advice for women in corporate America. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-03-07 19:04:58 UTC ]
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Poets are expert wordsmiths, so it's no surprise these prose books by poets are meticulously crafted, making for unforgettable reads. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-08 11:33:00 UTC ]
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Contemporary global crises affected the writing and production of Katherine Marsh's newest middle-grade novel, inspired by her Ukrainian family history, in unexpected ways. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-06 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Exclusive: Key Murdoch editor was at Wall Street Journal Tech Live event at Laguna Beach last month along with top News Corp executivesFollow our Australia news live blog for the latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastChristopher Dore lost his job... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-11-18 07:59:05 UTC ]
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In ‘Slaying the Dragon,’ Ben Riggs chronicles the rise and fall of the company behind the granddaddy of role-playing games Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-08-26 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The memoirist and author was best known for his book “The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South." Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-29 02:26:02 UTC ]
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In her new role as poet laureate of the United States, Ada Limón will help bridge nature and humanity through new poetry initiatives. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-07-12 12:00:55 UTC ]
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In the back of my favorite bookstore in Brooklyn, there’s a wall covered in all the random things the employees have found in the used books they sell: photos, newspaper clippings, notes, receipts, pressed flowers, etc. It’s a fascinating little archive, both meaningless and somehow magical,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-11 14:16:40 UTC ]
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A friend texts me about Poet Voice. I’m out for a run in sunny LA and have to slow down. She’s sitting with her book club in Brooklyn and they want to know: “Why do poets read their work in that weird poetic monotone rhythmic thing?” She’s asking me because I write poems and, on […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-11 08:53:10 UTC ]
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Volumes I and II of ‘The Complete Works of W.H. Auden: Poems’ delve deeply into the masterful works I have long admired. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-29 13:00:37 UTC ]
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A onetime veterinarian, he became a regular on NPR with his comical stories and poems of rural life. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-26 02:24:49 UTC ]
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Calhoun explores the life of poet Frank O'Hara while considering her relationship with her father, art critic Peter Schjeldahl. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-06-17 15:41:50 UTC ]
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Ada Calhoun hoped to finish a biography of O’Hara once started by her father, the art critic Peter Schjeldahl. Instead, she wrote a searching memoir about creativity and family. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-15 02:06:51 UTC ]
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In her memoir “Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me,” Ada Calhoun set out to write a poet’s biography and found a connection to her father instead. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-06-09 09:00:19 UTC ]
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In "After the Romanovs,” British historian Helen Rappaport traces the changed lives of Russian exiles who fled to Paris after the Bolshevik Revolution. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2022-03-25 12:41:59 UTC ]
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Alejandro Zambra’s latest book is a lighthearted study of artistic birthright, national identity and Chile’s contemporary literary scene. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-02-15 10:00:04 UTC ]
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Early in Julia May Jonas’s searing debut novel Vladimir, the unnamed narrator, an “oldish white woman in her late fifties (the identity I am burdened with publicly presenting, to my general embarrassment)” finds herself in the last place anyone wants to be—a faculty meeting of a small New... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-02-02 09:50:43 UTC ]
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The 50-year-old Costa Book Awards' 2021 cycle has chosen a book of sonnets called 'The Kids' by Hannah Lowe as its top honor. The post In London, Poet Hannah Lowe Wins the Costa Book of the Year Award appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-02-02 01:18:04 UTC ]
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