Recent News, Events and Publications

                                           

                                  A Talk by Emma Close-Brooks

             ‘The Novels of Walter de la Mare’ 

                  Tuesday, 19th November 2019 at 6.45 pm 

This autumn’s event will again take place at the very successful venue 
we found last autumn. It is: The London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury 
Place, London WC1A 2JL: down from Great Russell Street, opposite 
the British Museum. The nearest underground stations are Russell 
Square and Holborn. 

        Tickets are £10.00 Drinks and refreshments will be provided 

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Emma Close-Brooks is well known to us all. She has been the editor of the Walter de la Mare
Society Magazine since 2015, and she was co-editor for a couple of years before that as well. 
A recent graduate of the University of Cambridge, she has contributed several excellent pieces 
in a series of stimulating issues which have been exploring all aspects of Walter de la Mare’s 
oeuvre and life in a fresh and original way. It will be exciting to hear what she has to say about 
his novels, which were so much in the spotlight at the 2018 International Conference. 
   
                              **************************************************************************

                                        



                                              A Talk by Yui Kajita

             ‘A Lully of Voices: Haunting Echoes in 
               Walter de la Mare and Thomas Hardy’

                       Monday, 26th November 2018 at 6.45 pm

            This autumn’s event will take place at another new venue. It is:

             The London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, London WC1A 2JL 
(the Enitharmon Gallery, now usually closed, is nearby): down from Great Russell Street, 

opposite the British Museum. The nearest underground stations are Russell Square and Holborn.

                 Tickets are £10.00 Drinks and refreshments will be provided

Yui Kajita is completing her PhD at the University of Cambridge, working on the poetry and 
prose of Thomas Hardy and Walter de la Mare. Her thesis explores the reciprocal echoes between
 their works, with particular attention to ghostly sounds, imagining the unknown, and experiences 
of reading and writing. 

She recently won first place for the Thomas Hardy Association Student Essay Prize for ‘Hardy’s Questioning’, published in The Hardy Review; and her article, ‘Ghostly Sensations in Walter de 
la Mare’s Texts: Reading the Body as a Haunted House’, has appeared in English Literature 
in Transition: 1880-1920. She also co-organized ‘Reading Walter de la Mare, 1873-1956:
 “a voice which has no fellow”’, the international conference held in Cambridge on 20th and 21stSeptember, which gathered de la Mare enthusiasts from across the world. Members will have this opportunity to hear news from Yui about the conference, and to ask her about the talks and
 discussions that took place. 







                          

                                    A Talk by William Wootten
 
              "Walter de la Mare and the Poetry of Enchantment"
 
                          Tuesday, 28th November 2017 at 6PM 
      
      This autumn's event will take place in the new venue we used last year,   
      The Enitharmon Gallery, 10 Bury Place, London, WC1A 2JL, down
      from Great Russell Street, opposite the British Museum (and close to
      The London Review of Books).  The nearest underground stations
      are Russell Square and Holborn. 
 
         Tickets are £10.00  /  Drinks and refreshments will be provided.
 
 
  **********************************************************************************
 
       William Wootten is a lecturer in the English Department at the
       University of Bristol, and a poet and a critic. He published a volume
       of poems called You have a Visitor, In 2016. His poems have been 
       included in magazines, among them, Poetry Review, PN Review,
      The Spectator, and the TLS; and he has written widely on modern poetry,
       His essays and book reviews appearing in the The Guardian, the TLS
       and The London Review of Books and many other places. His
       critical study, The Alvarez Generation;  Thom Gunn, Geoffrey Hill, Ted
       Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Peter Porter, came out in 2015.


                                        Andrew Doyle

            "Sharing the Inkpot: The Literary Friendship   
        between Walter de la Mare and Forrest Reid"

                                           Thursday 10th November 2016, 6.30pm

                                   This Autumn Event will take place at a new venue:
                            The Enitharmon Gallery, 10 Bury Place, London WC1A 2JL,
                          on the corner of Great Russell Street, opposite the British Museum.
                          The nearest Undergrounds remain Russell Square and Holborn.

                           Tickets are £10.00 -- Drinks and Refreshments will be provided






 The Writings of Walter de la Mare in the 21st Century


                                                                  Richard Hawking 

                                                      Wednesday 18th May 2016
                                                Royal Grammar School, Worcester
 Richard Hawking will be discussing the contemporary relevance of de la Mare's writings  
        in our age of evolving media focusing on archiving, research and dissemination. 

     He is an English Teacher at The Royal Grammar School in Worcester, and has written 
              a thesis on the poetry of Walter de la Mare - he is also our Website guru.
 
                                



HIS NAME WAS DREAM:  THE WORLD OF WALTER DE LA MARE

                             A Concert of musical settings of poems by Walter de la Mare

                         Silk Street Music Hall, Silk Street, Barbican, London, EC2Y 8DT

                                                  Friday, 9th October, 2015 at 7.00 p.m. 

                                                                Admission Free

   Following the highly successful Concert at Ludlow recently, Iain Burnside leads postgraduate singers 
    and pianists from the Guildhall School of Music in a specially devised programme of English Song.



              




                         'His Name Was Dream' 

               The World of Walter de la Mare


                            Ludlow Assembly Rooms, Sunday 31st May 2015 

The closing concert of the Ludlow English Song Weekend is a celebration of one of Britain’s literary greats drawn from the 1,000 songs written to his words. The colourful miscellany includes songs by Howells, Gurney, Berkeley, Finzi, Richard Rodney Bennett.

                                      

Buy online or contact the Box Office on 01584 878141                   

                         
                              New Publication

                                     

"This superb edition of Told Again brings a neglected work to twenty-first-century readers and is a great addition to the Oddly Modern Fairy Tales series. As Pullman’s introduction shows, the collection sheds light on a poet’s view of the wonder tale and its near relatives."--Pauline Greenhill, University of Winnipeg

"This eclectic collection of nineteen folk and fairy tales is without a doubt historically significant, and de la Mare seasons these concise and briskly paced retellings with a subtle, poetic musicality."--Mick Gowar, Anglia Ruskin University


Recent Events

Walter de la Mare's Language of Music and Mystery

Lecture by Christopher O' Shaughnessy in the house 
where the poet lived from 1945 to 1956  October 2014


Unveiling of the Plaque to Walter de la Mare 
Hill House, Taplow May 2014


           
Former Hill House resident Gavin Gordan (left) with Giles de la Mare 


Recent Society Events, News and Publications

The Limits of Materialism
John Gray 
John Gray draws on a story by Walter de la Mare to argue that the prevailing creed of scientific materialism is a "simple minded philosophy", preferring de la Mare's unsettling portrayal of everyday existence as insubstantial and unknowable."Even if there are such things as laws of nature, there's no reason to think they must be accessible to the human mind." 

Listen: BBC Podcast
Read: BBC News Magazine 

The Power of the Imagination: 
An Introduction to the Writing of Walter de la Mare
Richard Hawking 28th November 2013


A Talk on "The Listeners" by Giles de la Mare,
Followed by a Poetry Recital of Walter de la Mare 
Poems Written During this Period 

Photo

                                                                         

Bonhams

Sale of two lots of interest to members (10th April 2013) 
       119 - Portrait of de la Mare by Mark Gerson (Vintage photograph).Commissioned by Faber and Faber 1953.   
       120 -Three autographed manuscripts: An Epitaph, The Willow, The Spirit of Air

Contact: Simon Roberts (simonroberts@bonhams.com)


Beginnings and Endings - 
Walter de la Mare's Career as a Writer 
Joe Griffiths November 2012 


'Songs to Walter de la Mare'
Composed by Sjef Frenken
This recently released CD comprises settings of 40 poems by de la Mare, sung by the composer, backed by members of the Aomezeyck Ensemble. 
     

London English Song Festival 
Programme of 30 Walter de la Mare Songs for Children
May 2013


Exploring the World of Walter de la Mare's The Listeners 
Giles de la Mare
Swiss Cottage Library May 2012


Walter de la Mare's Language of Music and Mystery
Lecture by Christopher O' Shaughnessy in the house 
where the poet lived from 1945 to 1956   Nov 2014


Unveiling of the Plaque to Walter de la Mare 
Hill House, Taplow  May 2014


           
Former Hill House resident Gavin Gordan (left) with Giles de la Mare 


The Limits of Materialism
John Gray 
John Gray draws on a story by Walter de la Mare to argue that the prevailing creed of scientific materialism is a "simple minded philosophy", preferring de la Mare's unsettling portrayal of everyday existence as insubstantial and unknowable."Even if there are such things as laws of nature, there's no reason to think they must be accessible to the human mind." 

Listen: BBC Podcast
Read: BBC News Magazine 


Walter de la Mare's Language of Music and Mystery
Lecture by Christopher O' Shaughnessy 

Christopher O'Shaughnessy is a playwright and a reviewer of theatre for "Onestopstarts" and of academic books for Royal Holloway's "Platform" magazine, in which his verse drama "The Strokes" was published.  He is also involved directly in theatrical productions, as dramaturg, researcher and performer for Encompass Productions, including the recent Portobello FilmFestival. He is a doctoral student in theatre and performance at Goldsmiths College. In addition, he is active as a member of the Penge Partners Committee in South London, and on its behalf he helped organise and took part in the two Walter de la Mareevents in Penge - one of them a "Walter de la Mare walk" - in the area where the poet had lived in no less than four houses - in the early summer of of 2013. (Arts Workers Guild, November 2013) 

The Power of the Imagination:
An Introduction to the Writing of Walter de la Mare
Richard Hawking

Richard Hawking is the founder and editor of The Walter de la Mare Society Website.
(Royal Grammar School Worcester Literary Society, November 2013)

A Talk on "The Listeners" by Giles de la Mare,
Followed by a Poetry Recital of Walter de la Mare
Poems Written During this Period 

Photo

Beginnings and Endings -
Walter de la Mare's Career as a Writer
Joe Griffiths
The Arts Workers Guild, November 2012

                               

Bonhams
Sale of two lots of interest to members (10th April 2013) 
       119 - Portrait of de la Mare by Mark Gerson (Vintage photograph).Commissioned by Faber and Faber 1953.   
       120 -Three autographed manuscripts: An Epitaph, The Willow, The Spirit of Air
Contact: Simon Roberts (simonroberts@bonhams.com)


'Songs to Walter de la Mare'
Composed by Sjef Frenken
This recently released CD comprises settings of 40 poems by de la Mare, sung by the composer, backed by members of the Aomezeyck Ensemble.

Recent BBC Radio Event
BBC Radio 7 recently aired a selection of short stories by Walter de la Mare, read by a variety of actors. The first - All Hallows - was beautifully read by Richard E Grant on Christmas Eve. The others were: Seaton’s Aunt, Crewe, A Recluse, The Almond Tree
     

Publications
‘The Ghostly Concept of Childhood in the Fiction of Walter de la Mare’, in The Lion and the Unicorn 34.3 (September, 2010)
 
‘Ghostly Relations: The Aunt-type in the Fiction of Walter de la Mare’, in English 59.226 (Autumn, 2010)
                                      


Exploring the World of Walter de la Mare's The Listeners 
Giles de la Mare
Swiss Cottage Library May 2012

London English Song Festival 
Programme of 30 Walter de la Mare Songs for Children

May 2012

www.londonenglishsongfestival.org/event/walter-de-la-mare-songs-of-childhood                                          


Dr. Glen Cavaliero
Lecturer in English, St.Catharine's College, Cambridge
The Art Workers Guild,November 2011


'Connections and Diversions' -
A Sideways Look at Walter de la Mare
Written and Performed by Anne Harvey, The Art Workers Guild,October 2010

 
Walter de la Mare Blog Forum

Please take a little time to check out the new Society Blog Forum which offers all those interested in the life and work of de la Mare to correspond, discuss questions and share ideas