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
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
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,
Tickets are £10.00 Drinks and refreshments will be provided
included in magazines, among them, Poetry Review, PN Review,
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
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
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
Bonhams
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
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
Beginnings and Endings -
Walter de la Mare's Career as a Writer
Joe Griffiths
The Arts Workers Guild, November 2012
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)
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
Publications
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