The Gift of Freedom competition will determine finalists from each genre—creative nonfiction, fiction, playwrighting, & poetry. One genre finalist will be awarded the $50,000 Gift of Freedom grant. Along with a $5,000 cash prize, the three remaining finalists for the Gift of Freedom Award receive a professional mentoring session, eligibility to attend a future AROHO Retreat for Women Writers and the honored distinction of being the finalist in their genre.
The Bloomsbury Festival is one of the most interesting Woolf sighting this week. It will include readings from emerging and established writers; Cream Tea and Conversation, a celebratory talk on Persephone Book’s 100th publication; and a sold-out session on Bloomsbury and Film, with reference to Virginia. See #9 below, then read on.
Men are exhausting. Women’s clubs are the perfect respite, Telegraph.co.uk
It has taken me years to clock what Virginia Woolf meant in A Room of One’s Own (‘A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction’.) Shirley Conran was on to the same thing: girls, get a (decent) job. Earn your way, and buy …
The Best of Bestowing, Harvard Magazine
At her first Christmas back from college, her mother gave her the first volume of Virginia Woolf’s letters. “I remember unwrapping it and going upstairs into the bedroom and being under blankets the whole day reading,” Paulsell says. She still reads …
The Rabble’s Orlando. Photo: Sarah Walker, Sydney Morning Herald
PLAYING with gender is a traditional prerogative of the theatre, and The Rabble’s superb adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando is an erotic and funny, alarming and profound interrogation of the subject. The theatrical mavericks have created a visceral…
Age critics make their picks of the festival, Sydney Morning Herald
”Highlights include Nilaja Sun’s powerful one-woman show No Child …, The Rabble’s sexy and subversive adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, and the irresistible carnival charm of La Soiree.” CAMERON WOODHEAD. HUB. ”The past few years have …
Theater Review: Blood Play, Vulture
Blood Play is a sort of inverted Virginia Woolf, a night besotted with darkness and drink where virtually nothing honest is spoken aloud — until the final, fatal malediction. The Debate Society (Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen, and director Oliver Butler …
Creativity a Symptom of Mental Illness?, Everyday Health
Fans of Virginia Woolf know that the author — who killed herself — was frequently depressed. A new study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute suggests that an artist’s creativity may be linked to his or her mental illness. The brightest and most …
New research suggests creativity is closely related to mental illness, allvoices
Numerous examples exist where artists and writers have descended into madness or depression taking their lives, some very well regarded examples being Virginia Woolf, Vincent van Gogh, Kurt Cobain, Robert E. Howard. Of course while these examples …
Preview: The Bloomsbury Festival, Londonist
As you might expect from the home of Virginia Woolf and co, literary types will be well catered for with readings from emerging and established writers. Look out for Cream Tea and Conversation, a celebratory talk on Persephone Book’s 100th publication …
Bridget Christie, The Riverfront,, South Wales Argus
Instead, we had her thoughts about how women are currently portrayed, the lack of Virginia Woolfand Mary Wollstonecraft in her local book store, and 18-year-olds on TOWIE who Botox their faces before a quiz night. “Misogyny and shiny leggings are …
Review: Orlando, Melbourne Festival, Herald Sun
WRITTEN as a love missive to poet Vita Sackville-West, Virginia Woolf’s romantic novel Orlando tells the fantastical tale of a young courtier to Queen Elizabeth I who decides to stop ageing and then lives through three centuries, firstly as a man then …
Candidates Night and Luna Stage This Week in West Orange, Patch.com
New Jersey Premiere of ‘Vita and Virginia’ by Eileen Atkins, adapted from correspondence betweenVirginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Vita Sackville-West was a wealthy socialite and aspiring poet. Virginia Woolf was of more modest means, and widely …
Johnny Depp Joins Reese Witherspoon and Julia Roberts in Bringing…, WordandFilm.com
It’s hard not to yearn for the early adopter’s thrill of experiencing the firsthand wonders of a Preston Sturges screwball comedy, a John Coltrane free jazz riff, or a Virginia Woolf modernist masterpiece fresh from the source. But there is one pop …
A Short Defense of Literary Excess, New York Times (blog)
And who can be indifferent to the impressionistic metaphoricity of Virginia Woolf’sprose, where things “quiver,” “tremble” “melt” and “overflow,” constantly threatening to exceed themselves? Take Woolf’s depiction of one of Clarissa Dalloway’s lucid …
Rabble rouses Woolf for an assault on the senses, The Australian
“How dull indecency is,” wrote Virginia Woolf in the mid-1920s, “when it is not the overflowing of a superabundant energy or savagery.” One could hardly find a more apt phrase to describe the Rabble’s recent output than the latter part of Woolf’s …
Turkish Nobelist, kin to Faulkner, Philadelphia Inquirer
Even as a young man, Pamuk – who is 60 years old – was impressed by Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner. Like those novelists he writes in stream-of-consciousness style: He portrays an individual’s point of view by depicting that character’s thought …
Craig Brown review of The John Lennon Letters by Hunter Davies, Daily Mail
When the Bloomsbury Group was at the height of its boom in the Seventies, people often joked that it wouldn’t be long before Virginia Woolf’s shopping lists were published, with a scholarly introduction by Michael Holroyd. Nowadays, the Bloomsburys …
Not everyone loves the countryside!, Sussex Express
(Phillimore): ‘Solitary walking in the afternoon for its own sake had an indisputable role in Virginia Woolf’s writing. She would compose sentences, collect thoughts and toss ideas about for her present and future writings, catching them “hot and …
Toby’s Room by Pat Barker: Review, Toronto Star
The novel’s title appears to be a self-conscious reference to Virginia Woolf’s 1922 novel Jacob’s Room. That novel’s “protagonist”—based on Woolf’s brother Thoby, who died of typhoid at 26—was largely absent, Woolf’s strategy being to build a notion …
Weekend Calendar: Books, Bats at Van Vleck, Music and Food Drive, Patch.com Virginia Woolf was of more modest means, and widely considered to be a brilliant writer. Yet, these two women shared a long and complex relationship. Told mostly through letters that sparkle with wit and insight, Vita and Virginia sheds an intimate and …
After Virginia Woolf, can Manorbier Castle inspire a new wave of authors?, WalesOnline
“Manorbier and the immediate vicinity have strong literary associations including Virginia Woolf, who was a frequent visitor to village,” said Ms Naper, who had to learn to walk again after suffering post-operative paralysis. “After an early bout of …
Vantage Point: I was there when The Beatles played a Jew do, Jewish Chronicle … Beatles’ first single being celebrated somewhat more widely — and wildly — than the 90th anniversary of T S Eliot’s The Waste Land and James Joyce’s Ulysses (not to mention Aaron’s Rod by D H Lawrence and Jacob’s Room by Virginia Woolf), there is…
New York Film Festival 2012: Ginger & Rosa, slantmagazine
Like Orlando, her adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s centuries-spanning novel which established her name internationally 20 years ago, there’s a strong female protagonist through whose POV the movie unfolds. We sense a deep personal involvement in the…
Murder and drama in the Lakes, The Guardian (blog)
capacity to appreciate and admire generously the work of authors very different from himself. He held in the highest esteem, for instance, the novels of Mr James Joyce and Mrs Woolf. Virginia Woolf was indeed a great friend and regular correspondent of…
Review: NJ premiere of ‘Vita and Virginia‘ at Luna Stage…verbal magic, Examiner.com
British writer Eileen Atkins has created a fascinating play based on the voluminous and intimate real-life correspondence between fellow Bloomsbury writers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West spanning from the early 1920s until 1941, when Woolf …
The Tankerville Arms – steeped in Northumberland history, Manchester Evening News
It’s not often you discover a hotel that boasts Virginia Woolf and Cardinal Basil Hume as fans. The writer raved about her stay in 1914 and the archbishop was a regular visitor to the Tankerville Arms in rural Northumberland. Steeped in history, the …
2012 Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, Foodepedia
So said Virginia Woolf, and who am I to argue? If I were feeling particularly daring though, I might add one more thing to her list. Reading well also requires appropriate nourishment, making food a particularly important part of enjoying the 2012 …
What are the five best books about London?, Telegraph.co.uk Virginia Woolf’s reportage collected in just 95 pages of The London Scene (Snowbooks) captures just one moment in London time – 1931 – but does so exquisitely. Graphic novel From Hell (Knockabout) is a retelling of the Jack the Ripper murders by Alan …
Au Naturaw Opens in Downtown Santa Ana, OC Weekly (blog)
Also on the website are Virginia Woolf and Shakespeare quotes, a photo of a happy goat in a garden and a snapshot of Marchell Williams, the owner and chef. It should also be mentioned that Williams appears to have made a comment a few months ago on …
Mabeyn Gallery hosts Gözonar’s show, Hurriyet Daily News
Her current work uses the words of Marilyn Monroe, Che Guevara and Virginia Woolfto link them with ordinary people. You will be surprised by what you see, and that’s exactly what Gözonar’s “Way” is about. October/09/2012. PRINTER FRIENDLY …
‘Vita and Virginia‘: As good as their words, The Star-Ledger – NJ.com
Based on the real-life correspondence between writers Vita Sackler-West and Virginia Woolf, “Vita and Virginia” is a play in letters. Sitting at desks opposite one another, the women pour out their mutual admiration, fears, jealousies and inspirations …
The Godfather of Nyama Choma – Francis Wahome, AllAfrica.com
opinion. British novelist Virginia Woolf is quoted saying, “one cannot think well, love well, and sleep well, if one has not dined well.” ‘Dining well’ is the feeling one gets while digging into scrumptious nyama choma, ugali, and spinach at Francis …
‘All We Know: Three Lives,’ by Lisa Cohen, New York Times
Todd and Garland published Virginia Woolf, Duncan Grant and other Bloomsbury figures. Woolf associated the couple, Cohen writes, with “the knot of art, commerce and sexuality that haunts and defines both modernism and fashion.” The golden moment …
Glee Recap of Season 4, Episode 4: “The Break-Up” — Blaine Cheated on Kurt …, Wetpaint
Plus, a note to Virginia Woolf: We’re never reading another one of your novels for as long as we live! As far as we’re concerned, Virginia is as responsible for this break-up as anyone else, since it was her books that brought the “crazy or lesbian …
Watch: Santana Serenades Brittany with ‘Mine’ in ‘Glee’s’ ‘The Break-Up’, SheWired
Thanks to flashback, viewers got to see that she and a girl armed with the Virginia Woolfcollection, had checked Santana out, and Santana returned the favor. While Santana explained that she would never cheat and that she didn’t want to full-on break …
A Painting Opportunity, Daily Beast
More than just the title of Pat Barker’s new novel is reminiscent of Virginia Woolf’s 1922 novel Jacob’s Room. Woolf wrote her third novel in memory of her brother Thoby, who died at age 26 in 1906, and so too Barker’s novel is about a sister mourning …
The Godfather of Nyama Choma – Francis Wahome, AllAfrica.com
opinion. British novelist Virginia Woolf is quoted saying, “one cannot think well, love well, and sleep well, if one has not dined well.” ‘Dining well’ is the feeling one gets while digging into scrumptious nyama choma, ugali, and spinach at Francis …
A Review of ‘Vita and Virginia,’ at Luna Stage, New York Times In Act II of Eileen Atkins’s intelligent and resonant “Vita and Virginia,” now playing at Luna Stage, Woolf (Mona Hennessy) discovers that her lover Vita Sackville-West (Rachel Black Spaulding) has been seen “lunching at the Cafe Royal” with another …
The topic of the conference, “Virginia Woolf and the Common(wealth) Reader,” encompasses Woolf’s interactions with/influence on Commonwealth writers, the issues of “common” wealth, discussions of wealth and gender, colonialism and gender, imperialism, politics, and a host of other related topics.
The conference also invites explorations of Virginia Woolf’s work from a range of different disciplinary practices: history, economics, politics, post-imperial/colonial studies, gender studies, psychology, cultural studies, legal studies, anthropology, ethnic studies, indigenous studies, publishing, and visual/art history.
We especially welcome papers or performances that:
explore Virginia Woolf’s interactions with/influence on Commonwealth writers.
engage with discussions carried on by Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf, and other members of their circle on issues of wealth, gender, imperialism, class, and economics
read Virginia Woolf as a member of the British Commonwealth, later the Commonwealth of Nations
Submissions are welcome from common readers, artists, writers, community activists, teachers, students, academics, and administrators.
For paper proposals, please send a 250-word abstract as a Word attachment. For panel proposals, please submit a 250-word abstract of each paper to be presented by each of the three panel participants along with the proposed panel title. We will be using a blind-submission process. Please do not include your name on your proposal. Instead, in your covering email, please include your name(s), institutional affiliation (if any), paper title(s), and contact information.
Sally Green posed a question this week on the VWoolf Listserv that asked, “Did Virginia Woolf have anything to say about historical memory, or issues of memory, say, the way Proust thought about memory (or the way we do today when engaging in “memory studies”?
Feedback from the list suggested the following Woolf works that touch on memory:
Woolf’s last novel Between the Acts, addresses history as memory.
“On Being Ill,” an essay she wrote on the caves of thought one wanders when ill — memories included. Read a Guardian interview with Woolf biographer Hermione Lee on the topic: “Prone to Fancy.”
Portions of The Waves alluding to T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” touch on collective and historical memory.
Influences on Woolf and memory included:
Proust’s Recherche, which she read while writing her major novels.
Wordsworth’s “The Prelude,” which she read while composing The Waves (D 3: 236).
Secondary sources on Woolf and memory included:
The Formation of 20th-Century Queer Autobiography by Georgia Johnston
Modernism, Memory, and Desire: T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf by Gabrielle McIntire. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
“Proust, Woolf, and Modern Fiction,” by Pericles Lewis. The Romantic Review 99: 1 (2008). Download the PDF.
“Time and Virginia Woolf” by James Southall Wilson. The Virginia Quarterly Review. Spring 1942. 267-76.
Memory is the seamstress, and a capricious one at that. Memory runs her needle in and out, up and down, hither and thither. We know not what comes next, or what follows after. Thus, the most ordinary movement in the world, such as sitting down at a table and pulling the inkstand towards one, may agitate a thousand odd, disconnected fragments, now bright, now dim, hanging and bobbing and dipping and flaunting, like the underlinen of a family of fourteen on a line in a gale of wind – Orlando
