Here is some news from the world of Virginia Woolf, as shared by the Virginia Woolf Society of Great Britain.
A Room of One’s Own is being dramatized on Radio 4 May 31 at 3 p.m. BST. A Room of One’s Own was recorded during lockdown with actors and production team all in rooms of their own. Listen to the broadcast here.
The society’s 2014 Annual Virginia Woolf Birthday Lecture 2014 by Hermione Lee, “To pin down the moment with date and season,” is the only one available online. View it on YouTube.
Lovers of Charleston, rejoice! If you’ve always longed to attend a Charleston Festival in May in East Sussex, you can now attend online — for free. And if you’d like to add some paper touches of Charleston to your home office, you can do so now, while helping the financially challenged Charleston at the same time.
Celebrating and helping from home
The Charleston Festival, the main fundraising event for the longtime home of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and the country refuge for the Bloomsbury group, is staying home, like many of us around the globe as we weather the current coronavirus pandemic.
And now that the event is available online for free, billed as the Charleston Festival at Home, more of us from around the world will be able to attend from home — and hopefully be inspired to help Charleston while beautifying our homes as well.
Charleston’s flint and brick garden wall with a row of casts of antique heads, many of which have been replaced over the years.
The Charleston Festival at Home is a series of 10 free events bringing artists, writers, thinkers and agents of change together online to explore art, literature and society, just as the Bloomsbury group did around the Charleston dining room table 100 years ago, according to the website.
The online program runs May 15-25 and features nearly daily events that include:
BRICKS & MORTAR: On May 17, Hannah Rothschild and Julian Fellowes discuss historical fiction, family, and the wonderful inspiration that buildings can provide. The talk premieres at 2 p.m. BST.
IN PURSUIT OF JUSTICE: On May 19, Philippe Sands discusses ‘the ratlines’ — a system of escape routes for fascists fleeing Europe in the aftermath of World War II.
SEX, LIES & WOOLF: On May 22, Leïla Slimani speaks about her novels, beliefs, and her new collection of essays giving voice to young Moroccan women.
SALMAN RUSHDIE IN CONVERSATION: On May 23, Salman Rushdie returns to Charleston Festival to discuss his life and work.
ORDINARY LIVES & DEVASTATING TRUTHS: On May 24, Tayari Jones will explore the art of writing tangled relationships and the perils of young womanhood.
Charleston, the treasure trove of Bloomsbury art and culture, along with its garden, galleries, shop and café, are temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. That means the charity that receives no public funding is bereft of income from visitor admissions, as well as its main fundraising event. The Charleston Festival, one of the oldest and most prestigious interdisciplinary festivals in the world, was cancelled in April due to the coronavirus.
As a result, Charleston has issued an emergency appeal for donations from those who appreciate this unique venue, no matter what side of the pond they live on.
You can find out more, including how to make a donation — whether you are a UK citizen or not — here.
By the second week of March, the sale of jigsaw puzzles soared, due to coronavirus quarantines. With puzzle companies closed, as they were not considered essential businesses, puzzles became scarce and prices went up.
I was one of the many who searched online to find puzzles that looked like fun and wouldn’t break the bank. I found a few. But I never thought I’d find any that included Virginia Woolf. Today I did.
Puzzling Woolf
First, there’s the EuroGraphics Famous Writers 1000 Piece Puzzle, which features Woolf smack dab in the middle of 75 other famous writers. Its finished size is 19.25″ x 26.5″ and the cost is $29.79.
Second, there’s the Re-marks Bestsellers Panoramic 1000 Piece Puzzle, which includes covers of many best-selling books, including two of Woolf’s — Orlando and Mrs. Dalloway. It measures 17″ x 9″ and the cost is $17.99.
I bought both for my collection of Woolf items.
Getting in Woolf’s head
You can also get inside Virginia Woolf’s head — and put it together — with the Virginia Woolf Paper Craft Model. This pocket-size item describes itself as “The Head is a Puzzle.” It includes eight model sheets and 22 precut puzzle pieces you assemble by connecting tabs. I’m skipping this one.
Literature Cambridge has had a great response to its new Online Study Sessions, launched due to the coronavirus, and has responded by scheduling additional sessions.
Below is the schedule of those still to come. It includes those focused on Virginia Woolf, as well as other authors. The cost is a bargain at £22 full price and £18 for students and CAMcard holders.
Upcoming Online Study Sessions
Sunday 17 May: Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own. 1: After the War, with Trudi Tate. 18.00 BST
Saturday 6 June: Woolf. A Room of One’s Own. 2: Women and Education with Alison Hennegan. 18.00
Saturday 13 June: Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest. 18.00 BST
Sunday 28 June: Katherine Mansfield, Selected short stories. 18.00 BST
Saturday 22 August: Angela Carter, stories from The Bloody Chamber. 18.00 BST
Sunday 6 September: Clothing in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. 18.00 BST
Saturday 12 September: Reading The Waves Across a Lifetime, with Dame Gillian Beer. 18.00 BST
Most sessions will be held at 18.00 to 20.00 British Summer Time / 19.00 Central European Summer Time. Some sessions will take place at 10.00 am British Summer Time, for the benefit of people in different time zones, but students are welcome to book any session, wherever they are in the world. Check the web page for updates.
NOTE: BST (British Summer Time) is five hours ahead of EST (Eastern Standard Time) and eight hours ahead of PT (Pacific Time).
Literature Cambridge hopes to offer an introductory session on The Waves soon. If there is enough interest, they will offer it twice: once at 10.00 am and again at 18.00 pm BST. Date to be confirmed.
Online Study Session format and booking
Each Online Study Session has a live lecture via Zoom, followed by a moderated seminar discussion. The session lasts about 100 minutes, but please allow two hours. Details are available online.
Literature Cambridge looks forward to being together again in person for ‘real life’ Study Days. These will take place at a new venue, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge.
Safety permitting, these will resume on 19 September 2020 with a full day (11.00 am to 5.30 pm) on Woolf’s comic novel, Orlando (1928).
The program also has Study Days and half-days planned on George Eliot’s Middlemarch, Shakespeare’s Richard III, Jane Austen’s Emma, D. H. Lawrence’s poetry and novellas, and more.
A table full of Literature Cambridge T-shirts at the program’s 2018 summer course on Virginia Woolf’s Gardens
Featuring articles, reviews of new books, and a guide to library special collections, Woolf Studies Annual is the premier academic journal on the life, work, and times of Virginia Woolf.
Here’s what you’ll find in the 26th volume:
Josh Phillips’s transcription of part of the holograph manuscript of The Years, which provides a new take on that novel’s relationship to Three Guineas, enabling further exploration of Woolf’s complex creative processes.
Catriona Livingstone’s reading of Woolf through the lens of science fiction, which provides a fresh and provocative look at some well-known texts
Sebastian Williams providing insightful observations into Woolf’s Bioethics in “Animals and Dependency in ‘The Widow and the Parrot.’”
Reviews by Elizabeth Outka, Celia Marshik, and more.
Alice Lowe
Catherine
Kaylee Baucom
Paula Maggio
Stefano Rozzoni
seanmcphail
suzannebellamy1
veronikakra
Vara Neverow
William Patrick Wend
Zoe Wolstenholme
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