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Aug. 31 Woolf Salon discusses Night and Day, novel & film

Posted in events, Night and Day, tagged Night and Day, Woolf Salon, Woolfian films on Thursday 30 July 2026| 2 Comments »

The film Night and Day based on Virginia Woolf’s 1919 novel, is out in the UK, but not in the US. In anticipation of its release, the Woolf Salon invites you to three salons running from July through September that will feature the novel. The first, Woolf Salon #34, is tomorrow, Friday, August. 31.

Despite being described by Leonard Woolf as “very melancholy” and panned by Katherine Mansfield, Night and Day is a hilarious, emotionally intense, and philosophically rich novel that rewards attention.

I never thought of Night and Day as a comedy until I saw the film at the 35th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf: Woolf and Sound, held in June in Istanbul, Turkey. Now I am re-reading it, and I find myself noting the humor to which I had been blind before.

Whether you are new to the delights of Night and Day, haven’t revisited it for many years, or are as currently obsessed with it as some conspirators, the Woolf Salon invites you to join the group for an energetic conversation about the ups and downs of Katharine Hilbery and her friends.

The Night and Day Salon series

Woolf Salon No. 34
When: Friday, July 31
What to read: Night and Day chapters 1-11
Woolf Salon No. 35
When: Friday, Sept. 11
What to read: Night and Day chapters 12-23
Woolf Salon No. 36
When: Friday, Oct. 16
What to read: Night and Day chapters 24-34

Times for all three

All three of these Salon events will run for two hours, starting at 2 p.m. EDT (New York) / 11 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 3 p.m. (Brasilia) / 7 p.m. BST (London) / 8 p.m. CEST (Paris) / 9 p.m. (Istanbul) / 3 a.m. JST Sat (Tokyo) / 4 a.m. Sat AEST (Sydney).

How to participate

Anyone can join the group. Just contact woolfsalonproject@gmail.com to sign up for the email list and receive the Zoom link.

Background on the Salon

The Salon Conspirators — Ben Hagen, Shilo McGiff, Amy Smith, and Drew Shannon — began the Woolf Salon Project in July 2020 to provide opportunities for conversation and conviviality among Woolf-interested scholars, students, and common readers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Woolf Salon #33: Falling in love with Flush Feb. 13

Posted in events, Flush, tagged Flush, Woolf Salon on Monday 9 February 2026| 5 Comments »

The cover of Virginia Woolf’s 1933 novel “Flush: A Biography,” which included original drawings by Vanessa Bell.

For Woolf Salon No. 33: Falling in Love with Flush, the focus will be on Woolf’s 1933 biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s dog Flush.

Though the Woolf Salon Project tends to focus on shorter texts (essays, stories, excerpts), Flush seems fitting for this time of year and is only about 33,000 words long. Even if you can’t finish reading or rereading the novel by Feb. 13, the Salon Conspirators would love to see you on the Zoom call.

Hosts: Salon Conspirators
Date: Friday, Feb. 13
Time: 2 p.m. EST (New York), 1 p.m. CST (Chicago), noon MST (Albuquerque), 11 a.m. PST (Los Angeles), 4 p.m. (Rio de Janeiro), 7 p.m. GMT (London), 8 p.m. CET (Paris), 9 p.m. EET (Tallinn), 10 p.m. (Istanbul; Moscow), 4 p.m. JST Sat. 2/14 (Tokyo), 6 a.m. EDT Sat. 2/14 (Sydney)
Homework: Flush: A Biography (1933)
How to participate: Anyone can join the group. Just contact woolfsalonproject@gmail.com to sign up for the email list and receive the Zoom link.

Background on the Salon

The decorated plate in the center of this poster features one of 50 plates in the Famous Women Dinner Service, 1932-1934, painted by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and now housed at Charleston.

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Woolf Salon #32: Common Reader at 100 on Dec. 5

Posted in events, tagged The Common Reader, Woolf Salon on Tuesday 2 December 2025| Leave a Comment »

The upcoming Woolf Salon on Friday, Dec. 5, will celebrate The Common Reader at 100, Virginia’s book-length work of literary criticism collecting 20 essays which she introduces with a short preface. You can log in via Zoom.

The first salon in July 2020 invited attendees to “imagine a Woolfian criticism.” More than five years later, the salon returns to Woolf’s critical essays and to questions about the difference Woolf’s reading and thinking—and her thinking about reading—might make for us here and now.

Why might the concept “common reader” be of urgent concern in our Present Day?
As you return to the essays gathered in the 1925 volume, what comes to mind?
What do you notice about Woolf’s approach to literature as “common ground”?
Does anything prompt you to wonder about your own reading practices? Your own framework(s) of criticism?
What confuses you? What activates you? What in these pages do you relish?

Details

Hosts: Salon Conspirators
What: Woolf Salon #32: The Common Reader at 100

Date: Friday, Dec. 5

Time: 2 p.m. EST (New York) / 1 p.m. CST (Chicago) / noon MST (Albuquerque) / noon CST (México City) / 11 a.m. PST (Los Angeles) / 4 p.m. (Rio de Janeiro) / 7 p.m. GMT (London) / 8 p.m. CET (Paris) / 9 p.m. EET (Tallinn); 10 p.m. (Istanbul; Moscow) / 4 a.m. JST Sat 12/6 (Tokyo) / 6 a.m. AEDT Sat 12/6 (Sydney)
Homework: “Modern Fiction,” which you can read here. Also, please bring a passage from or a question about another Common Reader essay.

How to participate: Anyone can join the group. Just contact woolfsalonproject@gmail.com to sign up for the email list and receive the Zoom link.

Background on the Salon

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Woolf Salon 31: Let Flowers Fall is Sept. 27

Posted in events, in memoriam, Virginia Woolf, tagged Elisa Kay Sparks, Woolf Salon on Tuesday 16 September 2025| Leave a Comment »

Woolf Salon No. 31: Let Flowers Fall, will celebrate Virginia woolf scholar and friend Elisa Kay Sparks, who passed away Aug. 16 in Seattle, Washington.

A message about the salon, set for Saturday, Sept. 27, at 1 p.m. EST on Zoom, included these words:

We loved her. Love her. The salons delighted no one more than Elisa. In fact, a Zoom get-together that she hosted for Woolfians in early June 2020 was the inspiration for the Salon Project, which launched a little over a month later (23 July 2020). She attended nearly all—if not all thirty—of the salons and especially loved seeing new faces among the faces of her friends. And she’ll be in attendance again—with us, through us—for No. 31. And 32. And 33…

We plan to dress in teals, purples, greens, and pinks; to read favorite floral passages together (from Woolf or elsewhere!); and to share memories of dear Elisa, too. We encourage you to do the same—to dress in her colors, to bring passages to read, to share memories. In short: to celebrate.

The details

Hosts: Salon Conspirators
Date: Saturday, Sept. 27
Length: 2 hours
Time: 1 p.m. EDT (New York); noon CDT (Chicago); 11 a.m. MDT (Albuquerque); 11 a.m. CST (México City); 10 a.m. PDT (Los Angeles); 2 p.m. (Rio de Janeiro)
6 p.m. BST (London); 7 p.m. CEST (Paris); 8 p.m. (Tallinn; Istanbul; Moscow); 2 a.m. JST Sat 9/28 (Tokyo); 3 a.m. AEST Sat 9/28 (Sydney) Please check time conversions.
Who is invited: Any and all who wish to attend: common readers, close friends, admirers from afar, Woolfians, non-Woolfians, the Woolf Curious and on…
Where: On Zoom
Homework: Bring some colors, some passages to read, and some memories to share. Floral profusions encouraged.
How: Contact woolfsalonproject@gmail.com to sign up for the email list and receive the Zoom link.

Background on the Salon

The Salon Conspirators — Benjamin Hagen, Shilo McGiff, Amy Smith, and Drew Shannon — began the Woolf Salon Project in July 2020 to provide opportunities for conversation and conviviality among Woolf-interested scholars, students, and common readers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Woolf Salon 28: Reading the Russians is July 26

Posted in events, Online discussions, Woolf online, tagged International Virginia Woolf Society, Russians, Woolf Salon on Sunday 14 July 2024| Leave a Comment »

Join Woolf Salon No. 28: “Reading the Russians” on Friday, July 26, 2-4 p.m. EST.

Hosts: Georgy Liseyev and the Salon Conspirators
Date: Friday, July 26
Time: 2–4 p.m. EST (New York) / 11 a.m.–1 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles) / 3–5 p.m. Brasilia / 7–9 p.m. BST (London) / 8–10 p.m. CEST (Paris) / 9–11 p.m. Ankara / Sat 3 a.m.–5 a.m. JST (Tokyo) / Sat 4 a.m.–6 a.m. AEST (Sydney). Please double check time zone conversions.
Where: On Zoom
How: Contact woolfsalonproject@gmail.com to sign up for the email list and receive the Zoom link.

The readings

The group looks forward to discussing two of Woolf’s many essays on Russian literature with you: “The Russian Point of View” and “The Novels of Turgenev”! Georgy will also share some translations that he’s been working on.

Read “The Russian Point of View” (1925) and “The Novels of Turgenev” (1933). You can find “The Russian Point of View” in Essays (vol. 4) and The Common Reader: First Series (1925). “The Novels of Turgenev” appears in Essays (vol. 6) and The Captain’s Death Bed and Other Essays (1950).

Please let the Salon Conspirators know if you have trouble accessing these texts. (Please note: the version of “The Novels of Turgenev” that appears on The Yale Review website differs substantially from the version noted above; The Yale Review version is included in an Appendix to Essays [vol. 6].)

Read more about “Woolf, Chekhov and the Russian Point of View.”

How to join the Salon

Anyone can join the group, which meets via Zoom and focuses on a single topic or text. Just contact woolfsalonproject@gmail.com to sign up for the email list and receive the Zoom link.