Welcome to the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society
The Sylvia Townsend Warner Society was launched in January 2000 in Dorchester by a group of enthusiasts, assembling for an inaugural meeting at the County Museum. The main aim of the Society is to promote a wide readership for and a better understanding of the writings of Sylvia Townsend Warner.
We provide a wide range of information on Sylvia Townsend Warner. Please follow the links on the top of each page to learn about Sylvia's life, her works and the reception of her work by the general public and literary critics. Learn more about the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society.
News
The Foregone Conclusion - A Story by Sylvia Townsend Warner
The Society proudly presents this story by Sylvia Townsend Warner. It was first published in the New Yorker magazine in 1973. We have now received permission from Sylvia's literary executor to make this story available to the public on our website. Click here to read The Foregone Conclusion.
As a special treat we also offer Mary Jacobs' commentary to that story. It explores the story's central topics and links some of its details to Sylvia's private life.
Any thoughts to share? Please let us know by writing to us or posting on our Facebook page.
Cousin and Friend
Here is an opportunity to purchase a newly published collection of letters written by Sylvia Townsend Warner to her young cousin Rachel Monckton-How between 1950 and 1952. They shed an interesting new light on STW as very much a family person, and emphasise her generosity and kindness towards a young woman making her own way in the world. This volume is a must for all admirers of Sylvia Townsend Warner.
Copies may be ordered from Judith Bond, 26 Portwey Close, Weymouth, DT4 8RF, UK, with cheques made payable to ‘The Sylvia Townsend Warner Society’. The cost in UK is £7.30 including postage, and €9.00 in Europe or $14.00 in USA, shipping included.
Diary Dates for 2012
Next year, the Society will participate in the Symposium entitled ‘Revisiting Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893-1978)’. This is being held on Friday 29 June 2012 at the Dorset County Museum, Dorchester, and is being organised by the Centre for South West Writing, University of Exeter, and the Dorset County Museum. There may also be a public lecture on STW on the evening of Thursday 28 June, also at the Museum.
The Society’s annual Weekend gathering will take place immediately after the Symposium, on Saturday 30 June. The final details for this are being worked on so we shall post more information later. Thus there will be no meeting in May next year.
If you are interested in attending this or in offering a paper for the symposium, please look at the Call for Papers.
A Mild Case of Bibliomania - Raymond Russel's passion for books explained
In a video on YouTube Raymond Russell tells the story of his bibliomania, how his book collection has grown and changed over the years, and how it led to the founding of the Tartarus Press, which has published rare work by some of the writers he collects, including Arthur Machen, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Edward Heron-Allen (Christopher Blayre.)