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Gwyneth Lewis Papers
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November 2011 Purchase

Literary work, correspondence and other papers relating to Gwyneth Lewis's life and work, especially in the period during and after her emergence as a writer.

Literary work

Papers relating to Gwyneth Lewis's poetry, prose, dramas, operas, academic research, public appearances and other literary work.

Sparrow Tree, A Hospital Odyssey, and other poems

Annotated typescript and manuscript drafts of poems written by Gwyneth Lewis for publication in journals and in her collections published as Sparrow Tree, A Hospital Odyssey, Zero Gravity and Parables and Faxes, and also for broadcast on BBC Radio, some of them under more than one working title, including ‘A Hospital Odyssey’, ‘Aeolian Harp’, ‘Alternative Island’, ‘Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau, Abertawe’, ‘Apology to Peter Porter’, ‘Appointment’, ‘Aran’, ‘Arthur’s Talk with the Eagle’, ‘As Long as you Want / Improvisations on Sappho’, ‘Basic Knitting’, ‘Birder’, ‘Blue Tit / Titmouse / Tit’, ‘Bow Tie / Bowtie’, ‘Bricks in Bars’, ‘Broken Plates’, ‘Broken Star’, ‘Cân yn y Cywair Lleddf’, ‘Crazy Quilt’, ‘Crosses and Losses’, ‘Crosses’, ‘Diagonal Triangles’, ‘Double Wedding Ring’, ‘Elegy for Shambo’, ‘Epistle to C P Snow’, ‘Experimental Knitting / Applied Mathematics’, ‘Field Guide to Dementia’, ‘Finches / What finches say ad nauseam’, ‘Fractals’, ‘Glas’, ‘Gull’, ‘Heroine’, ‘Hike’, ‘Homecoming’, ‘Horizon with People’, ‘Hosiery’, ‘How to knit a poem’, ‘Humming Bird Project / Project Joy’, ‘Hypnosis Knitting’, ‘Imaginary Walks in Istanbul’, ‘Inheritance’, ‘Late Starter’, ‘Lattice’, ‘Log Cabin’ / ‘Barn Raising Variation (Crib quilt)’, ‘Love Poem’, ‘Lundy’, ‘Map’, ‘Memorial’, ‘Murmuration’, ‘My Wales’, ‘Nightingale / Outside Broadcast (for Mark Cocker)’, ‘Nine Patch’, ‘No design’, ‘No Sparrow Ode’, ‘No Sparrow’, ‘Nuclear Family’, ‘Ocean Waves (for AJ)’, ‘Old Maid’s Puzzle’, ‘One and a Half Square Miles’, ‘Our Body’, ‘Pattern Pornography’, ‘Philosophy’, ‘Pine Trees (Crib Quilt)’, ‘Praise birds’, ‘Prayer for Horizon’, ‘Prologue from Zero Gravity’, ‘Quantum Island’, ‘Quilting for Childless Women’, ‘Railroad Crossing’, ‘Remission Flamenco’, ‘Remission Sevillanas’, ‘Reply to the Haka’, ‘Riddle: Definition of a Harp’, ‘Roman Strip[e] Variation (Crib quilt)’, ‘Roman Stripe’, ‘Sarcophagus / Mausoleum’, ‘Sea Virus’, ‘Secret Report from the Pharmaceutical Lab’, ‘Silk Knitting’, ‘Sliver’, ‘Small Brown Job’, ‘Sol and Nemesis / Nemesis (for Tsevi Mazeh)’, ‘Some common Invaders’, ‘Spectrum’, ‘Speculation / Sparrows / Fall of a Sparrow’, ‘Splinter / Splinters / Zeal’, ‘Stonechat (for Richard Scorer, psychiatrist)’, ‘Sunken Garden at Radcliffe / Sunken Garden’, ‘Taxonomy’, ‘Tension Square’, ‘The Family Knitting Book’, ‘The Feeder (In memory of Megan Tanner / Elegy for an Aunt)’, ‘The Sparrow Tree / What Sparrows Might Mean’, ‘The Symbolism of Ancient Sweaters’, ‘Thirty-Six Patch Variation (Crib quilt)’, ‘Trees of California’, ‘Triangles’, ‘Tumbling Blocks’, ‘Unnamed Pattern (Crib quilt)’, ‘Voice / Llais’, ‘Warning’, ‘What Do Birds Say?’, ‘What the red kite saw’, ‘Y pwynt’, ‘Zebra’ and others, with related notes. Also included are: manuscript copies of an untitled poetry / drama / musical script by Gwyneth Lewis about dolphins in Cardigan Bay; notes and literary quotations collected by her for ‘A Hospital Odyssey’, and also on quilt vocabulary; a photocopy of an article by her (‘Letter to the poet I might I might have been’); copies of emails to her concerning social and literary matters, notably the possible publication of parts of ‘A Hospital Odyssey’ in the Paris Review; typescript copies of poems by members of the Girton Poetry Group; and a family postcard.

Prose, drama and opera

Drafts of prose, drama and operatic librettos by Gwyneth Lewis, together with materials relating to research, publication and performances.

Clytemnestra

Manuscript drafts, and typescript drafts with manuscript annotations, of two plays by Gwyneth Lewis forming 'a new version of the Clytemnestra story', comprising ‘The Slaughterhouse : Play 1 of 2' (originally entitled ‘The Kill Floor’) and 'Deathbed : Play 2', inspired by the character of Clytemnestra in Aeschylus's Oresteia, together with manuscript notes.

Radio and television

Papers relating to BBC radio and television talks, performances and interviews featuring Gwyneth Lewis, including ‘Voyage to Lundy’, ‘Sailing without a boat’, 'Cerddi Cilycwm', ‘The stone that moved’, ‘Poetry Please’ and ‘Great lives - Emily Dickinson’, comprising typescript and manuscript scripts with annotations by Gwyneth Lewis and BBC staff; together with correspondence between Gwyneth Lewis and BBC staff concerning 'Cerddi Cilycwm', ‘The Verb’ and a proposed semi-dramatisation of ‘A Hospital Odyssey’; as well as an award certificate for Gwyneth Lewis’s ‘In search of the Gododdin’ (BBC Wales) from Fèis nam Meadhanan Ceilteach (Celtic Media Festival) in the Hebrides; and notes and press cuttings relating to scripts, recording, broadcasts, accommodation and expenses.

Publications and reviews

Papers relating to publications by Gwyneth Lewis and her reviews of the published work of other poets, including: a copy of a publication agreement between her and Harvard Review concerning her poem ‘Sunken Garden’; a letter to her from literary agents concerning the agreement between her and Poetry Wales Press relating to The Meat Tree; correspondence between Gwyneth Lewis, agents and the editor concerning the publication of an Italian anthology of her work; a copy of her poem ‘Pluck’, commissioned by the Prince of Wales; copies of a typescript draft foreword by Gwyneth Lewis, with manuscript annotations and related notes, for Doctor Marigold's prescriptions, an edition of the work of Charles Dickens; a photocopy of PN Review proofs of ‘Links: A knot of poems’ by Gwyneth Lewis; a copy of PN Review with poems from Sparrow Tree; offprints of review articles from Taliesin by Gwyneth Lewis and T. James Jones relating to the poetry of Menna Elfyn; and a review copy of Sound Archive by Nerys Williams with manuscript notes by Gwyneth Lewis.

Other ephemera

Booklets, leaflets, cards, information sheets and notes accumulated by Gwyneth Lewis relating to a wide range of subjects and activities including history, archaeology, religion, self-help, boxing, farming, birdwatching, learning disabilities, travel, geology and domestic purchases.

Festivals, readings and workshops

Papers relating to festivals, readings and workshops attended by Gwyneth Lewis, in most cases as a contributor, including correspondence between her and event organisers and participants, notes and annotated manuscript and typescript drafts relating to talks and workshops given by her, a transcript of an interview between 'CB' and [Javier Marias], and other material relating to aspects of literary events such as copies and printouts of work and interviews by other writers, promotional leaflets, press releases, and information about speakers, schedules, accommodation, travel, legal and financial matters, and the organising bodies; the festivals, readings and workshops featured include the Trialogue Conference, the International Symposium on Poetry and Medicine and Hippocrates Prize for Poetry and Medicine, a Welsh Literature Abroad translation workshop in Brussels, a Poetry Live workshop, the Radcliffe Institute MA in Creative Writing, a poetry masterclass at Monmouth Women’s Festival, the Durham Book Festival, a visit to Durham University Centre for Medical Humanities, the Royal Society of Literature, the University of Warwick Medical School, Llenyddiaeth Cymru, the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts, ‘Poets Encounter Medicine’ (Glamorgan Research Centre for Literature, Arts and Science, University of Glamorgan), ‘Poems for the waiting room’ (sponsored by the Arts Council of England, the Department of Health and other organisations), the John Rylands University Library Poetry Reading, Kingston University, the Centre for Medical Humanities, Ledbury Poetry Festival, the Centre for Women’s Writing and Literary Culture (Aberystwyth University), the National Library of Wales, ‘Worlds 2011: Influence’ (Writers’ Centre Norwich), and others.

Correspondence

Correspondence between Gwyneth Lewis and her friends, literary associates and family (notably her aunt Megan, her cousins, and the extended Tanner family in the USA), covering personal, artistic, academic and other aspects of her life, together with related material.

Personal papers

Papers relating to Gwyneth Lewis's personal life, and in particular its relationship with her work.

Travel ephemera

Ephemera accumulated by Gwyneth Lewis relating to her travels in the United States, Spain, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Italy, Turkey and Wales, including a typescript schedule for a film shoot in Cambridge involving her, as well as maps, postcards, hotel receipts, travel tickets and bookings, entrance tickets and guidebooks for tourist attractions, a property prospectus, and related leaflets.

College ephemera

Ephemera accumulated by Gwyneth Lewis relating to her academic life at Cambridge, Harvard, Stanford, Oxford and Cardiff, including college prospectuses, a press cutting of a job advertisement, a fellowship certificate, college and student event notifications and invitations (notably including literary presentations by Gwyneth Lewis and talks about her work), college menus and seating plans, programmes of student society events and a college symposium, a lecture list, information sheets and booklets about colleges and libraries, orders of service, membership forms, a grant application form, a college invoice, instructions for examination entries, instructions and programmes for degree ceremonies, annual and quarterly reports, a commemorative edition of a booklet on college etiquette, and postcards.

Gwyneth Lewis Papers

  • GB 0210 GWYNETHLEW
  • Fonds
  • [c.1965]-2011

Literary and personal papers of Gwyneth Lewis, comprising poetry, prose, correspondence, notes and other professional and private material accumulated throughout her life from her school and college years until 2011, with some gaps.

Lewis, Gwyneth, 1959-

Poetry

Papers relating to Gwyneth Lewis's poetry, including compositions, notes and associated material.

Notes and drafts

Compositions, notes, copies of articles, booklets and press cuttings accumulated by Gwyneth Lewis in the course of preparing for workshops, projects, publications and other literary work, including manuscript and typescript drafts of poems (‘Palaestra di poeti’, ‘Lippizaners’, ‘City Safari’, ‘The Love of Furniture’, ‘Field Guide to Dementia’, ‘The Feeder’, ‘Murmuration’, ‘No Sparrow Ode’, ‘Imaginary Walks in Istanbul’, ‘Maen Hir’, and ‘Marwnad’) with manuscript annotations, draft essays (‘Return to Girton’ and ‘Dancing in the Dark’), material relating to subjects including depression and the writing of poetry and prose, a copy of a draft review of her poetry, a photocopy of a letter and poem by her published in Poetry Review, and a printout of an article on the human brain from the website of University of Liverpool Centre for Poetry and Science.

Correspondence

Correspondence comprising letters and cards sent between Gwyneth Lewis and friends, family, colleges, editors and other writers concerning personal, social and literary matters, including the performance and publication of her work, her posts at Girton and Stanford, together with associated press cuttings and poems by Dannie Abse and others, as well as a letter to Gwyneth Lewis’s parents from her aunt and uncle containing press cuttings, letters, cards, notes and ephemera relating to her life and career, including a typescript copy of her poem 'Bri'.

Ephemera

Papers accumulated by Gwyneth Lewis relating to personal aspects of her domestic, professional, social and academic life other than those directly covered elsewhere in the archive.

Fellowships

Papers relating to applications by Gwyneth Lewis for academic fellowships, including: her application form for a National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) fellowship, together with a copy of her funding contract, typescripts with manuscript annotations of her annual reports as a fellow, and correspondence and other documentation concerning the fellowship; a typescript draft of her application for the Judith E. Wilson Poetry Fellowship at the University of Cambridge, with manuscript annotations, together with correspondence and other information about the application; a letter to her from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, concerning the start of her fellowship there; notes by her relating to her curriculum vitae and job applications, including printouts with manuscript annotations of full drafts of ‘Sparrow Tree’; material relating to applications for a Royal Literary Fund Fellowship, and to the advertisement of the post of Senior Lecturership in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia School of Literature and Creative Writing; and an agenda and minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Royal Society of Literature.

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