New Year Newsletter (January)
What's New at Plath Soc?
It is a fresh year, and this is the year we are hoping that the Sylvia Plath Society will really come into its own. We are grateful for your patience and support as we slowly become a concrete community where all fans of Sylvia Plath can come together to recognise her impact. Thank you for answering the survey! That will shape how we create the Society. Our inbox is always open if you want to contact us.
Plath Soc now has a website. If everyone could go to www.sylviaplathsociety.org then it will push us up the Google analytics. We will post the plain text version of all the Sylvia Plath Society Newsletters on there and leave an archive of them on our blog.
What A Trash
The holiday season always brings about literary roundups and recommended reading lists. This year it's especially important as we "annihilate" another decade!
Plath made it into The Guardian's 'Top 10 Books About Loneliness' with 'The Bell Jar', a book they admire for its exploration of "the loneliness of societal expectations.
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times has named'The Letters of Sylvia Plath, Vol. II' one of their 'Books of the Decade', telling us that they are "unmatched in literature". Polish radio station CZWÓRKA agree, naming the letters a "valuable supplement" that give the "full picture" of Plath.
Argentinian magazine La Nacion have included 'Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom' at the top of their reading "gems", highlighting to their readers the illustrations by Mònica Bonet as a reason Spanish-speaking Plath fans should be excited for this "perla escondida".
Plath herself isn't chosen by any of the 'Well-Known Literary Figures' choosing their favourite books of 2019 in the Irish Examiner, but Kevin Barry chooses Elizabeth Hardwick's "sparkling survey" of women in literature, 'Seduction and Betrayal', which includes an essay on Plath and a reading of her poems.
RPP, a radio station based in Lima, and Peruvian magazine Expresso both selected Rocío Silva Santisteban's 'Las Muchachas Malas de la Historia' as one of their '19 of 2019'. The collection of articles about women's liberation includes a profile of Plath which places her in a radical context for Latin-American feminism.
Diari ARA has named 'The Colossus' as one of the best Catalan books of the year. Both 'The Colossus' and 'Mary Ventura' were published in Catalan for the first time in 2019.
Plath in News
Plath fans in or near Carlisle, Pennsylvania, can attend a live reading of The Bell Jar on Friday, 6th March. Those of us too far from Pennsylvania to attend can always listen to the masterful reading by Maggie Gyllenhaal, available on archive.org.
American blogger Victoria Lynn has posted her attempt at Plath's recipe for tomato soup cake on 'Delishably'. She gave it a rave review and includes the recipe so that we can bake with Plath.
Plath in Art
Miranda Popkey's debut novel, 'Topics of Conversation', opens with her protagonist reading Plath's diary on an Italian beach.
The film adaptation of Caitlin Moran's novel 'How To Build a Girl' will feature a poster of Plath on the bedroom wall of the main character.
Kapp Kapp Gallery in Philadelphia has named its winter show after Plath's poem 'Tulips'. Artists like Alicia Adamerovich, Anthony Cudahy, Sam McKinniss, Justin Liam O’Brien, and Luke O’Halloran will be displayed with the context of being a "loud noise", "weighing [the viewer] down".
Dr R. Purnima, a retired English professor from Mysore, Karnataka, has written and produced a play for children called 'Stage Chemistry: Neuropsychiatric Disorders'. Plath has a scene in the play alongside Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Mary Lamb.
Singer-songwriter Kathryn Colina credits Sylvia Plath among others for getting her into writing at age 7. Her debut EP 'Recovery' is available now.
Author Jessica Stilling has peppered her work with Plath references. Her young adult novel 'The Beekeeper's Daughter' imagines a second Bell Jar novel which continues Esther's story.
Turkish Plath fans should be happy that not only are Plath's diaries now available in Turkish, as 'Sylvia Plath'in Günlükleri', but Istanbul's theatre festival has seen the premiere of Marco Martins' 'Profil Perdu / Lost Profile', an experimental dance / theatre piece which was partially inspired by Plath.