Keats-Shelley
Memorial Association Patron HRH The Prince of Wales
Registered Charity No: 212692
The Keats-Shelley Price Winners 2012
Keats-Shelley Association of America - Carl H.Pforzheimer, Jr., Research Grants
The Sheila Birkenhead Bursary Awards
Forthcoming Events:
Ashmolean Museum Oxford: 18TH May: Lecture on new Keats Biographie
Message from Royal Society of Literature to Friends of Keat-Shelley Memorial Association:
MONDAY 15 APRIL 7PM
Richard Mabey
Whistling In The Dark
CHAIRED BY RICHARD HOLMES
Recent Events:
Cheltenham Literature Festival
Fund-raising evening at Sir John Soane Museum
Oxford Literary Festival 2012 24th March
Keats-Shelley Association of America, Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr., Research Grants
The Keats-Shelley Association of America, Inc., awards two $2,500 research grants annually. Named in honour of the Association's most generous benefactor, the Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr., Research Grants support the work of advanced graduate students, independent scholars, and untenured faculty. The grants provide funding for expenses related to research involving the study of British Romanticism and literary culture between 1789 and 1832, with preference given to projects involving authors and subjects covered in the Keats-Shelley Journal bibliography.
The awards honour the late Carl H. Pforzheimer. Jr., a past President of the Keats-Shelley Association and among its vigorous advocates. He also headed The Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation, Inc., long distinguished for funding scholarships centred red on early nineteenth-century English literature.
For further information, applicants may write to: The Grants Administrator, Keats-Shelley Association of America, Inc., Room 226, The New York Public Library, 476 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018-2788
Prince Charles: Patron of the KSMA
We are delighted to announce that His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has agreed to extend his term as Patron of the Association for a further five years until June 2015.
He has long taken an interest in the Keats-Shelley House, since the days when his grandmother, The Queen Mother, was our first Patron. His renewed support gives a special impulse to our activities in the UK, Italy and in all the countries where the young English Romantics are read and remembered.

Prince Charles signs the guestbook at the House,
with the Curator and Arch Roberto Einaudi
The Duchess of Cornwall, on her visit to
the Keats-Shelley House on 28th April 2009
The Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome
ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM OXFORD: 18TH MAY: LECTURE ON NEW KEATS BIOGRAPHY
Prof Nicholas Roe
John Keats: a New Life
Saturday 18 May 2013, 11am – 12pm
Venue: Headley Lecture Theatre
Entrance rates for Friends of KSMA: £7
Nicholas Roe is Professor of English at the University of St Andrews. He was Lecturer in English at Queen's University Belfast and joined St Andrews in 1985 and in 1989 he was a Visiting Professor at the Department of English, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is editor of the peer-reviewed scholarly journal The Keats-Shelley Review, of Romanticism, and Academic Director of the Coleridge Summer Conference, and a Trustee of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association.
His landmark biography of John Keats explodes entrenched conceptions of Keats as a delicate, overly sensitive, tragic figure, revealing the true flesh-and-blood and passionate poet.
Special Offer to Keats-Shelley Friends: Private View of Piranesi Drawings at Sir John Soane’s Museum, 13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP, 18th March 2013
Friends of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association are invited to a private view of the forthcoming exhibition of Piranesi drawings at Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. These fifteen works were made in preparation for Piranesi’s final graphic work, Différentes vues de Pesto. The view takes place on March 18th 2013. The evening begins at 6.30 with a glass of wine. The tour, conducted by the exhibition’s curator Dr Jerzy Kierkuc-Bielinski, starts at 7pm and will last for approximately an hour. Guests will then reconvene for refreshments. Space for this special event is limited and places will be distributed on a first-come-first-served basis.
Please contact James Kidd either at ksmafriends@hotmail.com (subject Piranesi) or by calling 01865 420 453. There is a small charge of £7 to cover expenses – which can be sent as a donation via Paypal on our website keats-shelley.co.uk (click to Becoming a Friend page). Alternatively, send a cheque made payable to KSMA to James Kidd, 76 New High Street, Oxford, OX3 7AQ.
Further information about the exhibition, which runs from 5 February – 18 May 2013, can be found at www.soane.org/exhibitions/piranesis_paestum_master_drawings_uncovered
Message from Royal Society of Literature to Friends of Keat-Shelley Memorial Association:
MONDAY 15 APRIL 7PM
Richard Mabey
Whistling In The Dark
CHAIRED BY RICHARD HOLMES
Venue: Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
This month, nightingales fly back to England from their winter quarters in tropical Africa - males first, females a week later. Why have these unexceptional-looking creatures been the most celebrated song-birds in Western literature for 2000 years, from Persian love poetry, through Provençal troubadour songs, the Romantics and the poetry of the First World War? Why do we find their territorial signals not only emotionally affecting but also musical? And what does this tell us about the nature and deep origins of music? Richard Mabey is one of our foremost nature writers, and his books include Whistling in the Dark: in pursuit of the nightingale, Flora Britannica and, most recently, Turned Out Nice Again: on living with the weather. In a talk chaired by the biographer Richard Holmes, and interspersed with recordings of nightingales, he addresses these questions, and considers why for him, as for Keats, the song of the nightingale has been 'a tranquil and continued joy'.
Sponsored by the Royal Literary Fund
Bookings: RSL can take payment for bookings over the phone (0207 845 4678), but, as they do not have a box office, they ask that the public book online: www.rslit.org/nightingales.
Tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis, for £8. Please note that student bookings are also now open and available to book online. Students tickets will be sold at the discounted price of £5 and student I.D. will be required on the night of the event by all student ticket-holders.
CHELTENHAM LITERATURE FESTIVAL 11th OCTOBER
IMPORTANT NEW BIOGRAPHY OF KEATS: KSMA-SPONSORED TALK
On October 11th Professor Nicholas Roe, Trustee of KSMA and Editor of the Keats-Shelley Review, gave the Association lecture at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, on his long-awaited new biography of John Keats.
Nick Roe has built up a powerful and intricately researched picture of Keats's early life - something which has always proved elusive. While the reviews have tended to concentrate on some of the more provocative aspects of the biography (the possible effects of Keats's mother's alcoholism on her infant son, Keats' own later use of opium) they are integral details in a much bigger and more rounded portrait of the poet than we have ever had before.
Nick based his talk on images of the places where Keats had lived - including childhood homes, his lodgings when he was a medical student, the bothy (now a ruin) visited during his Scottish odyssey, and, of course, the house at the foot of the Spanish steps in Rome where he died. It was eloquent, persuasive and fascinating - awaking in the audience a new admiration, respect and love for a poet 'all the more endearing in his flesh and blood humanity', rather than a romantic ghost.
A talk sponsored by Keats-Shelley Memorial Association
On March 24th, sponsored by KSMA, the novelist Benjamin Markovits gave a talk at the Oxford Literary Festival on his exhilarating trilogy of Byron-inspired novels,of which the latest is Childish Loves.
Ben Markovits (writes Sue Bradbury) was born in America, but (like his hero Byron, one could say) he had a peripatetic life in more ways than one. Brought up in Texas, London and Berlin, he left a career as a professional basket ball player to embrace the Romantic poets in general and Byron in particular. He has taught English in high school, edited a cultural magazine and written essays, stories and reviews for, among others, the New York Times, the Guardian and the London Review of Books.
His trilogy began with “Imposture”, in which we meet – or rather experience Byron – through his doctor, John Polidori. In the second novel, “A Quiet Adjustment”, we get to know him through his hapless wife, Annabella Milbanke, and in Childish Loves Byron speaks for himself at various key moments throughout his life, up to his premature death. All three are enthralling books, and they beg a particularly enthralling question: is the telling of some lives better suited to fiction than biography…
Childish Loves is published by Faber & Faber, £14.99.
Centenary Appeal: Target of £237,000 now reached!
Due to many individual donations and in particular to two major and outstandingly generous ones made towards the Appeal, by The Foyle Foundation and The Monument Trust, we have now reached target! £237,000 has been raised for our programme of renovations at the Keats-Shelley House. These, in April 2012, are now reaching completion, with the reclamation of the First Floor Terrace being the final phase. Newsletter February 2012: New Curator Giuseppe Albano’s First Impressions of the Keats-Shelley House: p.3 of February 2012 Newsletter]. But we continue to welcome donations for the future development of the House: see House in Rome page for the message from our new Curator, Dr Giuseppe Albano.
Centenary donors 2008-2011:
Lord & Lady Abinger, Isla Lady Abinger, Ms Jane Ades, Lady Anderson, Mr Stephen Aviss, Mr A.S.J. Baker, Mr & Mrs Barber, Mrs Wanda Barford, Mr & Mrs Nicholas Baring, Ms Hanna Bhatti, Lady Rachel Billington, Sir Christopher Bland, Herr Professor Doktor Christopher Bode, Dr Richard Boeke, Mr Mark Borg, Lord Boswell of Aynho, Mr Nigel Brassard, The Lady Braye, Ms Emily M. Brewer, Viscountess Bridgeman, Mr J.N Brown, Mr Richard Broyd OBE , Mr William T. Buice 111, Mr and Mrs Tim Burnett, Viscount & Viscountess Camrose, Miss Lucy Carrington, Mr & Mrs Charles Cary-Elwes, Mr Charles Cator, Mr Roderick Cavaliero, Ms Cynthia Cavanaugh, Lord Charles Cecil, Mrs Mary Clow, The Cochomé Trust, The John S. Cohen Foundation, Mr & Mrs Nicholas Cooper, Ms Shirley Corke, Mr Stephen Creed, Mr Brian Cronwall, Mr Lawrence M. Crutcher, Professor Stuart A. Curran, Professor Laura S. Dabundo, Mr Peter J. Davey, Mrs S.J. Dawkins, Mrs J. Dicks, Professor Paul Douglass, Mr Martin Drury CBE, Mr J.H. Earl, Mr C.M. Edgoose, Mr Paul Edwards, Lady Egerton OBE, Mr & Mrs Simon Enthoven, Mr Charles Evans, Dr A. Fache, Sir Patrick Fairweather KCMG, Lady Fairweather, Mr Duncan Fallowell, Mr & Mrs Mark Le Fanu, Mrs Diane Farrow, Professor Michael. K. Ferber, Professor & Mrs Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Miss V.A. Finch, Dr Doucet Fisher, Dr Tamara Follini, Mr Edward Fordyce, Mr & Mrs Christopher Foyle, The Foyle Foundation, Mrs Virginia Fraser, Mr Clark Gale, Mr & Mrs Anthony Gardner, Mrs Christine Gee MBE, The Lord Gladwyn, Mr John Gohorry & Mrs Madeleine Smith, Professor Leonard S. Goldberg, Mrs M.J. Goldney, Mr Clement T. Goode, Mrs E.J. Gowlland, Ms Penelope Graham, Mr & the Hon Mrs Grimond, Mrs Valerie Grove, The Hon Kieran Guinness, Mrs K. Gyngell, Sir Rupert Hanson, Mr & Mrs Allan Harkness, Mr Robert A. Hartley, Mr Giles Havergal, Mrs Ursula Hazeel, Dr N.J. Healey, Professor Jonathan E. Hill, Ms Suzanne Hodgart, Lord Howard of Rising, Mrs Rowenna Hulton, Mr D. Hunter, Ms M.R. Huxted, Dr Elizabeth James, Professor Suzuna Jimbo, Mr & Mrs Laurence Kelly FRSL FRSL, Mrs D.M. Kidd, Dr A.N. Kincaid, Ms Jessica Kingsley, Ms Naomi Kitcher, Miss L. Kronidov, Mr John A. Knox, Professor Scott Krawczyk, Mr George Krupp, Mr & Mrs Alastair Laing, The Leche Trust, Hon Sir Mark Lennox Boyd, Professor Brian Livesley MD FRCP, Mrs Melissa Lloyd, Mrs Irene Loftus, Ms Helen Lovelock-Burke, Mrs W.V. Lusted, Ms Fiona McCarthy OBE, Mrs Heather McDonald, Mr M.I. McGregor, Professor Peter Manning, Professor A.A. Markley, Mrs P.E. May, Mr & Mrs F.J. Mayor, Mr & Mrs James Miller, Ms Susan Miller, Mr Iain Milligan, The Monument Trust, Hon Mrs Fionn Morgan, Mrs J.M. Morris, Mrs Susan Mordaunt Crook, Rt. Rev. Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, Mr Anthony Newall, Rt. Rev Brian Noble, Mr Michael Noonan, The Marquis of Normanby, Ms Pamela Norris, Viscountess Norwich, Mr Simon Oddie, Professor Lance Ormand, Mr & Mrs Michael Pearce, Lady Pearson, Miss J.D. Pepall, Lord & Lady Phillimore, Mr Peter Phillips, Mr & Mrs Nick Powell, Mr. D. Preddy, Mr J.C. Price, Mr. Kenneth Prichard Jones, Mr H.J.S. Proctor, Mrs Isabel Quigley, Ms Pam Redmond, Mr Mark Reynolds, Mrs D.J. Robertson-Rodger, Professor Charles E. Robinson, Mrs Joan Ruddle, Mr Richard Russell CVO, Mrs E.M. Salimberi, Mr David Satherley, Mr R.D. Schwartz, Dr Matthew Scott, Ms Elisa Segrave FRSL, Professor Richard C. Sha, Mr Paul D. Sheats, Sir John Shepherd KCVO & Lady Shepherd, Mr Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Mr Henry Smith, Mrs Stuart Sperry, Mrs Jan Spooner, Professor J. Stevens Curl, Mrs Nicholas Stewart, Mrs Christopher Stobart, Dr Stoddard Martin, Mrs Ann Stone, Dr & Mrs Neil Stratford, Mr Mark Studer, Mr Patrick Sullivan, Mr & Mrs Charles Swallow, Mr Simon Taylor, Mr Douglas Tilden, Dr & Mrs Tong, Lady Juliet Townsend LVO, Miss K.R. Treadwell, Mr Raleigh Trevelyan, Mr Simon Vegro, Professor Helen Vendler, Professor Constance Walker, Mr & Mrs Antony Wedgwood, The Hon Mrs Simon Weinstock, Mr & Mrs Steven Weissman, Earl & Countess of Wemyss & March, Mrs Sue Whitley OBE, Mrs Sally Williams, Mrs Tara Williams, Professor (Emeritus) and Mrs Jason Wilson, Viscount Windsor, Mrs Joan Winterkorn, Mr Gabriel Woolf & Dame Felicity Lott, Mr & Mrs Daniel Worsley, Mr Tony Yablon, Mr C. S. Yeo, Mr Bill Zachs, Ms Ruth Zelenak,
and other generous donors who wish to remain anonymous.
The Keats Foundation was established in 2010 to support Keats House Hampstead, particularly educational activities of all kinds based at or originating in the House that was Keats's home at Hampstead from 1818 to 1820. Its Chairman is Professor Nicholas Roe, Editor of the Keats-Shelley Review, the official bi-annual journal of KSMA, which takes care of the Keats-Shelley House in Rome.
Different but complementary, the two Houses where Keats spent his last years have strong and long-standing links that are continued by the activities of the Keats Foundation and the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association.
Keats-Shelley Prize 2013
An annual competition for Essays and Poems on Romantic themes
The Keats-Shelley literary Prize, inaugurated in 1998, encourages writers to respond creatively to the work of the Romantics and is promoted extensively through universities, libraries and writing courses. The competition is open to everyone post secondary school.
Prize Chair 2013 acclaimed novelist Salley Vickers.

£3,000 of prize money.
The winning poems and essays will be published in The Keats-Shelley Review.
The theme for poems in 2013 is Noise.
Essays are invited on any aspect of the work and lives of the Romantics and their circle.
The competition closes on 30th June.
The poems are judged by poets John Hartley-Williams and Matthew Sweeney and the essays by leading Romantic scholars Prof. Simon Bainbridge and Prof. Sharon Ruston.
The final selection is made by the Prize Chairman
The shortlist will be announced on the KSMA website in August and the winners in October.
Conditions of Entry for 2013:
1. Email entries should be sent in Microsoft Word format to susanna.seekings@talktalk.net Email entries will be acknowledged.
2. Postal entries should be sent to: Keats-Shelley Prize, c/o Beaufort Montague Harris Solicitors, Old Bank House, 79 Broad Street, Chipping Sodbury BS37 6AD Send 3 typed A4 copies. Postal entries will not be acknowledged.
3. All entries must be accompanied by the completed Entry Form download here and either email/post. NB all entries are sent to the judges anonymously so please do not put your name on your actual entry.
4. Payment: each entry costs £5.00. You may enter up to two poems and/or two essays. Cheques should be made payable to KSMA (not Beaufort Montague Harris) and sent together with your entry to the address above. If you are entering via email you can post a cheque, please put your name and address on the reverse so it can be linked to your entry, or you can use Paypal (Button on the left). Please ensure you fill in your Paypal number on the entry form. Entries from overseas are welcomed, Paypal will be your simplest payment option but you can also send a money order or cash, at your own risk.
Payment using PayPal:
This link will take you to Paypal Payment: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/send, you must log in PayPal then make Payment to Ksma address: ksmafriends@hotmail.com
Or press the Button on the left.
5. Poems must not exceed 40 lines. They should focus on the theme Noise, and they should not be a pastiche.
6. Essays should not exceed 3,000 words including quotations and should be written in a clear accessible style. All sources must be acknowledged.
7. Entries must be unpublished either in print or on-line and original work not previously submitted. Copyright remains with you but your entry will be deemed as consent to first publication in journals nominated by the KSMA.
8. Entering the competition will be deemed to indicate full acceptance of all the conditions above.
PayPal Entrant Payment:

George Frederic Watts OM RA (1817-1904) Endymion, c.1903-04 ©Watts Gallery,
Compton www.wattsgallery.org.uk
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Scott Brooksbank reading from Ode to a Grecian Urn, at an evening of Romantic readings at the Soane Museum in aid of the Keats-Shelley Centenary Appeal