The Harry Ransom Center celebrates the reissue of Adrienne Kennedy’s groundbreaking memoir People Who Led to My Plays from Theatre Communications Group. First published in 1987 as a response to the frequently asked question of what inspirations have influenced her work, Kennedy recorded brief, fragmentary memories covering 1936–1961. A deeply… read more
Articles
Of grieving and goshawks: An interview with H is for Hawk’s Helen Macdonald
Helen Macdonald is the author of H is for Hawk (Grove Atlantic), out this month in paperback. H is for Hawk landed on more than 25 book of the year lists and was an instant New York Times bestseller. Macdonald, a falconer and naturalist, writes about training a goshawk as… read more
Book Balls, fox-trots, and boeuf bordelaise: The early history of international P.E.N.
In the course of researching how South Asian writers circulated in literary London between the World Wars, I spent some time immersed in the Harry Ransom Center’s expansive P.E.N. archive.
African American artists and writers in the Limited Editions Club
The stories I selected span three decades and show (Zora Neal) Hurston’s diversity in writing styles and subject matter. I created my illustrations from fragments of fabric, paper and faded photos. The layering of images, patterns and textures evoke the feeling of memory and old tales retold. So they become,… read more
Recent publications
Alison K. Frazier, Editor The Saint between Manuscript and Print in Italy, 1400–1600 University of Toronto Centre for Renaissance and Reformation Studies, July 2015 The 12 essays in this volume identify mutually interactive developments in media and saints’ cults at a time and in a place when both underwent profound… read more
Thinking outside the (tux) box: A novel solution to preserving the quirky diaries of the Guy Davenport collection
Last year, Ransom Center archivist Richard Workman brought to my attention some journals that he was cataloging as part of the Guy Davenport Papers. Guy Davenport (1927–2005) was an American author, literary critic, and artist. Throughout his adulthood, he regularly kept journals of his day-to-day life and activities (including his… read more