This page is no longer maintained, but may be of historical interest.
A note about Tuesdays with Morrie: Many visitors have asked for the title of the poem by Auden that is quoted (inaccurately) in the book Tuesdays with Morrie and (accurately) in the television program based on the book. The poem is "September 1, 1939," and the full text may be found in Auden's Selected Poems.
Publications and events of interest to Auden's readers
The Auden Centenary 2007
New musical settings of Auden's poems
A history of 7 Middagh Street
Recent and forthcoming books
Auden on the web site of the Academy
of American Poets
The Auden museum in Austria
Work in progress about Auden, including books, essays, editions, and other relevant projects, may be found on a separate page. Older news items are also archived on a page of their own.
The centenary of Auden’s birth occurred on 21 February 2007. Like Auden himself in “Under Which Lyre”, his admirers tend to think of themselves as children of Hermes rather than of Apollo, and are not especially adept at organizing special events. A few events did occur, however, and a large number of them are listed below. A selection of online centenary tributes to Auden may be found on the links page.
18 February 2007, ITV (UK): The South Bank Show presents a profile of Auden with a discussion by Alan Bennett, Shirley Williams, and Andrew Motion.
18 February 2007, ITV (UK): The South Bank Show presents a profile of Auden.
18 February 2007, BBC Radio 3: "England: Six Unexpected Days", a broadcast inspired by Auden’s 1954 article in American Vogue about the Pennines.
20 February 2007, London: Westminster Abbey presents an evening of readings, starting at 18:15.
21 February 2007, Durham: A conference on Reading Genesis After Darwin opens with a reading by Robert Forsythe of excerpts from "New Year Letter".
21 February 2007, London: The British Library presents a reading at the Shaw Theatre, across the road from the BL. Details, including a telephone number for booking, have been posted by the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust.
21 February 2007, New Haven: At Yale University, the Whitney Humanities Center presents a tribute to Auden at 5:00 p.m.
21 February 2007, New York: At Cooper Union, at 7:00 p.m., a free reading by poets and writers.
22 February 2007, BBC 4: Two television documentaries: "The Addictions of Sin: W. H. Auden in His Own Words" (the title of which seems not to be Auden’s own words, however) and a rebroadcast of an earlier BBC documentary "Tell Me the Truth about Love".
21 February 2007, York: Martinis are served at Auden's birthplace; an event follows, later the same evening, at Bootham School Hall. Details may be found in a news report (the Auden Society named in the report is the City of York W. H. Auden Society).
21 February - 24 March 2007, Oxford: "The English Auden": an exhibition of early manuscripts, photographs, and books by Auden; Bodleian Library, Exhibition Room.
24 February 2007, York: The University of York holds a centenary event.
25 February 2007, CBC: The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts a discussion of Auden in the program "Writers and Company" at 15:05 EST; it can be heard online at that time at http://www.cbc.ca and (one week after the broadcast) at the Writers and Company site.
26 February 2007, Charlottesville, Virginia: The National Endowment for the Arts presents a tribute to Auden at St Paul's Church, 1700 University Avenue, at 6:30 p.m. (Reported here.)
27 February 2007, Washington: The National Endowment for the Arts presents a tribute to Auden at the Folger Shakespeare Library at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited.
27 February 2007, Chapel Hill: At the University of North Carolina, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities presents a tribute to Auden, which will include a talk by Catherine Paul as well as musical and other performances.
5 March 2007, New York: The 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center presents a tribute to Auden; participants include Shirley Hazzard, J. D. McClatchy, Edward Mendelson, Ned Rorem, Charles Rosen, and Oliver Sacks.
14 March 2007, Cambridge, Mass.: The Poetry Society of America sponsors an event at the First Parish Church, 3 Church Street, Cambridge, at 6:30 p.m. Admission $3.
20 March 2007, Oxford:
3 April 2007: BBC Radio 4 presents "The Accidental Beauties of Silly Songs," a broadcast on Auden and music; the programme remains available for one week after the broadcast on the BBC's web site.
9 May 2007, Los Angeles: The Poetry Society of America sponsors an event at the Billy Wilder Auditorium, UCLA, at 7:00 p.m. Admission free.
15 May 2007, London: The Highgate Film Society commemorates Auden with a recital and film showing.
15 May 2007, London: At St Pancras Church, the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music performs settings of Auden's poems, including a new setting by Francis Pott of "As I Walked Out One Evening".
22 May 2007, Edinburgh: Alexander McCall Smith discusses his favourite Auden poems at the Scottish Poetry Library; a further discussion with Robyn Marsack will take place on 6 June.
24 May 2007, Charleston, near Brighton: Auden and MacNeice: A Centenary Celebration, with John Fuller and Tom Paulin.
28 May 2007, Hay-on-Wye: A discussion with John Fuller and Simon Armitage at the Hay-on-Wye Festival.
16 June 2007, Kirchstetten, Austria: Following a greeting lunch in nearby St. Pölten, a reading and presentation in Auden's house in Kirchstetten will include a reading by Glyn Maxwell.
23-24 June 2007, Oxford: At Christ Church, Oxford, a weekend-long centenary celebration includes readings, lectures, and musical performances.
3 July 2007, London: At the Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank, a celebration of Auden includes musical and other performances.
6 July 2007, Ledbury: An address by Katherine Bucknell at the Ledbury Poetry Festival. The festival also sponsors an Auden walk on 8 July.
13-16 September 2007, Holt, Norfolk: Gresham's School presents a festival "In Praise of Auden."
21 September 2007, London: Settings of Auden’s poems, sung by Eleanor Meynell, at the National Portrait Gallery.
25 September 2007, London: Poems on the Underground and the Apollo Chamber Orchestra celebrate five writers and composers, including Auden, Louis MacNeice, Britten, and Stravinsky, at St Giles Cripplegate.
28-30 September 2007, King's Lynn: An Auden event takes place at the King's Lynn Festival.
29 September 2007, Ilkley: At the Ilkley Festival, readings from Auden’s poems and discussions of the 1973 Ilkley Festival which Auden attended.
20 October 2007, Little Missenden: A reading and discussion with John Fuller at the Little Missenden Festival.
31 October 2007, London: Poet in the City celebrates Auden at Christie’s, 8 King Street, St James, SW1, at 6:30 p.m. Those wishing to attend should RSVP to Poet in the City c/o Penningtons Solicitors LLP, Bucklersbury House, 83 Cannon Street, London EC4N 8PE, or send an e-mail to info@poetinthecity.co.uk, or leave a message on 07908 367488.
5 December 2007, Birmingham: The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra presents a concert performance of Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress, with a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman; further details at http://www.cbso.co.uk/?page=concerts/viewConcert.html&cid=1409&m=12&y=2007
9, 10, and 16 December 2007, New York: The Affinity Company Theater presents three benefit performances of "For the Time Being" at different locations in New York; details and ticket information at the company's web site.
11 December 2007, London: A lecture by Professor Rüdiger Görner, "W.H. Auden's Poetic Voyage", at 7 p.m. at the Austrian Cultural Forum London, 28 Rutland Gate, London SW7 1PQ; further information at austria.org.uk/culture; admission free, but booking required (culture@austria.org.uk).
New musical settings of Auden's poems
Many new musical settings of Auden's poems have appeared during his centenary year, 2007. Among them are settings composed and written by Carla Bruni of "Lady weeping at the crossroads" and "At last the secret is out" on a CD titled No Promises; a setting by Francis Pott of "As I walked out one evening", written for the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music; and a setting by Dennis Livingston of "If I could tell you". Others will be noted as information becomes available.
A history of the house in which Auden and many of his friends lived in 1940, 7 Middagh Street, in Brooklyn Heights, was published by Houghton Mifflin. February House, by Sherrill Tippins, in February 2005. The book may be ordered from Amazon.com.
Information about the links from this site to on-line booksellers may be found below.
W. H. Auden: Nel Trentenniale della scomparsa (1973-2003), a cura di Tiziana Morosetti. Palermo: Ila Palma, 2004; ISBN 8-8770-45-094. Essays and interviews in Italian and English.
Arthur Kirsch. Auden and Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press, October 2005. ISBN 0-300-10814-1 (Order from Amazon.com.)
Tony Sharpe. W. H. Auden. London: Routledge, 2007. (Routledge Guides to Literature). ISBN 978-0-415-32736-7,
A note on the links from this site to on-line booksellers. Many of the books listed on this page may be ordered by clicking on links that lead to the web sites of on-line booksellers. American readers may prefer to order from Amazon.com; European readers may prefer its British counterpart, Amazon.co.uk.
When you begin the process of ordering a book by clicking on a link from this site to one of the branches of Amazon.com, the Society receives a small percentage of the purchase price; these payments are used to help defray the cost of printing and mailing the Society's Newsletter. There is no difference in the selling price of the book if you begin the order on this site or if you begin it directly from an Amazon.com web site. Further information on this arrangement (which does not apply to links to other booksellers) is available on the Amazon.com sites.
Auden on the web site of the Academy of American Poets
A dozen poems by Auden and a brief essay about his work may be found on the web site of the Academy of American Poets. These pages include a recording of Auden reading "On the Circuit."
(To hear the recording, you must have the RealAudio player on your system; it may be downloaded from the RealAudio website.)
The study in Auden's house in Kirchstetten, Austria, has been converted into a public museum. Travel directions and a photograph have been posted on the Internet by the Austrian government.
Please e-mail the webmaster, using the address at the foot of the home page, if you know of other items that belong on this page.