Happy birthday, Big Ben

In honor of its 150th birthday, celebrated today, Big Ben is undergoing a spring cleaning. Maintenance of the London timepiece involves winding it three times a week and keeping it oiled. The bell was cast in April 1858 and was first rung in the clock tower May 31, 1859. As readers know, the chimes of [...]

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Woolf library reunited at WSU

Sorry, but after reading an e-mail from Trevor James Bond of Washington State University, I can’t get a 1979 Peaches and Herb song out of my head. The song is “Reunited,” and its chorus starts out like this, “Reunited and it feels so good. Reunited ’cause we understood.” The song applies because Bond’s message shares [...]

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Is Kristin Scott Thomas a Virginia Woolf lookalike?

In a review of the film Easy Virtue, Martin Murrow says actress Kristin Scott Thomas, who plays the role of Mrs. Whittaker, looks like Virginia Woolf. What do you think? Take a look at the accompanying photo. Then take the poll.

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A piece of advice from Woolf on writing

Ah, yes. Once again we are shown Virginia Woolf’s relevance to our 21st-century world. Gretchen Rubin quotes Woolf in her Huffington Post piece “Thirteen Tips for Actually Getting Some Writing Done.” Here’s the Woolf quote Rubin shares: “The way to rock oneself back into writing is this. First gentle exercise in the air. Second the [...]

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Rare photo of Woolf’s mother up for auction Sunday

Up for auction in West Sussex this Sunday is a rare 19th-century photograph of Virginia Woolf’s mother, Julia Stephen, the former Julia Jackson. It was taken by her aunt, the celebrated photographer Julia Margaret Cameron. Bids are expected to fall between £1000-£1500. Read the full story and view the photo on the BBC Web site.

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Bloomsbury Heritage monographs debut at Woolf & the City

Two Bloomsbury Heritage monographs, including one of my own, will debut at Woolf and the City, the 19th Annual International Conference on Virginia Woolf — and a third is in progress. Cecil Woolf Publishers of London is the publisher. The monographs making their first appearance at the June 4 to 7 conference at Fordham University — and afterward [...]

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Mrs. Dalloway inspires Nika Zupanc mini hot plate design

Who would have thought that Virginia Woolf’s 1925 novel Mrs. Dalloway would inspire the design of a mini hot plate? But that is just what the novel did for Nika Zupanc. It allowed the young Slovenian product designer to imagine a kitchen hot plate that does not look like one. Her mini hot plate looks like a [...]

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Blithe Spirit provides info on Hogarth Press exhibit

Blithe Spirit and I have something in common. I share her self-described “abiding (nay, obsessive) interest in Virginia Woolf.” Blithe is the creator of the blog Julia Hedge’s Laces, and this week she e-mailed Blogging Woolf to share her post about a recent visit to the Bruce Peel Special Collections Library at the University of Alberta. While there, Blithe was awed by their [...]

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Woolf on a plate

Am I the only one who did not know that Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party includes a Virginia Woolf plate? Take the poll below and let me know. The Woolf plate and its setting, one of 39 included in Chicago’s ground-breaking iconic feminist work of art, is ripe with symbolism. It features a three-dimensional plate [...]

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What Woolf’s handwriting would say if it could talk

We know a lot about Virginia Woolf by reading her writing. Her essays, novels, short stories, letters and diaries reveal much about her personality and her artistry. We look at the way Woolf shapes her words to understand who she was and the vision she tried to share. Lidia Fogarolo, however, looks at Woolf from another [...]

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