Virginia Woolf was born on January 25, 1882, and our world is better for it. Here is what you can do today to celebrate the brave and brilliant writer from Britain:
- Read "How Should One Read a Book?", an essay Woolf included in The Common Reader, Second Series in 1926.
- Engage with the incomparable A Room of Her Own Foundation, which supports women writers and artists with, for example, writing retreats, the Gift of Freedom award, the Orlando Prize, the To The Lighthouse Poetry Publication Prize. Consider applying for one of the programs, donating your support, following the AROHO blog, or shopping the AROHO store to help support the organization's mission of realizing Woolf' simple but radical words: “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write.”
- Listen to a rare recording of Woolf speaking, part of a BBC radio broadcast from 1937 of the author's talk on "Craftsmanship."
- Pick up a copy of Hermione Lee's celebrated biography, Virginia Woolf, which, appropriately, breaks out of the chronological cage of the form. (Yes, I just mentioned Lee and her biography of Edith Wharton yesterday ... this woman has taste).
- Juxtapose your reading: dig into a collection of Woolf's lesser-known essay-writing about fiction alongside that novel of hers that you've been putting off: The Waves, perhaps, or Jacob's Room. Or one of her lesser-known novels: The Years, anyone?
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These are all great ideas!
Posted by: petya | January 25, 2012 at 05:02 PM