All Quiet On The Late Romantic Front?

I just wanted to give a quick update on what’s happening here at the mo – it’s a busy time for Late Romantic, with a lot of large projects ongoing that are interfering with the posting schedule. I don’t like to miss deadlines, so I wanted to pin an explanation to the website.

Firstly, the Sylvia Plath Society (which I help to run) are organising a conference. It’s our first, and we’re very excited to virtually host our delegates and present a programme of interesting and diverse talks. If you’re a scholar, an artist, or anybody whose interest in Sylvia Plath might be something others want to hear about, take a look at our CFP; otherwise, watch out for conference registration to open in January.

For the Late Romantic website, I am working on a podcast. Designed for young people working in the English or Cultural Studies sphere, the podcast will demonstrate that they already know how to read a poem, showing them how to apply techniques across media. Each episode focusses on one poem from the GCSE curriculum, and you should look out for an eight-episode series. This will, for a short time, replace my Thursday article posts, sharing their focus of informing a wide audience and trying to interest them in new ideas.

Alongside the podcast, I am continuing to publish fiction. My adaptation of Phantom of the Opera follows Gaston Leroux’s original structure and as such will run for roughly 20 more chapters, although these will not correspond to instalments, as sometimes I find Monsieur Leroux’s focus to be somewhere other than where I would put it and therefore am adding length in certain areas. The two texts will begin to deviate more and more as my version goes on, so even if you know the story, it is worth continuing to follow the Late Romantic version. I am trying to mix it up by intermittently interspersing the POTO posts with poetry and other fictions, so keep an eye out for a variety of interesting posts.

In addition to this, I am continuing work on my PhD, quite busy as a freelance as a speaker and writer, and continuing to put in hours at employed work (Christmas and NYE are not cheap, nor will they plan themselves…), as well as developing new leads for employment, which takes a surprising amount of time – although, maybe not surprising if you’ve ever done freelance work. I’m hoping to travel a little over the next couple of weeks, as well as lock down some more concrete employment for over the festive period.

Stay well, all, and book in your Christmas gatherings soon before I depart for Wales and eggnogg,

Kitty,

The Late Romantic Herself