A bit of Fats Waller and I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter on the Pye Black Box this morning. If you want more information about the PLS Record Club please get in touch.

‘How well Olivier acts the long explanatory scene in the old boathouse - love nest! What cigarette-play, what coat-collared bravado!' Philip Larkin on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film version of ‘Rebecca’

This article is in the latest issue of Record Collector....What, no Sunday Sessions by Philip Larkin? I feel a letter to the editor coming on! @plsoc.bsky.social

Dr Andrew Palmer exploring the connections and tensions between Ray Davies and Philip Larkin at our recent conference. You can view this, and other conference presentations by subscribing to our YouTube channel

www.youtube.com/channel/UCzv...

Rosie Millard Conference Welcome YouTube video by The Philip Larkin Society

President of The Philip Larkin Society, Rosie Millard, opens the second day of our amazing 2026 conference. Over the next few weeks we’ll be uploading most of the presentations. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to ensure that you don’t miss any of them. youtu.be/6M273cwajFQ?...

'Larkin's evocation of the icy, claustrophobic, wartime town is heightened by flashbacks to the glowing summer ... Both seasons are vividly evoked.' (Carol Rumens' review of A Girl In Winter, The Guardian 2011).
Our online Book Club choice for 11 May meeting. All PLS members very welcome.

The London Magazine Nov 1964 featured an article by Martin Dodsworth called Pain and Recent Poetry. It locates the pain of World Wsr Two in writers such as Thom Gunn, Peter Redgrove and Larkin, saying that Larkin's poems are, 'moving to the point of desolation.'

A lovely comment about our recent conference;
'I had so many energising and illuminating conversations...it feels like a real community is building around these events.' Please put 16-17th March 2028 in your diaries and do get in touch if you have any ideas for speakers or topics.

Do come along and enjoy a fantastic evening celebrating Hull legend Maurice Rutherford.

Probably crossing Cemetery Road... @plsoc.bsky.social

PLS Conference 2026 YouTube video by The Philip Larkin Society

youtu.be/Iv34q25EGng?...

We put together a mean conference! Here’s some visual impressions from last week.

The pet I’ll never forget: Harriet, the hedgehog in my airing cupboard Her job was to tackle slugs in the garden, but she soon found a way into my home – and my heart

Hedgehogs seem to have a way of getting to us!

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

There was some talk of Venn diagrams at this year's conference, partly because John Venn was born in Hull. Here is a pie chart of the conference that also might give some idea of what we spent our two days discussing.

Thank you so much for coming along and sharing these thoughts !

It was a fine blend of the Academic and the Entertaining. The Venn diagram would have Entertainingly Academic or Academically Entertaining at the core. Or both. No one expected the Larkin-Williams Inquisition. Wonderful set dressing too.

At Grass YouTube video by The Philip Larkin Society

For World Poetry Day here's At Grass. One of my favourite Larkin poems read by @plsoc.bsky.social trustee, Julian Wilds.

youtu.be/hc0UNcGVLIg?...

The PLS @plsoc.bsky.social again delivers a full two-days to remember at the University of Hull. Thanks to all involved in organising, presenting and attending. Roll on 2028...

Our President Rosie Millard introducing Day Two of the PLS conference at The University of Hull. It’s been a stunningly successful event. Two days of brilliant Larkin focused presentations and discussions attracting an international audience.

'Something more fidgety and various' - the 2024 PLS Conference YouTube video by The Philip Larkin Society

The PLS 2026 Conference begins tomorrow at The University of Hull. Here’s a look back at our previous conference in 2024

youtu.be/mo0ElYLxL7g?...

A Girl In Winter translated into Spanish.

The conference starts this Thursday and there are still a few places available for registration. PLS Trustee Dr Anna Stevenson will be discussing the influence of Oxbridge on Larkin and fellow poet Ted Hughes- this will be a fascinating talk.

Oh, this made me laugh. @plsoc.bsky.social

The superb Grayson Perry ‘Aspects of Myself’ Exhibition is at Exeter’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum until May 3. Themes bring back memories of his outstanding talk to PLS members in Hull in 2017

Threads Through Poetry Workshop A feast for the eyes and for the imagination with Chris Sewart.

Really looking forward to leading this poetry workshop in the beautiful Beverley Minster. Taking as it's inspiration the spectacular Threads textiles exhibition. More info at www.beverleyminster.org and workshop tickets at
www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

MEMBERSHIP OFFER!! Join the Philip Larkin Society now and not only will you get your membership benefits for 2025-6, but you will remain a member until the end of the next membership year, 30th June 2027. Digital and hard copy membership rates available. philiplarkin.com/membership/

Larkin and Egerton shared many postcards of art work. This print by Peploe is part of the University of Hull art collection and was sent as a Christmas card in 1980

Yes absolutely, the letters to Barbara Pym, Judy Egerton and Winifred Dawson/Arnott make wonderful reading and deserve much more attention.

On International Women's Day we would like to celebrate the remarkable Judy Egerton who first met Larkin in Belfast in the 1950s and kept up a friendship for the rest of his life, via letters and visits. Judy was an eminent curator and art historian at the Tate and the National Gallery.

Yes, it's the 19-20th, I think we are slightly over excited!

We will be reading some extracts from Larkin's jazz reviews. Lots of fascinating and evocative articles. He was a very knowledgeable and passionate lover of jazz.