Philip Larkin Society

This is going to be an excellent day- a new event from the PLS on 24th October, led by PLS Trustee Dr Anna Stevenson and writer Chris Sewart. Two fully funded places available for full time students. Grab your notepad and pencil, book your place, and come along! www.eventbrite.com/e/larkin-at-...

A fascinating piece about Philip Larkin at the Brynmor Jones Library. libraryblog.wordpress.hull.ac.uk/2025/05/30/a...

Looking forward to talking about Philip Larkin’s connections with Beverley and East Yorkshire at St Mary’s Church, Beverley at 7.30. Friday 2nd October @plsoc.bsky.social

National Poetry Day seems like a good excuse to share one of Larkin's most loved poems, a deceptively complex and resonant piece of writing.

A new podcast episode is available now, ahead of our writing workshop hosted by Anna and poet and Chris Sewart. Please enjoy! Dr Anna Stevenson at the Brynm…–Tiny In All That Air – Apple Podcasts share.google/6i7uHYXQxqzp...

There are 2 fully funded places available for this event. Please message us if you are a full time student and would like to take up one of the places.

Happy Birthday to our fantastic Honorary Vice President, writer, musician and artist, Nick Cave. In his Red Hand Files blog in 2019 Nick listed Philip Larkin as one of his most loved poets, alongside Stevie Smith, WH Auden and Thomas Hardy.

www.eventbrite.com/e/larkin-at-...

‘I do feel defensive about that Bechet line: have they never heard the Beatles singing ‘She loves you – yeah, yeah, yeah—’? Or read the end of Molly Bloom’s soliloquy? Why is it so bad? I thought when I wrote it that it just ‘got’ love & Bechet & everything. Perhaps that’s what’s wrong with it!’

‘Walking With Words, a poetic stroll through Beverley’. Part of the East Yorkshire Walking Festival. Larkin got more than a mention of course, thanks to @philippullen.bsky.social and @chriswriting.bsky.social

‘Poems On Location’ from Gladstone’s Library. What better poem to read than ‘New Eyes Each Year’ youtu.be/tqjOrElA8hQ?...

From our YouTube series, Poems On Location, Chris Sewart reads Larkin’s poem ‘Party Politics’ from St Deiniol’s Church in North Wales youtu.be/lBWlE8DFvdo?...

If you would like to watch trustee Philip Pullen talk about Larkin's view of birthdays (his own and other peoples), it is available now on our YouTube channel. Phil uses AI magic to show Larkin as you have never seen him before at the end- please enjoy! youtu.be/61rr3rEiGsg?...

Philip Larkin outside the University of Hull, 1979, photo by Jane Bown.

Our next event is our members Zoom Book Club- this time we are discussing LUCKY JIM by Kingsley Amis. Please come along- the Zoom link is in our recent members emails, and we will send out again before the day.

Sending positive thoughts on this day of examination results to all the Next Generation of Larkin Readers and to all their hardworking teachers, lecturers, and librarians.

As we consider the beauty and mystery of the solar eclipse today, do read Philip Larkin's poem SOLAR. Some would argue this is the closest Larkin ever came to writing a prayer.

An online lunchtime course looking at Larkin's poetry available in October (not run by the PLS) www.marywardcentre.ac.uk/course-detai...

Philip Larkin was born on this day in 1922. In this birthday poem for contemporary Charles Causley he considers the implications of being a Leo.

Looking forward to visiting the museum, in such a lovely building. The Guardian manages to drag up the tired 'Out on a limb' observation about Hull. And, of course, shoehorns Larkin @plsoc.bsky.social into the article...

We are celebrating Larkin's birthday on Sunday Aug 9 at 7pm with an online talk exploring Larkin's view of his own and other people's birthdays, by trustee Philip Pullen. Please come along and enjoy Philip's fascinating talk. Invite Link us06web.zoom.us/j/84112687553 us06web.zoom.us/j/84112687553

Rosie Millard wants us to 'Get a Hobby' and mulls over some quotes from Larkin's Required Writing. @plsoc.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/rosiemil...

Larkin's 'Church Going' discussed on BBC Radio 4, at the tail end of Today. @plsoc.bsky.social The poem also lends its name to, and features in, a new R4 series on this morning ... www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Naomi Oba, the Young Warwickshire Poet Laureate for 2026, reads her poem, ‘Shelves of Wonder’ at the Larkin Tribute event, reminding us that libraries are magical places.

An inspirational afternoon at the Philip Larkin event at the Coventry Book Festival. PLS President, Rosie Millard, presents the first ever Philip Larkin Society Next Generation Award to the Red River Theatre Company for their production ‘Home Is So Sad’

We’re really looking forward to taking part in the Philip Larkin Tribute today at the Anglican Chapel, London Road Cemetery, Coventry as part of the Festival of Books. 3.00PM and free to attend.

Coventry, like Hull (and Belfast) has its ‘sudden elegances’

A lovely day at Coventry’s Book Festival at The Charterhouse, including a new short piece, Home Is So Sad’ by The Red River Theatre Company. Satisfyingly Larkinesque

Come along to our Meet the Members Zoom get together this Thursday at 7pm. The link was in May's newsletter to members and we will send it out again before Thursday. (The Lucky Jim Book Club will take place in the autumn- we got over excited about that, clearly an effect of the heat!)

If you want to know more about our wonderfully supportive Honorary Vice President Sir Tom Courtenay this is a good place to start.

Home Is So Sad www.rosiesretrobazaar.co.uk/event-detail...

www.rosiesretrobazaar.co.uk/coventry-fes... We’re looking forward to taking part in the Coventry Festival of Books next weekend. Larkin will have a definite presence. Free entry to most events if you have National Trust membership

On this day in 1948 the NHS was founded. Larkin's 1967 poem The Building may have had Hull Royal Infirmary in mind but is a universal meditation on hospitals and human frailty.

On the occasional Sunday morning some of us may be able to empathise with Amis's Jim Dixon, after a night of excess: 'He lay sprawled, too wicked to move, spewed up like a broken spider-crab on the tarry shingle of the morning...' (Lucky Jim, 1954)

The Society is run entirely by unpaid volunteers, and everything we do — our journal, podcasts, YouTube, events, and social media — is made possible by your subscriptions. We have ambitious plans to focus on the Next Generation of Larkin Readers. Please remember to renew your membership!

A capsule review of Lucky Jim.

A fantastic postcard!

We we are saddened to hear of the passing of Rob Bell, Hull historian, and poet. In 2015 Rob took a leading role in ‘Sounding The Larkin Trail’, a wonderfully evocative evening of poetry and music as part of the Toads Revisted Festival youtu.be/8HFkt7lD23E?...

We already know he loves Larkin- here's a view of Andy Burnham's wider love of literature from PLS HVP Blake Morrison www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Larkin @plsoc.bsky.social was commissioned to write 'Bridge for the Living' for the opening. Simon Armitage revisited the poem for Larkin's centenary in 2022, worth a listen.... www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

It is with great sadness that the Philip Larkin Society shares the news of the passing of Carole Collinson. Carole was a long-standing trustee, serving as Events Organiser and Membership Secretary for many years, and was the driving force behind the Larkin statue at Hull's Paragon Station.

The excellent Frank Cottrell-Boyce referencing Larkin and the Sex Pistols (about 30 mins in) when talking about the concepts behind the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics - the nation as ‘a frail travelling coincidence’ www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Wonderful pictures- thank you for coming along.

After a successful and enjoyable AGM at Westminster Abbey. PLS members had the opportunity to visit Poets’ Corner

We will see you there!

Traveling to London for the AGM this morning and the chance to see Larkin's memorial stone which was placed in Westminster Abbey in 2016.

Larkin’s draft of ‘Song: The Three Ships’ is included in this lovely book published by the British Library. His first poetry workbook is deposited in the BL, the rest are in Hull History Centre.

In 1962, Larkin accompanied Jean Hartley to see Louis Armstrong at Bridlington Royal Spa.Writing to his mother Eva, Larkin said, “this was a very great thrill for me, as Armstrong is the Shakespeare of jazz even now, & I’ve never seen him before.'