“Something more fidgety and various,” 50 Years of High Windows

It’s 1974 and Larkin has been forced to leave behind the high windows of his Pearson Park flat and move into his final home at Newland Park. The ongoing miners’ strikes threaten to turn off the lights across the country. Barry Bloomfield’s Bibliography of Larkin’s publications nags at him, the dates on the cover suggesting to Larkin that there’s ‘a tombstone being lowered over me’. Although Larkin goes on to publish one of his greatest poems - ‘Aubade’- three years later, High Windows is his final collection, even though he is only in his early fifties. However, sales of the collection are ‘exceptional- nearly 20,000 copies in less than a year - and, as Andrew Motion suggests, ‘High Windows turned him into a national monument.’

Contributors are not expected to confine their approaches to High Windows itself; we would be particularly interested in presentations that explore Larkin’s diverse prose work as well as his poetry. The conference will take place close to the Brynmor Jones Library, where Larkin worked from 1955 until his death in 1985. Furthermore, we are delighted to announce that novelist, screenwriter and Philip Larkin Society Honorary Vice-Presidents David Quantick and Blake Morrison will be our keynote speakers.

Building on the successful programme of our 2022 conference, we will present a range of approaches to Larkin’s work with a varied programme of contributors from across the arts and academic landscape. We are an inclusive society and would like to encourage submissions from people of all backgrounds and approaches. We are also looking for ways to actively support and promote undergraduate involvement.

The conference will be held at the University of Hull from 14-15 March 2024 and will take the format of 3 panels over two days, each consisting of 3 x 20 minute papers and symposia/discussion forums.

Proposals (up to 300 words) should be submitted to larkinconference@gmail.com by Friday 25th November 2023.

Academic/research queries: Please contact Daniel Vince (PLS trustee) at vinvindan@gmail.com.

Non-academic/creative enquiries, travel and accommodation, funding: please email Lyn Lockwood (deputy chair of the Philip Larkin Society) at lynlockwood70@yahoo.co.uk.