As ever, it was a beautiful sunny day at the Lawns as over 30 members gathered for the Philip Larkin Society Annual General Meeting. New merchandise officers, Lyn Lockwood and Rachael Galletly, welcomed us with the merchandise stall and the joyous sounds of Larkin’s Jazz in the lobby and [...]

The latest issue of About Larkin, the Society’s journal, has now been published. It contains a wealth of new, previously unseen material relating to Larkin, including early family letters, which are reproduced as facsimiles by kind permission of his niece, Rosemary Parry. A fascinating [...]

The Philip Larkin Society is delighted to announce that Grayson Perry CBE RA is to be its Distinguished Guest Lecturer for 2017. The event will take place at the Middleton Hall, University of Hull on Wednesday 5th July. Grayson Perry is a particular Larkin fan and Larkin’s face features in [...]

Professor Graham Chesters was a university colleague of Larkin’s and is Vice Chairman of the Philip Larkin Society. Larkin is linked in the national consciousness with the city of Hull, which he called ‘the town that lets you write,’ although after his appointment as the [...]

On 2 October 1974 Larkin sent his mother a colour postcard of Prince Charles, saluting in military uniform : ‘I am in the train going down to London where I shall see Betjeman and go to Westminster Abbey to see him unveil a tablet to Auden.’ On the following day he sent a follow-up [...]

In celebration of Philip Larkin’s memorialisation in Poets’ Corner, the Friends of the Bodleian are to hold a  reading of Philip Larkin and Barbara Pym’s letters on Saturday, 10 December at 6pm in the Weston Library (part of the Bodleian Libraries) in Oxford. Further details are [...]

St James the Less, Pimlico: 21 September 2016, 6.00 for 6.30 – 8.00 pm Schoolgirls, Seaside, Churches and Death: Betjeman and Larkin James Booth The poems of Betjeman and Larkin present striking similarities, but also strong contrasts. Larkin frequently cited Betjeman in his campaign of [...]

We are pleased to announce that, following the recent AGM, membership fees for 2016-17 are unchanged. Click below to download the relevant form. 2016 Application 2016 Renewal    

Our 42nd AGM, held at the Lawns Centre, Cottingham on 4 June 2016, showed the Society at a high point. Our finances are under no threat, though Jackie Sewell’s clear and comprehensive Treasurer’s Report recommended various economies which have been put into effect. Our wish to take [...]

The current 40-page issue of About Larkin shows a photograph of a smiling Eva Larkin taken by Philip in 1970. It includes facsimiles of communications between Philip and Eva featuring his charming sketches of ‘young creature’ and ‘old creature’.         We also publish a [...]