Some information about the Angela Thirkell Society
The Angela Thirkell Society was founded in 1980 by Mrs Diana McFarlan of Dublin, at the instigation of Margot Strickland, author of Angela Thirkell, Portrait of a Lady Novelist.
The youngest of Angela’s three sons Lance Thirkell, was also an active participant.
The Society aims to honour the memory of Angela Thirkell as a writer as well as making her works available to new generations.
An annual Journal (which is free to ATS members) is produced, and contributions from members are encouraged.
There is a thriving second-hand book scheme as well as a system by which members may borrow books which they might find too expensive or difficult to obtain.
Regular regional and national meetings and outings are also popular.
The Society publishes articles and short stories by and about Angela Thirkell, including letters written by her to her secretary, Margaret Bird, between 1950 and 1960, and a childhood memoir by her son Lance.
Membership
New members are always welcome.
To join, please fill out a Membership Application Form.
For general questions, contact Sarah Preston, Committee Secretary.
The distinguished quarterly journal The Book Collector carried in its Autumn 2014 edition an article about The Angela Thirkell Society as part of its Author Society series. It gives a comprehensive overview of our background as well as a good insight into they societies activities. To read the article, click here.
The Society is a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies which enables it to link with over 100 similar societies such as The Dickens Fellowship, The Kipling Society, the Charlotte M. Yonge Fellowship and the George Eliot Fellowship.
Discussion Groups
Angela Thirkell Appreciation Group
Links
The Angela Thirkell Archive at the University of Leeds Brotherton Library
Sheffield Hallam University Readerships and Literary Cultures 1900-1950 Special Collection contains reviews of those of Thirkell’s books that fit within the timeframe, as well as two from 1953 (the coronation year of Queen Elizabeth II)
Oxford Companion to Australian Literature, entry for Angela Thirkell
Australian Dictionary of Biography, entry for Angela Margaret Thirkell
Australian Dictionary of Biography entry for Graham McInnes and also Colin MacInnes
Colin MacInnes Archive, University of Rochester, New York
Kate Macdonald in her blog, Why I Really Like This Book, lists Cheerfulness Breaks In, Summer Half and Northbridge Rectory among her ten-minute podcasts about forgotten fiction.
Kate also frequently posts on Vulpes Libris including a hatchet job on Ann Bridge (whom we think Mrs Thirkell portrayed as her charcter Mrs Rivers).
Northern Reader, a book blog by Joules Barham, regularly contains reviews of Angela Thirkell’s works
Claire of The Captive Reader says that Angela Thirkell is one of her favourite authors, and additionally, posts numerous reviews of her books. Other sites where you can find Angela Thirkell references: Reading 1900-1950 about the special collection of middlebrow fiction at Sheffield Hallam University, hosted by Erica Brown
At Home in Barsetshire, certainly best described as Relusions in visual form
Tourist information, and much more, about Rottingdean – the Sussex village with so many links to Angela Thirkell and her family – at Rottingdean Heritage.
A review of Pomfret Towers on Laura’s Musings
Reviews of many Angela Thirkell titles on WHATMEREAD
More Angela Thirkell reviews on Desperate Reader
Cornflower Books
Goodreads (including The Good Little Girls play by Angela Thirkell)
Doollee – The Playwright’s Database
The Angela Thirkell Society of North America
You may find the following items this site contains extremely helpful:
Book Summaries (you can print off a useful Shopping List)
A comprehensive Index to the works of Angela Thirkell
Dictionary of Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire Novels by Johnny Pate
