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News

Ophelia's recent and forthcoming features, interviews, events and other news.

2nd-3rd July 2011
Ophelia will be speaking at a conference on The Literary Essay in English hosted by Queen Mary (UCL) and sponsored by the London Review of Books. Other contributors include Dame Gillian Beer, Geoff Dyer, Hermione Lee, Andrew O'Hagan, Adam Phillips and Karl Miller. Book online.

5th May 2011
The launch of an exciting new publishing imprint devoted to the essay, Notting Hill Editions, includes an original online Essay Library selected by Ophelia. The Library currently comprises a list of 100 great essays, from any country and century, though all available in English, each recommended by Ophelia to readers in a summary of exactly 100 words -- making the Library much more than simply an online anthology. Each entry is also indexed in multiple ways so that the Library's collection -- which will expand -- is easily searchable by theme, genre, date, author, etc. Go to www.nottinghilleditions.com (after 5 May) and click on The Essay Library.

See mention of this project in The Sunday Times piece by Valerie Grove on The Return of the Essay (1 May 2011).

15th December 2010
Ophelia is excited to inform any fans of The Kit-Cat Club that the first known drinking glass to have survived from the Kit-Cat toasting rituals appears to have been discovered and is to be sold at auction at Bonhams, New Bond Street, on this date. It is inscribed '29 June 1716 - To Mrs Walpole' which must refer to Robert Walpole's wife, and a previously unrecorded meeting of the Club. The find is still in the process of being examined, and has not yet been allocated a lot number or estimated value. It appears that the foot of the glass has been broken and replaced with wood. Interested buyers should contact Simon Cottle at Bonham's for further information.

Readers and researchers may also be interested to learn that a 'Kit-Cat Club Decanter' was sold at auction by Bonhams on 19 May 2010 (sale 17813 lot 38). This glass decanter was also an important new discovery, and its engravings include nine men sitting around a dining table set with pies, and the words 'Jacob Tonson - P', 'The Kitcat', 'The Toasts' and 'This United Us'. It is Dresden glassware, probably engraved in London c.1715.

20th October 2010
Ophelia will be speaking at Kensington Palace about the relationship of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, and Queen Anne, starting 6pm. Book now!

25th March 2010
Ophelia speaks alongside Jeremy Lewis on The Pleasures and Perils of Writing a Group Biography at a Biographers Club lunch, held at the Savile Club.

15th March 2010
Ophelia speaks at a conference entitled Greatness, Gossip and Ghosts: The History of a Country House, at Cumberland Lodge.

9th March 2010 - AMENDMENT: This event has been postponed until Winter 2010
Ophelia speaks about the Kit-Cat Club at a literary lunch at Petworth House, West Sussex.

21st January 2010
Ophelia speaks about the Kit-Cat Club to a private audience at the Oxford and Cambridge Club, London.

1st November 2009
Books: The Essential Insider's Guide, eds. Mark Strand and Robert Kahn, is published in the City Secrets series, with Ophelia contributing an essay that recommends two little known books on 19th century America. Fellow contributors include Jane Smiley, Robert Pinsky and Jonathan Burnham. A portion of the proceeds are to be donated to First Book, providing books to children from low-incomefamilies.

2nd October 2009
Ophelia joins fellow historical biographer Kate Williams to discuss their work at the Henley Literary Festival.

28th September 2009
Ophelia convenes the Writing a Biography MRes/MA module at the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters (CELL).

21st May 2009
Ophelia speaks at a reception to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone of Marlborough House by Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, in 1709. The event is hosted by the Commonwealth Secretary-General at Marlborough House, Pall Mall, and is by invitation only.

28th December 2008
The Kit-Cat Club is selected by David Robson in The Sunday Telegraph as one of the 'quirky delights' of the past literary year.

25th October 2008
Ophelia appears on BBC Parliament's books programme, Booktalk to discuss The Kit-Cat Club.

2nd October 2008
Ophelia is interviewed about her latest book, The Kit-Cat Club, on Australia's national radio arts programme, Late Night Live (ABC Radio). To listen to this interview, click here.

14th September 2008
The Sunday Telegraph's Stella Magazine features an article by Ophelia about the pitfalls of choosing the names of her children: 'The Name Game'.

26th August 2008
BBC History Magazine features an article by Ophelia about the Kit-Cat Club's founder Jacob Tonson and how he hosted the first publishers' expense account dinners on record. It appears in the 'All Our Yesterdays' section.

14th July 2008
BBC Radio 4, Start the Week. 9-9:45am - Ophelia discusses the Kit-Cat Club with Andrew Marr

Agent: Lizzy Kremer at David Higham Associates | © Ophelia Field 2008