Author Archives: James Plath

Updike poem read on Serbian state TV

Posted on July 4, 2015 by James Plath

John Updike Society board member Biljana Dojčinović was featured on RTS (Radio Television of Serbia) in a program of culture titled “Metropolis,” about Sylvia Plath. In it, around the 28-minute mark, she reads (in her Serbian translation) the beginning and … Continue reading →

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First look: John Updike: Selected Poems

Posted on June 18, 2015 by James Plath

We received the uncorrected proof for John Updike: Selected Poems, edited by Christopher Carduff and with an introduction by Brad Leithauser, which will be published on October 16, 2015 by Alfred A. Knopf (320 pp., $30/SRP). Because it’s an uncorrected … Continue reading →

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Witches of Eastwick musical wins AIMS Awards

Posted on June 15, 2015 by James Plath

The Limerick Musical Society scored big at the Association of Irish Musical Awards in Killarney this past Saturday with their production of The Witches of Eastwick, winning Best Overall Show, Best Male Actor (Dave Griffin, as Darryl Van Horne), Best … Continue reading →

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Ipswich saves a part of its most celebrated tree

Posted on June 11, 2015 by James Plath

Members who attended the Second Biennial John Updike Conference and took the walking tour of Ipswich led by Michael Updike got to see the town’s most famous tree . . . before it had to be cut down. Now, a … Continue reading →

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Updike quoted in Bellow tribute

Posted on June 10, 2015 by James Plath

The Telegraph today paid a 100th birthday tribute to “Saul Bellow: ‘American writer supreme.’” The story is a round-up of comments culled from remarks that writers and critics have made about Bellow over the years, including John Updike: “Saul Bellow … Continue reading →

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Published Couples essay from 1996 now online

Posted on June 10, 2015 by James Plath

Updike scholars and fans can now access a critical essay on Couples that was published in The International Fiction Review 23 (1996): “Fire, Rain, Rooster:  John Updike’s Christian Allegory in Couples,” by Sukhbir Singh, University of Chicago, begins, “Most critics deal with John … Continue reading →

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John Updike: In Memory Flickr group started

Posted on June 7, 2015 by James Plath

Michelle Kinsey Bruns has started a Flickr group page devoted to “John Updike: In Memory” for the purpose of discussion and photo-sharing. She writes, “I noticed that many John Updike fans are posting photos of their Updike book collections today—the … Continue reading →

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Shipe elected to JUS board

Posted on June 6, 2015 by James Plath

The general membership elected Matthew Shipe to fill the open seat vacated when Jack De Bellis stepped down. Shipe begins a three-year term, starting immediately. Shipe recently won the Emerging Writers Prize given by The John Updike Review, and he … Continue reading →

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Updike inspired fine press publisher

Posted on June 6, 2015 by James Plath

John Updike Society members may know Andrew Moorhouse from the last two conferences he attended, at which he modestly suggested he was not an academic but “only” an Updike fan, a reader, and a lover of books. But it turns … Continue reading →

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New Stephen King novel alludes to Updike et alia

Posted on June 3, 2015 by James Plath

Stephen King, the master of horror who debuted with Carrie (1974), has turned to the newspaper headlines and a trio of literary masters for the subject of his new book. Finders Keepers is about a psychopath’s obsession with writer John Rothstein … Continue reading →

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