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Tony Harrison Archive

Archive Collection: BC MS 20c Harrison Contains records with digital media

Details

Type of record: Archive

Title: Tony Harrison Archive

Level: Collection

Classmark: BC MS 20c Harrison

Creator(s): Harrison, Tony (1937-)()

Date(s): c. 1953 - 2009

Size and medium: 132 unboxed notebooks; 88 archival boxes of material

Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/35040

Collection group(s): Leeds Poetry | English Literature

Description

Papers of Tony Harrison, documenting his work as a poet.


The collection documents much of Harrison's published work and drafts relating to work as yet unpublished, forming an exceptionally detailed record of his poetry, documented through notes, drafts, correspondence, press cuttings, photographs and ephemera.


The collection is divided into six series; (01) early work, (02) journals and notebooks, (03) project notebooks, (04) project files, (05) correspondence and (06) poetry readings.


Project files and notebooks have been kept in a simple chronological sequence, whether for publications, theatre, film or television. This reflects Harrison's personal vision of his work; he has stated that 'Poetry is all I write, whether for books, or readings, or for the National Theatre, or for the opera house and concert hall, or even for TV' (http://literature.britishcouncil.org/tony-harrison).


Although distinct, the series are very closely interrelated; notebooks and files often contain similar drafts and insertions, correspondence often refers to projects, copies of letters & material from project files are frequently pasted into notebooks.

Biography or history

Detailed biographies of Tony Harrison are available on Special Collections webpages at:

http://library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections/collection/13/poets_at_the_university_of_leeds/20/tony_harrison

http://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/369/leeds_lives/79/leeds_lives/7

Provenance

Acquired directly from archive creator.

System of arrangement

The collection is currently divided into 6 series, following Harrison's own arrangement of his work (further series may be added with future accruals).

Access and usage

Access

This collection is subject to various access conditions. Please see individual catalogue descriptions for further details on access.

On our website

Tony Harrison

Profile: Tony Harrison

A biography of the poet Tony Harrison and his association with the University of Leeds where he was a student in the late 1950s.

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Research spotlight: Tony Harrison (born 1937)

Studying at the University of Leeds was the boyhood goal of working-class Tony Harrison from Beeston, Leeds. Today he is one of Britain's greatest living poets, having won many literary prizes, including the European Prize for Literature, 2010. His literary archive lives - and grows - in Special Collections at Leeds University Library.

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Harrison p54 Bottom Layer crop

Research spotlight: Tony Harrison – Writing 'Them & [uz]'

Trace the development of Tony Harrison's poem 'Them & [uz]' through the series of evolving drafts contained in the pages of one of his notebooks.

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