DUFFY, CAROL ANN.
Carol Ann Duffy papers, 1985-2007

Emory University

Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library

Atlanta, GA 30322

404-727-6887

marbl@emory.edu

Permanent link: http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8z7md

Descriptive Summary

Creator:Duffy, Carol Ann.
Title: Carol Ann Duffy papers, 1985-2007
Call Number:Manuscript Collection No. 834
Extent:9.75 linear ft. (12 boxes) and 2 oversized papers (OP)
Abstract:Notebooks, correspondence, photographs, and printed materials of English poet Carol Ann Duffy.
Language:Materials entirely in English.

Administrative Information

Restrictions on Access

Unrestricted access.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Source

Purchase, 1999.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Carol Ann Duffy papers, Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Collection Description

Biographical Note

Carol Ann Duffy, poet, was born on December 31, 1955, to Francis and Mary Black Duffy, in Glasgow, Scotland. At age five she moved with her family to Stafford where she attended St. Joseph’s convent school and Stafford High School. In ca. 1971 she met Liverpool poet Adrian Henri and moved to Liverpool to be near him. She attended the University of Liverpool, graduating with an honors degree in philosophy in 1977.

From 1981-1995 Duffy lived in London. During this time she published Standing Female Nude and received the Scottish Arts Council Award (1985), Selling Manhattan, which received the Somerset Maugham Award (1992), and Mean Time, which won the Whitbread Award and the Forward Poetry Prize (1993). During these years Duffy also received the Eric Gregory Award (1983), the Dylan Thomas Award (1990), the Cholmondeley Award (1992), the Lannan Award and the OBE (1995).

Duffy moved to Manchester in 1996 and became a part-time lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. In 1999 she was widely regarded as a leading contender for Poet Laureate, and in July of that year her collection The World’s Wife was shortlisted in the collections category for the Forward Poetry Prize. In addition to her poetry collections, she has published numerous plays, written poetry and adapted fairy tales for children’s books, and edited several anthologies.

Scope and Content Note

The Carol Ann Duffy papers consist of manuscript notebooks and miscellaneous papers from 1985-2007. The papers include primarily twenty-one notebooks with many laid-in sheets (1985-1999), containing drafts of poems and other writings from each of her published collections, among them Standing Female Nude, Selling Manhattan, The Other Country, Mean Time, and The World’s Wife. In addition, the papers contain a small amount of correspondence (1986-1998), two photographs, and a small amount of printed material, including promotional flyers and leaflets.

Arrangement Note

The notebooks are arranged in chronological order, laid-in sheets directly following the notebook in which they were found. The miscellaneous papers are filed with correspondence first, followed by photographs and printed material.

Container List

Notebooks
Box Folder Content
1 1 Notebook, 2 January 1985-30 March 1985, 99 pp. Multiple titled and untitled drafts of poems, including drafts of "Debt," "Ink on Paper," "Saying Something," "Education for Leisure," "Ash Wednesday 1984," "Lovebirds," "Woman Seated in the Underground," "A Provincial Party, 1956," "Someone Else's Daughter," "Human Interest," "The B Movie," "Dreaming of Somewhere Else;" "Recognition" untitled prose piece, 11 February 1985 ("Although it is now evident that I have been passed over…"); notes for long ca. 1950s poem; drafts of children's poems; and other unidentified prose.
1 2 Notebook, 30 April 1985-19 June 1985, ca. 80 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts of poems, including drafts of "The Professor of Philosophy Attempts Prayer," "The Tory Candidate, On the Eve of the General Election, Gets Down on His Knees," " The Bore's Prayer," "An Old Atheist Places His Last Bet," "The Prayer of the Magician's Assistant," The Lover's Prayer," "The Miser Counts His Blessings," "What the Foetus Thought," "Dies Natalis," "Small Wonder," "Sex," "Ode to the Nightingale," "The Minister's First Poem," "The Race," "The Egg and Spoon Race" [variant title for "The Race"], "And How Are We Today?," Phoning Home," "Wicked," "Model Village," "The Prayer of an Ordinary Citizen Driven Mad By the English Weather," "Psychopath," "Before the Telephone" [variant title for "The Dummy"] "The Dummy;" unidentified poems; notes.
1 3 Notebook, 30 April 1985-19 June 1985, 1 sheet laid in. Manuscript list of ten Duffy poems.
1 4 Notebook, 16 July 1985-15 November 1985, 94 pp. Multiple titled manuscript drafts of poems, including drafts of "Telephoning Home," "Alf Roberts' Daughter" (for Adrian Mitchell), "Translation," "Money Talks," " The Businessman's First Poem" [variant titles "Commission," and "The Businessman's Love Poem"], "The Darling Letters," "Filmscript for a Poem," "Telegrams" (after P.G.W.), "What the World Said," Scarborough", "A Bit Distant," "Going to Hell in a Handcart," "Yes, Officer," "Composing," "Every Good Boy," "The Brink of Shrieks" (for Mr. Beckett), " Trapped," "Short Stories by the Third Player;" notes, including ideas for poems, book title, and radio play; book lists and other miscellaneous notes.
1 5 Notebook, 16 July 1985-15 November 1985, 14 sheets laid in. Manuscript drafts of poems comprising "What the World Said" (children's work), including drafts of poems for the letters B, C, D, E, F, H, L, N, O, P,Q,V; one untitled poem draft (2 pp.), "No Offense," poem re Carol Ann Duffy by unidentified student.
1 6 Notebook, 15 November 1985-16 June 1986, 97 pp. Multiple drafts of titled and untitled manuscripts, including drafts for "Short Stories By the Third Player," "Granada," "Strange Language in Night Fob," "When Poets Die," "A Poetry Reading On the Moon," "Advent Calendar," "Experiment," "Bless Us, Every One," "Into Ourselves Wordless," "One-Eyed Flautist," "The Virgin Punishing the Infant Jesus," "Jane Avril Dancing," "Francis Preaches to the Birds," "Miles Away," "Wheee!," "Green," "Esther's Creative Writing Book," "Postcards,", "Blue Poem With Lilac by Someone Else," "Dole Queue, 1986" [variant title for "Signing On" (?)], "William and the Prime Minister," "Homesick," "Searching for Moons," "Haiku," "Only Dreaming," "A Sudden Shower;" "Bless Me Father" (radio script), and notes.
1 7 Notebook, 15 November 1985-16 June 1986, 40 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled poems, including drafts of "The Sanctuary of Asklepios" [variant title for "Sanctuary"], "Sanctuary," "Homesick," "Only Dreaming," "Wet Dream" [variant title for "Only Dreaming"], "Rehearsal"[ script], "Francis Preaches to the Birds," "Jane Arvil Dancing," "Into Ourselves Wordless," "Bless Us, Every One," "When Poets Die," "Searching for Moons," "Short Stories by the Third Player," "Little Women, Big Boys" [ a theatre piece for 2 actors], "Sudden Shower"
1 8 Notebook, 17 June 1986-8 November 1986, 90 pp. Multiple drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "Sanctuary," " Fat Sue and Now Voyager," " O.K., Death," "Still Life with Hangover," "Write a Fergie on Poetry," "Summer Rose," "Statement," "Kid's Channel 5," "Secret," "Don't," "Likes and "Dislikes," "A Poetry Reading On the Moon," "Advent Calendar," "William Tell and Co.," "Love Letter," " Gossip," "Mouth, With Soap," "I Live Here Now," "Line Drawing," "Plainsong," "Deportation," "All Days, Lost Days," "Selling Manhattan," "Ink Bikinis," "Make That a Large One," "Lovesick," "What's Your Poison?," Practising Being Dead;" drafts of children's poems; miscellaneous notes.
1 9 Notebook, 8 November 1986-24 August 1987, 94 pp. Multiple drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "Yes, Officer," "Thou," "Question Time," "By Heart," "Foreign," "Weasel Words," "Headlines" [variant title for "Poet for Our Times"], "Poet for Our Times," "Wimbledon Common Durex," "Beethoven's Health," "Noises," "Stealing," "Cursing Song," "Out of Ten," "Warming Her Pearls," "Mrs. Skinner, North Street" [BBC commission], "Gambling Lambs," "Hoover Witch," "Words, Wide Night," "Things of the Morning," "Too Sad," "Only Forget," "Jack Creadle;" drafts of children's poems; notes for radio script and other miscellaneous notes.
1 10 Notebook, 8 November 1986-24 August 1987, 16 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "Noises," "Rumors," "Poet for Our Times," "Words, Wide Night," "Mrs. Skinner, North Street," "If Cows Could Tap-Dance," "Warming Her Pearls;" two lists of poems.
1 11 Notebook, 27 August 1987-27 October 1988, 83 pp. Multiple drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "The [?] in Matthew Street," "Eley's Bullet," "Liar," "Telling a Joke," "April Fool," " M-m-memory," "Confession," "Le Pere Lachaise," "Strange Tourism," "M-m-memory (2)" "Émigré," "(Southern Arts)," "Originally," "In Mrs. Tilscher's Class," "Away From Home," "Secrets," "Hoover Witch," "Gossip," "William Tell;" miscellaneous notes; brief diary entries.
1 12 Notebook, 27 August 1987-27 October 1988, 17 sheets laid in. Multiple manuscript and typescript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including "Eley's Bullet," "Telling a Joke," " About the Government: A Dinner Party," "Away From Home," "Pay Attention, Grammar."
1 13 Notebook, 14 November 1988-6 February 1990, 104 pp. Multiple drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "Away from Home," "Mrs. Skinner, North Street," "November," "Descendants," "Dream of a Lost Friend," "Who Loves You, " "Kids," "Insults," "Liverpool Wakes" [variant title for "Like This"], "Like This," "Translating the English," "Letter of Introduction," "Survivor," "Write about Happiness," "The Literature Act," "Winter, 1989," "The Legend," "Hard to Say," "An Afternoon With Rhiannon," "Letter to a Prisoner," "The Act of Imagination," " Death," "Sit at Peace," "Making Money," "The Other Country," "Talent Contest," "The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team," "Marriage," "Valentine;" notes on poems.
1 14 Notebook, 14 November 1988-6 February 1990, 13 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled poems, including drafts of "Making Money," "The Captain of the 1964 Top of the Form Team," "A Good Laugh," "Hometown," "Winter, 1989," "Translating the English," "Dream of a Lost Friend," "The Kissing Gate," "Chrysanthemum;" list of poems
2 1 Notebook, 1 March 1990-10 May 1992, 99 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Caul," "Before You Were Mine," "Drunk," "Away and See," "Moments of Grace," "First Love," "C.V.," "The Suicide," "Treadwell," "Small Female Skull," "Brothers," "Cave Royal," "Never Go Back," "On the Road," "The Grammar of Light," "Litany," "Stafford Afternoons," "Crush," "Close," "Room," "The Windows," "Nostalgia," "Steam," "Havisham: A Sense of Smell," "Sleeping," "Affair;" children's poems; notes.
2 2 Notebook, 1 March 1990-10 May 1992, 19 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled and untitled poems and prose, including drafts of "Prayer," "The Suicide," "Poet, Late 20th Century," "Having an Ugly Rhyme," "A Sense of Smell," "Affair," "Close," "Moments of Grace;" review of three poetry works [Hilary Davies, The Shanghai Owner of the Bonsai Shop; Christopher Meredith, Snaring Heaven; Evangeline Paterson, Lucifer at the Fair]; poem, "We," written for Carol Ann Duffy by Lachlan McKinnon (?); notes
2 3 Notebook, 26 June 1992-2 April 1993, [Duffy travel notebook], 88 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Like Earning a Living," "Beachcomber," "Fraud," "Prayer," "The Good Teachers," "Frankie and Johnny at Poetry International," "Negative Equity," "The Cliché Kid," "Studded," "Oslo," "Quicksand," "An Old Child Looks Back," "Jemima Riddle," " Royalty," "Poker;" notes on poems; word lists.
2 4 Notebook, July 1992-17 May 1994, 90 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Like Earning a Living," "The Biographer," "Mean Time," "Mule," "Negative Equity," "The Cliché Kid," "Stuffed," "Having a Life," "Phone-In," "Lost Weather," "His First Wife," "Touch," "Mrs. Tiresias," "BBC Poets' News," "Cucumbers," "Tantalus," "Unemployment Figures," "Mrs. Lazarus," "Date;" drafts of children's poems; notes; work lists.
2 5 Notebook, July 1992-17 May 1994, 19 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "Mrs. Tiresias," "Mrs. Quasimodo," "Coming Down," "2" (for Rowena), "Last Weather," "Phone-In," "The Biographer," "Date," "Biography," "Mrs. Darwin," "Code," "A Disbelief"
2 6 Notebook, (text for Citibus), 25 January 1993-8 February 1993, 29 pp. Titled and untitled drafts of poems for Citibus, including drafts of "The Avenue," "Hometime," "An Old Passenger Remembers," "A Poem for 2 Strangers to Have On the Bus," "Southampton Haiku," "Schoolgirls," "Shopping," "The Photographs," "Journeys," "Landscapes/ Haikus," "Gossip," "Fast," "Red," "Change," "This Is Your Environmentally Friendly Mode of Transport Speaking," "Bus Love," "Bus Dreams," "A Cure for Feeling Lonely," "Regular;" notes.
2 7 Notebook, 21 November 1993-26 May 1994, 53 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Late," "Meeting Midnight," "So Shy," "Mrs. Darwin," "Chocoholic," "Twinned," "The Childminders," "Anne Pope's Mum," "Lot's Wife," "Mrs. Quasimodo;" miscellaneous notes, including notes for poems (some children's poems), workshop notes; and word lists.
2 8 Notebook, 21 November 1993-26 May 1994, 12 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "Twinned," " A Grave," "Meeting Midnight," "The Childminders."
2 9 Notebook, 14 June 1994-18 December 1997, 37 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts for "Jemima Riddle," "Snowball," "Whirlpool," "First Summer," "Eurydice," "Mrs. Icarus," "Masterpiece;" notes pertaining to poems; and workshop notes.
2 10 Notebook, 14 June 1994-18 December 1997, 9 sheets laid in. Manuscript drafts of titled poems, including drafts of "Masterpiece," "Whirlpool," "Eurydice" [multiple drafts]
2 11 Notebook, 21 March 1996-6 November 1997, 58 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Holloway Road," "Time Transfixed by Rene Magritte," "Eurydice," "Morag Macrae;" and other unidentified poems and prose works; miscellaneous notes.
2 12 Notebook, 21 March 1996-6 November 1997, 6 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "September, 1997" and "Holloway Road;" note to Catherine Vyner.
2 13 Notebook, 14 June 1997-27 May 1998, 54 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of ["Mrs. Beast"], "Queen Herod," "Circe," "Pygmalion's Bride," "Mrs. Freud," "The Kray Sisters;" notes for poems; and other miscellaneous notes.
2 14 Notebook, 14 June 1997-27 May 1998, 40 sheets laid in. Manuscript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "The Kray Sisters," "Pygmalion," "Navratilova," "Queen Herod," "Mrs. Quasimodo's Divorce," "Pygmalion's Bride," "Mrs. Beast," " Circe," "A Room of One's Own" w/ Liz Lochhead [episode one]; notes
2 15 Notebook, 25 August 1997-4 May 1998, 50 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Mrs. Beast," "Queen Herod," "Salome," "Delilah," "Circe;" miscellaneous notes, including schedules and word lists
2 16 Notebook, ca. 1997-1998, 80 pp. Manuscript drafts of titled prose adaptations of Grimm fairy tales, including drafts of "Hansel and Gretel" and "The Golden Goose" [in dramatic and prose forms], "Ashputtel," "A Riddling Tale," "The Mouse," "The Bird and the Sausage," "Iron Hans."
2 17 Notebook, ca. 1997-1998, 67 sheets laid in. Manuscript and typescript drafts of titled prose adaptations of Grimm fairy tales, including drafts of "Iron Hans," "The Lady and the Lion," "The Golden Goose," "The Magic Table, The Gold Donkey and the Cudgell in the Sack," "The Mouse, the Bird and the Sausage," "Ashputtel," "A Riddling Tale," ["Hansel and Gretel"]
2 18 Notebook, ca. 1997-1998, 86 pp. with 1 sheet laid in. Manuscript drafts of titled prose adaptations of Grimm fairy tales, including drafts of "Little Red-Cap," "Rumplestiltskin," "Snow White," "The Hare and the Hedgehog," "Clever Hans,' "Going a Traveling," "The Fox and the Geese," "The Ungrateful Son," "The Golden Key," "The Musicians of Bremen," "Knoist and His Three Sons," "Fair Kathrinelje," "Sweet Porridge," "Brother Scam;" manuscript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "The Laughing Hour," and "The Woman Who Was Buried Alive"
3 1 Notebook, 1 September 1998-ca. 2 March 1999, 57 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Like a Virgin," "Mrs. Sisyphus," "Mrs. Freud" [variant title for "Frau Freud"], "Frau Freud," "Elvis's Twin" [variant title for Elvis's Twin Sister"], "Elvis's Twin Sister," "Come In," "Queen Croesus," "Hathaway" [variant title for "Anne Hathaway"], "Thetas," "Little Red-Cap," "Whistler," "Gordon Bennett," "Ben," "True Love for the Duke of Fire Was What the Duchess of Ice Felt" [variant title of "The Duke of Fire and the Duchess of Ice"], ["A Child's Sleep], "Boys," "Transformations," "Drag," "Know All," "5 Girls," "Jemima Riddle," "Little Ghost," "Tadpoles," "Girl and Tree;" notes; and word lists.
3 2 Notebook, 1 September 1998-ca.2 March 1999, 10 sheets laid in. Manuscript an typescript drafts of titled and untitled poems, including drafts of "Little Redcap," "The Devil's Wife," "Like a Virgin," "A Child's Sleep;" poem list for The World's Wife.
3 3 Notebook, 1 October 1998-7 December 1998, 39 pp. Multiple titled and untitled manuscript drafts, including drafts of "Knife," "Eve," "Thetis," "Medea," "Pope Joan," "Xanthippe," "Penelope,' "Demeter/Ceres," "Persephone,'s Mother," "Middle of Somewhere;" notes; and poem lists
3 4 Notebook, 1 October 1998-7 December 1998, 1 sheet laid in. Manuscript draft of poem, "Penelope"
Other writings
3 5 The Citybus, bound typescript, 1993
3 6 "Foreign," proposed drawings by Rebecca Forster to accompany Duffy poem w/ related correspondence, 1993
3 7 Mean Time, typescript w/ some corrections, 1993
3 8 The Pamphlet, page proofs, 1998
3 9 "The Poetry Quartets: 2"Cassette tape recording [2 cassettes], Fleur Adcock, Carol Ann Duffy, Selima Hill, Carol Remens read aloud and discuss their work, The British Council/ Broadaxe Books, Ltd.,1998
3 10 Meeting Midnight, typescript and holograph manuscripts w/ related correspondence, 1999
3 11 The World's Wife, typescript w/ some corrections; book jacket, 1999
3 12 "Delilah," proof, n.d.
3 13 "Poker" and "Camomile Lotion," typescript w/ two deletions,n.d.
Correspondence
4 1 Correspondence, 1986-1998
4 2 Correspondence, undated
Photographs/Drawings
4 3 Caricatures of Carol Ann Duffy, 10 October 1992
4 4 Publicity photo by Chris McKee, 1993
4 5 Photograph of Carol Ann Duffy at a reading, Tom Raworth in the audience, Macedonia, n.d.
Promotional material
4 6 Promotional poster for reading in Dublin, 6 May 1994
4 7 Promotional flyer, poetry reading at Bristol, 10 June 19[??]
4 8 Promotional leaflet, reading, Liskeard Poetry Group, 10 October 19[??]
4 9 Promotional flyer, Haringey Literature Festival, 26 May 199[?]
4 10 Promotional flyer, poetry reading, Newport General Library, 28 April 19[??]
Writings about Duffy
4 11 Racz, Istvan, "Carol Ann Duffy's Poetry," British and American Studies, v. 1:1, p. 71, 1996
4 12 Signal, no. 83, May 1997, [regarding Duffy's receipt of the the Signal Poetry Award, 1997, for Stopping for Death
Newspaper clippings
4 13 Clippings regarding Carol Ann Duffy
4 14 Clippings regarding dramatic performances based on Duffy's adaptation of Grimm fairy tales, photocopies, 1994
4 15 Clippings, miscellaneous
Printed material
4 16 Carol Ann Duffy Writing Weekend, suggested format, Arts Council of Wales [?], n.d.
4 17 Grimm Tales, Background material, photocopies
4 18 Grimm Tales, Program and activity booklet, produced by Young Vic Company, 1994
4 19 Mean Time, Book cover, proof, 1993
4 20 More Grimm Tales, Cover design, 1998
4 21 "Whee!" Children's Poetry Competition, Turret Books, poem card [No. 10], 1987
4 22 Whitbread Book of the Year, 1997 brochure [Duffy listed as judge]
4 23 Miscellaneous printed material
Financial/legal documents
4 24 "Poem for Diana," payment record, 1997
4 25 The World's Wife, contract w/ Anvil Press Poetry Ltd., 1997
Unprocessed additions
5-12 Unprocessed additions
OP1 Unprocessed additions
OP2 Unprocessed additions
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