DLS News
Note that many of these events are only open to members of the Society, and there are other events which are not advertised here at all. Please join us to find out more!24 March 2010: Extraordinary General Meeting. We held an EGM in Witham to consider and approve some minor changes to the Society Rules, to keep them in line with current best practice for charities. The old rules and the proposed amendments can be read here. The full notice of the EGM is in Bulletin 207. MEMBERS ONLY
19 November 2013: 5.15pm: Harriet Walter, DBE delivered the 23rd annual Maynard Mack Lecture at Yale University, entitled “A Serious Job for a Woman?”, at Linsly-Chittenden Hall, Rm. 102, 63 High Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. More details here.
17 December 2013: 6.30pm: An Evening with Jill Paton Walsh at Heffers bookshop, Trinity Street, Cambridge. The flyer can be downloaded here.
Restoring England’s Heritage on BBC2 featured Taylor’s bell foundry, which we visited during the Loughborough convention, and is now in serious need of funding to maintain the building.
27 November 2014: RIP P.D.James ✝ It is with sadness, but also with gratitude for her many kindnesses and her unflagging support of the Dorothy L Sayers Society, that we give the news of the death this morning of our Patron P D James, Baroness James of Holland Park.
25 January 2015: RIP Canon John Thurmer ✝ We regret to inform members of the death of a very long-standing member and supporter of the Society, Canon John Thurmer. There are more details here and here.
23 February 2015: Love All by Dorothy L Sayers.
The Society is delighted to announce the first UK publication of Love All. Members who attended the rehearsed reading at the 2012 AGM, so brilliantly directed by Sheila Mitchell, will remember how up-to-date and witty the play was, despite its first performance having been in 1940.
It is available for purchase now at the introductory price of £8.
29 April 2015: RIP Dr Barbara Reynolds ✝
It is with sadness that The Dorothy L Sayers Society passes on the news of the death of our President Dr Barbara Reynolds. She was just a little over 6 weeks away from her 101st birthday.
Her remarkable intelligence and presence, and her many contributions to and support for The Dorothy L Sayers Society are well and lovingly remembered. Barbara was a distinguished Italian scholar, lexicographer, translator, and author of a study on Dante. She edited Dorothy L Sayers’ letters and wrote a biography − Dorothy L Sayers: Her Life and Soul. Barbara completed Sayers’ translation of “Paradiso” from Dante’s Divine Comedy (left incomplete at Sayers’ death), and wrote The Passionate Intellect, a study on Sayers and the Dante translation. Barbara Reynolds was Dorothy L Sayers’ god-daughter. Barbara will be greatly missed, and our thoughts are now with her family.
7 June 2015: 1.00pm: DLS and The Man Born To Be King. Michael Hampel, Precentor of St Paul’s Cathedral, will be giving a talk in the Wren Suite. More details here.
Please note the following rule about Society events:
Unless special arrangements to the contrary are made in advance with the Society, the Conventions, Meetings and other events sponsored by the Dorothy L Sayers Society for its membership are open only to those who are members of the Dorothy L Sayers Society, the guests whom those members bring with them (subject to the limitations, if any, specified in the announcement of, or invitation to, a particular event) and those specifically invited by the Society. The Dorothy L Sayers Society regrets any inconvenience that these rules may cause, but they are essential in order to assure that the events sponsored by the Dorothy L Sayers Society run smoothly and without inconvenience to the membership and the institutions and venues at which the events are held.
We also occasionally advertise events not run by the Society, if they are of particular interest to Sayers scholars. Contact us if you are organising such an event which you would like to be listed here.
16 December 2017: Service at St Anne’s Soho to mark 60 years since the death of Dorothy L Sayers.
28 October 2017: 2pm: AGM, St Anne’s Soho.
26 September 2017: Somersham History Society. Alan Draper gave an illustrated talk entitled “The History of Somersham as portrayed in the 1908 Pageant”. How did Somersham manage to stage the first pageant to be performed in the county? How was the authoress Dorothy L. Sayers involved? Why was it followed up by a Mystery Play?
16−17 September 2017: Spirit of Sayers Festival. This year marks the 200 year anniversary of the death of Jane Austen, one of this country’s finest writers. In Bluntisham we are commemorating our own literary daughter of the Rectory, Dorothy L Sayers. Rev Sayers and his family left Bluntisham in 1917, a century ago. On the weekend of 16th & 17th September 2017 at St Mary’s Church Bluntisham-cum-Earith, members of the community will be using their creative talents to bring you: Refreshments served in a Vintage Tea Room; Flower Festival; Church Yard Trail; Children’s Quiz; Display of Local Writers’ Work; Art Exhibition; Special Quarter Peal of Ringing of St Mary’s Historic Bells & Talk; Drama; Local History Display; Visit by Bishop David; A Concert on Saturday Evening; Festival Praise Service on Sunday morning. All Proceeds to St. Mary’s Church Bluntisham, Restoration Fund.
11−14 August 2017: Annual Convention in Colchester. It is not too late to book − see here.
14−18 July 2017: Josephine Tey: There was a major conference with Josephine Tey as the subject, following the publication of the first-ever comprehensive biography and study of Josephine Tey’s life in 2015 by Jennifer Morag Henderson. Details can be found here.
10 June 2017: Dorothy Day in Witham.
13 March 2017: Annual Dorothy L Sayers Society Lecture: “After Good and Evil” by James Runcie, at the library, Witham, Essex.
11−12 March 2017: Essex Book Festival Golden Age of Crime Weekend in Southend, including a special tribute to DLS. More details here.
21−22 January 2017: Crime Classics Weekend at the British Library: There will be a special murder and mystery weekend with unexpected twists and turns, led by award-winning crime novelist Martin Edwards. Attendees will also have the opportunity to see rare publications and manuscript material from the Library’s collection including Arthur Conan Doyle’s manuscript of the Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Retired Colourman and John Gielgud’s annotated script for the film Murder on the Orient Express. Full details can be found here.
- 2016
12−13 August 2016: Strong Poison on the stage. After the successful Kickstarter campaign earlier in the year, The Slackville Players put on a stage adaptation of Strong Poison in Plainville, MA in August. More details and tickets here.
Strong Poison on the stage! Carilyn Flynn wrote:
I have been granted permission by David Higham, Associates, to bring Strong Poison to the stage!
More details here.
We are running a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds necessary to help us get off the ground. We are halfway to our goal, but as with all Kickstarter campaigns, if we don't reach our goal, we get zilch; thank you for being willing to spread the word!Note that the Kickstarter campaign has now ended: we hope to have more details of Carilyn’s production soon.
Flash Fiction Award 2016 The Dorothy L Sayers Society invited submissions for a Flash Fiction Award (£200 first prize) on the theme ‘Murder in the Cathedral’ to coincide with its Annual Convention in Canterbury in August 2016. Please see here for rules and how to enter.
- 2015
31 October 2015: 2pm: AGM, St Anne’s Soho.
7−10 August 2015: Annual Convention in Glasgow.
7 June 2015: 1.00pm: DLS and The Man Born To Be King. Michael Hampel, Precentor of St Paul’s Cathedral, will be giving a talk in the Wren Suite. More details here.
29 April 2015: RIP Dr Barbara Reynolds ✝
It is with sadness that The Dorothy L Sayers Society passes on the news of the death of our President Dr Barbara Reynolds. She was just a little over 6 weeks away from her 101st birthday.
Her remarkable intelligence and presence, and her many contributions to and support for The Dorothy L Sayers Society are well and lovingly remembered. Barbara was a distinguished Italian scholar, lexicographer, translator, and author of a study on Dante. She edited Dorothy L Sayers’ letters and wrote a biography − Dorothy L Sayers: Her Life and Soul. Barbara completed Sayers’ translation of “Paradiso” from Dante’s Divine Comedy (left incomplete at Sayers’ death), and wrote The Passionate Intellect, a study on Sayers and the Dante translation. Barbara Reynolds was Dorothy L Sayers’ god-daughter. Barbara will be greatly missed, and our thoughts are now with her family.
14 March 2015: Music Award recital. The presentation of the Society Music Award at the Royal College of Music will this year also feature admission to a rehearsal by renowned pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy.
5 March 2015: DLS Annual Lecture at Witham Library. This year’s speaker was Dame Stella Rimington, former head of MI5.
23 February 2015: Love All by Dorothy L Sayers.
The Society is delighted to announce the first UK publication of Love All. Members who attended the rehearsed reading at the 2012 AGM, so brilliantly directed by Sheila Mitchell, will remember how up-to-date and witty the play was, despite its first performance having been in 1940.
It is available for purchase now at the introductory price of £8.
25 January 2015: RIP Canon John Thurmer ✝ We regret to inform members of the death of a very long-standing member and supporter of the Society, Canon John Thurmer. There are more details here and here.
- 2014
9 December 2014: British Cities. Episode 2 of the BBC4 series Sex and Sensibility: The Allure of Art Nouveau included several items about Glasgow, where our 2015 Convention will be held.
27 November 2014: RIP P.D.James ✝ It is with sadness, but also with gratitude for her many kindnesses and her unflagging support of the Dorothy L Sayers Society, that we give the news of the death this morning of our Patron P D James, Baroness James of Holland Park.
1 November 2014: 2pm: AGM, St Anne’s Soho. There was a talk afterwards and the unveiling of the new copy of the Hutchison Portrait commissioned by the Society, which will hang in the Dorothy L Sayers Centre in Witham.
Restoring England’s Heritage on BBC2 featured Taylor’s bell foundry, which we visited during the Loughborough convention, and is now in serious need of funding to maintain the building.
19 September 2014: Visit to the National Portrait Gallery. We heard a presentation of the work of the Acquisitions team, and a talk by Tod Ramos about his commission to copy the Hutchison portrait of DLS for us. This was a rare opportunity to see the portrait of DLS hanging in the public gallery.
30 August 2014: Presentation of the Young Ringer’s Award to Kaitlin Jarvis at Burrington Church in Somerset.
8−11 August 2014: Annual Convention at Downing College, Cambridge. The Society held its annual Convention at Downing College Cambridge in early August 2014. There is a full report in the September edition of the Bulletin, number 235.
14 June 2014: DLS’s 121st Birthday Talk was given by P D James at the University Women’s Club in London, followed by a buffet lunch.
13 June 2014: Barbara Reynolds’ 100th Birthday was celebrated at Barbara’s home in Cambridge. Several members of the Society were present.
6 March 2014: DLS Annual Lecture at Witham Library. The speaker was Natasha Cooper.
Barbara Reynolds Award 2014 The Dorothy L Sayers Society is delighted to announce it is offering an Award to celebrate the 100th birthday of Barbara Reynolds, President of the Dorothy L Sayers Society and good friend of Dorothy herself. We invited the submission of serious academic published work on a theme related to Dorothy L Sayers’ life and work. Submissions have now closed, and the winner will be announced in due course.
- 2013
17 December 2013: 6.30pm: An Evening with Jill Paton Walsh at Heffers bookshop, Trinity Street, Cambridge. The flyer can be downloaded here.
19 November 2013: 5.15pm: Harriet Walter, DBE delivered the 23rd annual Maynard Mack Lecture at Yale University, entitled “A Serious Job for a Woman?”, at Linsly-Chittenden Hall, Rm. 102, 63 High Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA. More details here.
14 November 2013: 6.30pm: Dorothy L Sayers Actor’s Award was presented at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6LA.
2 November 2013: 2pm: AGM, St Anne's Soho. Further details to follow in due course. Members and their guests are welcome. Non-members are welcome to the talk after the business meeting at approximately 3pm. The speaker was Deborah Alun-Jones, whose book was reviewed in Bulletin 227.
7 October to 23 December 2013: Dorothy L Sayers: her life and and crimes in historical context: e-correspondence course delivered by Exeter University. Journey into the 1930’s Golden Age of detective fiction by exploring the novels, life and times of Dorothy L Sayers, and her partners in crime, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane. More details here.
31 August 2013: Bell Ringing Award: the presentation was held during the District Meeting of the winner’s ringing society in the Marches District. There is a review of the event in Bulletin 229.
2−5 August 2013: Annual Dorothy L Sayers Society Convention, Exeter. There is a review in Bulletin 229.
15 June 2013: We celebrated DLS’ birthday by visiting Canterbury and seeing live film of DLS herself, together with actors in costume from The Zeal of Thy House and The Devil to Pay. The day included talks and an exhibition of archives.
24−25 May 2013: Lewis-Symposium, Bischöflichen Akademie des Bistums Aachen in the August-Pieper-Haus in Aachen. Suzanne Bray spoke on DLS and CSL. This conference was in German. See here for more details.
27 April 2013: Visit to Summer Fields School, Oxford. There was a review in Bulletin 227.
7 April to 12 May 2013: 6pm: The Mind of the Maker at St Paul’s Cathedral. A series at St Paul’s Cathedral called “The Mind of the Maker”. The series was not about the life of Dorothy L Sayers, but the theme was something members of the Society might be interested in. The first and last sessions were centred around a celebration of the Eucharist, and the others consisted of a conversation with a well-known speaker (one of the participants is the Society’s Patron, P D James). Read more here.
28 March 2013: Annual Dorothy L Sayers Society Lecture: “Five Red Herrings and a Flock of Hens” by Aline Templeton, at the library, Witham, Essex.
13 March 2013: Fifty Years in the Fiction Factory: The Working Life of Herbert Allingham, a talk by Julia Jones about her new biography of Margery Allingham’s father, as part of the Essex Book Festival. This event was supported by our sister society the Margery Allingham Society. More details here.
- 2012
27 October 2012: Annual General Meeting at St Anne’s, Soho, London.
24−27 August 2012: Annual Society Convention at Somerville College, Oxford. This celebrated the centenary of DLS’ going into residence at Somerville.
20 May 2012: Somerville College: Seona spoke to students at an evening event on focusing on DLS’ interest in music.
5 May 2012: Visit to the Mary Somerville Room at the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh.
30 April 2012: “Dorothy L Sayers as a writer”: a talk for Somerville College Arts Week, Oxford was given by Seona and Jasmine.
28 April 2012: Young Lady Ringer’s Award Presentation at Christ Church, Isle of Dogs.
19 April 2012: Presentation of the Actor’s Award at Shoreditch Town Hall at 5.30pm.
29 March to 1 April 2012: Left Coast Crime, Sheraton Grand Hotel Sacramento, California. For details see here.
7 March 2012: The Dorothy L Sayers Lecture was held in Witham Library as part of the Essex Book Festival. Martin Edwards was the speaker, on the subject “Dorothy L Sayers and True Crime”.