We begin the week with a look at an unpublished letter from T.S Eliot. We also have a story about a rather overdue library book, and finally, the Iranian poet elected to the Nobel Literature committee following the recent scandal.

A Surprising Side to T.S Eliot

Previously unpublished letters by the poet T.S Eliot, that were only ever intended to be read by his family, have been made public by the Eliot Estate. The letters relate to the poet’s 1948 trip to Sweden to collect his Nobel prize and were sent to his sister.

The most surprising incident described in the letters occurred on the last day of the poet’s trip when he was surprised in his hotel room very early in the morning.

he wrote. The interruption he was later to find out was a custom to mark St Lucy’s day, which occurs on 13^th December, and is an occasion for early morning singing.

Eliot put on his overcoat over his undergarments and bowed to them. They continued singing before going on their way and he returned to his early morning ablutions.

In 1965, following the poet’s death, his wife collected together all his unpublished letters with the idea of eventually making them public. However, this didn’t happen with all of them.

These recently released letters show a completely different side to the man may thought of as a rather stuffy formal banker who later turned into a poet.

Better Late Than Never; Library Book 84 Years Overdue Returned

A Louisiana Library has recently been reunited with a book that was borrowed in 1934, making it 84 years overdue.

The book came to light when the family of the woman who borrowed the book, then aged just 11, unearthed it whilst clearing out her house. The book, “Spoon River Anthology” which is narrated from the viewpoint of the dead inhabitants of a fictional town was published in 1915 and written by Edgar Lee Masters.

The book isn’t worth much and has already been decommissioned. It isn’t in great condition either, but given the attention its return has attracted, library staff who are referring to it as a celebrity have special plans for it.

And if you were wondering how much of a fine a book that is 84  years overdue attracts, the answer is $3 – the maximum charge for overdue books at this particular library.

Iranian Poet Elected to Nobel Literature Body

Following on from the scandal that has torn apart the Literature committee of the Nobel Prize, and resulted in there being no prize awarded this year for the field of literature, the 70 year old Iranian poet Jila Mossaed has been elected to the committee. Born in Tehran, Mossaed, who has been living in exile in Sweden since 1986, writes in both Swedish and Persian.