Born December 2, 1909, in Glasgow, Scotland, we remember today poet-balladeer, playwright, necromancer (and photographer-collagist too), Helen Adam.
For earlier features on Helen Adam on The Allen Ginsberg Project – see here and here
Kristin Prevallet‘s 2007 A Helen Adam Reader is a wonderful and essential gathering of her work
Read an excerpt from the introduction to that book – here
More writing by Prevallet on Helen Adam here and here
and, most recently (this past March), from Caesura (addressing Adam’s shameful neglect) – Helen Adam as a “Neglectorino”
Invaluable recordings of her speaking and reading (including a radio adapation of her legendary 1963 play, “San Francisco’s Burning“) are available on PennSound
oh – and how could we have forgotten these two vintage recordings – here and here
Alongside Prevallet, the other tireless and enthusiastic propagandist for Adam’s remarkable work is University of Buffalo Special Collections Librarian, Alison Fraser The University of Buffalo houses Adam’s library and much of her work, including the originals of her truly astonishing collages
2017 saw the publication of this extraordinary book (under Fraser’s editorship) –
Fraser writes at length here and presents a number of the collages in an extended piece for the Poetry Foundation in a must-read.
See also, a “slightly modified excerpt” from the book – ““The Weird One” – Helen Adam’s Visual Work”, a ‘tribute” written for the Poetry Society of America
Mary Ann Caws reviews the book for The Brooklyn Rail
Here’s Fraser on Adam for the Chicago Review – “Helen Adam and Her Circle”
Too many great ones (you’re just going to have to go out and buy the book!)
but we thought we’d conclude with a couple of (representative) Adam’s collages: