Subject strengths: Literature, Poetry, Contemporary Literature

Rosemary Tonks was born in 1928 in Gillingham, Kent. Between the early 1960s and 1970s, Rosemary became strongly involved in London's literary scene, being one of the few women poets to be published at the time, and writing reviews for leading journals and newspapers. She published two collections of poetry to great critical acclaim in the 1960s: Notes on Cafes and Bedrooms (1963) and Iliad of Broken Sentences(1967). She also published six novels in the 1960s and early 1970s, and collaborated with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to create an experimental sound-poem, entitled 'Sono-Montage'. One of her first works, 'Miss Bushman-Caldicott', written while she was still at school, was broadcast on BBC radio in 1946 and her first published work, On Wooden Wings: The Adventures of Webster(1948), was also illustrated by her. Two of Rosemary's poems were included in Philip Larkin's anthology of twentieth-century English verse. After her mother's death in 1968, Rosemary suffered a personal crisis, exploring various forms of religion before turning to fundamentalist Christianity. Her marriage collapsed in this period, and in 1977 she underwent an emergency operation for detached retinas in both eyes. Although her sight was eventually saved, Rosemary spent several years in a state of near-blindness. In 1980, Rosemary completely renounced her past life, refusing republication of any of her poetry or fiction and her disappearance from the literary scene continuing to be a source of mystery until after her death in April 2014 with Neil Astley's publication of her obituary and explanation of her disappearance in The Guardian.

Collection Name and Collection Reference Code:

Collection Name: Tonks (Rosemary) Archive

Archive Ref Code: GB186/TON

Date Range of Material

1998 - 2013

Type of Material

The personal archive of Rosemary Tonks.

Size of Collection

1 linear metres of shelving.

How To Order Items From This Collection

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Finding Aid

Archival catalogue available via the Archives Hub.

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