Iris Murdoch's lost poems to be read at festival

Recently unearthed writings from the novelist and former fellow of the University of Oxford Dame Iris Murdoch will be among the topics of an upcoming free humanities festival.

Dame Iris was also a philosopher, playwright and academic, whose books explored morality, love and human relationships.

Think Human festival committee member Gary Browning said the Iris Murdoch Society had recently found the previously unpublished poems in the attic of her house on 30 Charlbury Road.

Some of them will be read out at the Oxford Brookes University event, which aims to create connections between academics and the local community from 15-18 April.

Browning, an Emeritus Professor, will lead a discussion titled Oxford Quartet: Women Philosophers Against the Tide on 17 April.

It will centre on the life and works of Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Booker Prize winner Dame Iris, who all came to Oxford as undergraduates in the 1930s.

"These women were much more inclined to be more objective in ethics and thought that we needed a strong support for ethics in philosophy," Browning said.

"Anscombe, after the war, felt very strongly that Oxford University should not give an honorary degree to Harry Truman, who dropped atomic bombs on Japan, and she was virtually alone in opposing this action."

Browning said actress Annette Badland would read "a very moving" love poem about Anscombe by Dame Iris.

The author won widespread acclaim with novels such as Under The Net, The Black Prince and The Sea, the Sea, as well as philosophical essays exploring morality.

Browning said he had a "positive" response to the unearthed poems and that the one about love was "really quite powerful".

The poems have been published in a collection called Poems from an Attic, which also includes a poem about her husband, historian Michael Foot.

Browning will also talk about two novels, one of which, Jerusalem, may never be published after Dame Iris left a note on the manuscript stating "Not for Publication, Ever."

Events on motherhood, the legacy of new Labour and grassroots football are also part of the programme.

Event director Prof Katharine Craik said the festival was for everybody.

"For me and for many of my colleagues who are running events this year, being human is about openness and having an interest in other people's lives, other people's communities, other people's realities, and bringing people into conversations".

Craik said she was looking forward to the event commemorating local history dedicated to Harriet Jacobs, who she described as "one of the most remarkable African-American figures of the 19th Century".

Craik added there would also be a day event for schools on Friday "to enrich the kids' preparation for A-levels, but also to broaden their knowledge and understanding more generally of humanities subjects".

Browning called it an "absolutely fantastic occasion" where there "are always spirited conversations between the audience and people on the stage".

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