Manuscript Undated Undated single A4 sheet. On reverse is a photocopy of a printed page with a Gaelic poem Is E Crioch Araidh and Man's Chief End. Hughes talks about how in 1966, as a member of the Arts Council Literary Panel, he was asked by Eric White to organise the annual Poetry Festival, which was to be made International. He sets the scene with reference to Flower Power and the Beatles, and says in regard to the festival that 'the whole thing took of in a phenominal way ... and poets who took part still talk of it as the best.' He then recounts how he was asked by some Greek exiles to collect the signatures of all the poets and attach them to a letter to be sent to the Times in support of Jannis Ritsos, the left wing Greek poet who, at that time had been imprisoned by the right wing Greek regime. Hughes did as he was asked but the Times did not publish the letter as they had already commented on the situation and 'felt they had done enough.' Among the signaturies were Octavio Paz, Pablo Neruda, John Berryman, Ted Hughes, Allen Ginsberg, William Empson, Yehuda Amichai, and Hugh MacDiarmid. Hughes notes that 'The poets had never been together before, & were never together again.' There is quite a lot of crossing out in the manuscript.

Order Number: 12787