It’s been a while since Hartmut and I last updated edwinmorgan.com, and here is why: When Eddie died in August 2010 at the age of 90, we were paralyzed with sadness.
Up until then, the website had been something Hartmut and I had been doing for – but also together with Eddie – ever since his 80th birthday.
I would call Eddie on the phone and tell him what we were planning, and he would ask questions (Eddie always asked many questions, and we were often gob-smacked because his ever-creative mind would uncover possibilities we had not considered up to that point), and then we would explain, edit, add, change etc.
Or we would go to Glasgow (we are both based in Germany, in case you are wondering), and visit him in his flat in Whittingehame Court, and show him what the new pages/graphics/photos looked like on our laptop – and have lots of fun doing that. And even in later years, when his health situation forced him to move to a nursing home, he’d still take part in the process.
Therefore, when Eddie died, we felt lost. All of a sudden, something that had been so much fun to do for years, felt painful. As a result, we stopped updating the website.
In fact, for many years, I couldn’t even look at edwinmorgan.com, nor all the interviews I had conducted over the years, and particularly not any of the photographs Hartmut had taken, as any of these instantly made me cry. And thus, I never finished writing my PhD thesis on his work, and edwinmorgan.com came to a halt.
Eddie was our friend, but in my case, he was also my best, most patient and dearest teacher. It was through him that I discovered countless exciting authors and their work, and it was Eddie who insisted I’d take my first steps in translating poetry.
However, there are all of these untold stories, and photographs, and interviews, and thoughts on his work, many of which I discussed with Eddie. Whenever he liked one of my ideas he’d say: “I think you may be on to something. I’ve never thought about it that way. Yes, I think you are on to something.”
Well, as Eddie’s centenary is coming in April 2020, Hartmut and I decided that it was time to share these stories, pictures and ideas with all of you.
We will be updating edwinmorgan.com keeping the old website in large parts to honor the things Eddie saw and liked, but Hartmut shall also modernize and refresh some parts of it, and we shall implement a blog in which you can read those stories and my thoughts on Eddie’s work, and enjoy Hartmut’s photographs which nobody has seen so far, apart from Hartmut, Eddie and me.
Our re-launch will take place in December 2019, so please, do visit us again next month!
In the meantime, we highly recommend visiting the website of The Edwin Morgan Trust for information on his work, his centenary and upcoming events:
www.edwinmorgantrust.com.
With all best wishes,
Yours,
Claudia