Who We Are

Founded in 1980, the Society is an international association of persons interested in the art and thought of T. S. Eliot. A detailed history of the Society is available here.

Our annual meeting is held on the weekend closest to Eliot's September 26th birthday—often, but not always, in St. Louis, the city of his birth. Among other activities, the meeting features the T. S. Eliot Memorial Lecture, given by an eminent scholar or poet. The Fathman Young Scholar Award is given at the meeting for the best paper presented by an emerging scholar, and the T. S. Eliot Studies Annual Prize is awarded to the best seminar paper written by an emerging scholar.

The Society publishes a newsletter, Time Present, three times yearly, and it regularly sponsors sessions at the MLA and SAMLA annual conventions, the conference of the American Literature Association, and the Louisville Conference on Literature & Culture since 1900.

Incorporated as a nonprofit organization, the Society is supported by the annual dues of its members. For further information, or to be added to our listserv, please contact us. The Society is governed by its by-laws, and members are expected to abide by its code of conduct.


Board of Directors

John Whittier-Ferguson, President
Patrick Query, Vice President
Tony Cuda, Secretary
David E. Chinitz, Treasurer
Jayme Stayer, Supervisor of Elections
John Morgenstern, Historian
Ria Banerjee
Julia E. Daniel
Melanie Fathman
Earl Holt III
Megan Quigley
Vincent Sherry
Aakanksha Virkar
Honorary Members
Jewel Spears Brooker
Robert Crawford
Lyndall Gordon
John Haffenden
A. D. Moody
Craig Raine
Ronald Schuchard
Marianne Thormählen

Deceased
Cleanth Brooks
Mrs. Valerie Eliot
Donald C. Gallup
Robert Giroux
Russell Kirk
Andre Osze
Grover C. Smith
Leonard H. Unger

Distinguished Service Awardees
Jewel Spears Brooker
Christine Buttram
William Charron
Michael Coyle
Anthony Fathman
Melanie Fathman
Nancy K. Gish
Cyrena Pondrom

Friends of the Society
Massimo Bacigalupo
William Charron
The Earl of Harrowby
Judith Hooper
Dídac Llorens Cubedo
William Marx
Clare Reihill
T. S. Eliot International Summer School
T. S. Eliot Society of the UK
Fabio Vericat

T. S. Eliot Memorial Lecturers
Click to see titles and publication info

Robert Pinsky, 2021
Robert von Hallberg, 2020
Leonard Diepeveen, 2019
David E. Chinitz, 2018
John Haffenden, 2017
Lyndall Gordon, 2016
Jed Esty, 2015
Sarah Cole, 2014
Jahan Ramazani, 2013
Daniel Albright, 2012
Jean-Michel Rabaté, 2011
Michael Levenson, 2010
Ronald Bush, 2009
Grace Schulman, 2008
George T. Wright, 2007
William Blissett, 2006
Robert Crawford, 2005
Craig Raine, 2004
Leon Surette, 2003
Marjorie Perloff, 2002
Geoffrey Hill, 2001
Carl Phillips, 2000
Helen Vendler, 1999
Charles Altieri, 1998
James Longenbach, 1997
Marianne Thormählen, 1996
Louis Menand, 1995
William Harmon, 1994
Christopher Ricks, 1993
Denis Donoghue, 1992
Cleo McNelly Kearns, 1991
Shyamal Bagchee, 1990
Leonard Unger, 1989
A. D. Moody, 1988
James Olney, 1987
Grover Smith, 1986
Ronald Schuchard, 1985
Jewel Spears Brooker, 1984
Earl K. Holt, III, 1983
Charles Guenther, 1982
Robert C. Roach, 1981
Marcella Holloway, 1980
Past Presidents
Jayme Stayer (2019 - 2021)
Frances Dickey (2016 - 2018)
Michael Coyle (2013 - 2015)
David E. Chinitz (2010 - 2012)
William Harmon (2007 - 2009)
Benjamin Lockerd (2004 - 2006)
Shyamal Bagchee (2001 - 2003)
Linda Wyman (1998 - 2000)
Sanford Schwartz (1995 - 1997)
Vinnie-Marie D'Ambrosio (1992 - 1994)
Grover C. Smith (1989 - 1991)
Jewel Spears Brooker (1985 - 1988)

 

Founder
Leslie Konnyu
Könnyü László
(b. 1914, Tamási, Hungary;
d. 1992, St. Louis)