Readings of Hope’s  poetry will be held alongside readings of poems written in his honour by fellow Australian poets. Poets and scholars will talk about his contribution to Australian literature, and there will also be  a small exhibition of portraits by Australian painter Jenni Mitchell.

Among the participants will be include Frank Bongiorno, David Musgrave, Geoff Page, Mark O’Connor, Andrew Glikson, Judith Crispin, Ann McCulloch, Kathy Kituai, Alan Gould and Suzanne Edgar.

Hope was the first professor of English at the newly-founded Canberra University College, later becoming the ANU, from the early ’50s until his retirement in 1968.

A mentor to many Australian poets, he  suffered from dementia throughout his last years, a tragic end to the  life of such a formidable intellect and satirist. Hope is buried at the Queanbeyan Lawn Cemetery.

A D Hope Retrospective, at Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest,  11am to  3pm, Sunday, July 21. Entry by gold coin donation.

The planned program is as follows:

Session One (Allegro)

Chair: Judith Crispin

11–11:20 Ann Mc Culloch (Poetry and Philosophy: Detachment as a way of seeing in A D Hope’s Work)

11:20–11:40 Mark O’Connor (Hope & O’Connor, various poems)

11:40–11:55 Andrew Glikson (2 Hope poems, 2 Glikson poems)

11:55–12 Brenda McAvoy (Hope poem – Orfeo)

12–12:20 Frank Bongiorno (‘Imperial Adam: A Reading and Comment’)

12:20–12:40 Alan Gould (2 memoirs of Alec, and 2 poems)

12:40–12:55 Kathy Kituai (various Hope poems)

Lunch (Adagio)

1 – 1:30 Session Two (Minuet) Chair: Frank Bongiorno

1:30–1:50 Simon Eales (‘self-sacrifice in the Poetic Hope’)

1:50–2:05 Jenni Mitchell (discussion of her painted portrait of Alec Hope)

2:05–2:20 Geoff Page (2 light poems for A D Hope)

2:20–2:40 Dave Musgrave (on Hope’s ‘Dunciad Minor’)

2:40–3 Suzanne Edgar (Alec Hope poems)

3:00–3:15 Judith Crispin (Elizabeth Lawson ‘Epistle’, Gwen Harwood and Jan Pieloor) (Coda)

3:30–4:30 Champagne Toast at the Queanbeyan Lawn Cemetery