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Posted on November 25, 2020 at 11:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
The British Library has issued an apology to poet Ted Hughes’s widow (and his other family members and friends) for linking him too strongly to a man involved in the slave trade.
The library has been compiling a database of figures with “evidence of connections to slavery, profits from slavery or from colonialism,” according to the Guardian.
Hughes’s inclusion — since removed, with a full apology — came due to an association with Nicholas Ferrar.
Ferrar, born in 1592, actually has no direct descendants, so Hughes’s name has been cleared.
Hughes’s fame as a poet began with his award-winning collection The Hawk in the Rain (which he submitted at the encouragement of his wife Sylvia Plath) and continued throughout his life, including a stint as Britain’s poet laureate.
For more on the British Library’s project, its apology, and Carol Hughes’s gracious acceptance, head to the Guardian.
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Categories: Today in Books