The Kenneth Grahame Society is for  readers, literature students, potential sequel writers, illustrators and everyone else who appreciates the works of Kenneth Grahame.

The aims of the Kenneth Grahame Society are:

- To encourage scholarly study and discussion of the works of Kenneth Grahame.

- To actively promote an expanded universe around The Wind in the Willows.

- To be a comprehensive and accurate resource (Body of Knowledge) on the life and works of Kenneth Grahame.

The Society activities include:

- A weekend of Kenneth Grahame-related events, around the Society's Annual General Meeting, each year.

- Collaboration on various publications, such as the recently published Complete Works of Kenneth Grahame.

- Publication of Riverbank News, the Society's newsletter, twice a year.

- Collaboration on various projects, to catalogue information related to the life, locations and writings of Kenneth Grahame.

- And much more...

Membership is free and members from all over the world are welcome to join. Please join us in enjoying the fascinating world of this brilliant author.

  News

[22 OCT 2009] Kenneth Grahame Society Publications Now Available At Lower Shipping Rates

On initial publication of Complete Works of Kenneth Grahame and The Wind in the Willows Short Stories, the Kenneth Grahame Society decided to publish these books as hardcover editions with dustjackets. Unfortunately, although the publisher prints in both US and UK, that format was only printed in US, and the shipping costs from the US to the UK and Europe for these original editions were prohibitively high. Now a variety of editions are available, most of them being printed in both the US and the UK. Shipping costs are now much more acceptable for all regions. Please see below for fuller details.

[19 SEP 2009] Kenneth Grahame Society at Off The Shelf Festival of Writing and Reading

Kenneth Grahame Society will be giving a talk at the Off The Shelf literary festival in Sheffield on Friday October 16th 2009. The talk will be "The Wind in the Willows: The Illustrator as Interpreter", discussing the illustrations of The Wind in the Willows and the interpretations of various themes which some illustrations present. The talk is free and everyone is welcome, but please note that seating is limited and do try to book soon. More details... [External Site]

[19 SEP 2009] 2010 Kenneth Grahame Society AGM Weekend in London

The dates and venue for the Society's 2010 Annual General Meeting and weekend of literary talks and events related to Kenneth Grahame have been confirmed as Friday 3rd and Saturday 4th September in London. Traditionally, the AGM is on the Saturday morning, followed by two talks in the afternoon. Fuller details will be announced, both here on the website and in circulars to members, early in 2010.

  Publications

Kenneth Grahame Society Publications:

Complete Works of Kenneth Grahame   Almost everyone knows The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame's classic masterpiece. But Grahame also wrote a variety of other short stories, essays, poems and introductions to other authors' books which, although largely forgotten today, were well known in his day. Indeed, he was already famous for writing The Golden Age and Dream Days, his two collections of short stories about a family of orphaned children, long before The Wind in the Willows was first published in 1908. For many years his lesser-known works have been difficult to obtain and, for this reason, they have languished in undeserved obscurity.  This is a great loss because Grahame wrote in a rich, entertaining style and, in many cases, with a great range of wit and humour. Although he had a relatively small output of published works - they all fit into a single volume - the versatility he shows within those works is particularly impressive. For the first time ever, all Grahame's published writings, with the exception of his private letters, have been collected by a team of members of the Kenneth Grahame Society and published together in a single volume. It is the Society’s hope that the reader will enjoy reading many of the gems in this literary treasure trove and will appreciate Grahame's literary genius all the more. More details on available editions... UK & Europe Hardcover or US & Worldwide Hardcover [External Sites]

The Wind in the Willows Short Stories   In 2008, the Kenneth Grahame Society organised a short-story competition to encourage writers to create sequels to Kenneth Grahame’s classic novel, The Wind in the Willows. There were nearly one hundred entries, from which this collection of thirteen stories was selected for publication. The stories include prequels and counter texts, as well as sequels to The Wind in the Willows. Badger, Toad, Water Rat, Mole and a hoard of weasels, stoats and other characters come to life again in this collection of tales, reopening a door to Kenneth Grahame’s wonderful world of the river bank and the Wild Wood. More details on available editions... Paperback or UK & Europe Hardcover or US & Worldwide Hardcover [External Sites]   Other Recent Publications: - The Illustrators of the "Wind in the Willows", 1908-2008 by Carolyn Hares-Stryker More details... [External Site] - The Annotated Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame & Annie Gauger More details... [External Site] - The Wind in the Willows: An Annotated Edition by Kenneth Grahame & Seth Lehrer More details... [External Site]

  Website Updates

- Donations

[23 OCT 2009] A new subsection was appended to the membership registration page (click "Join/Donations" button), to enable some members and enthusiasts to make donations to the Kenneth Grahame Society using the PayPal donations system. Donations are entirely voluntary and membership is still free.

- Forum

[18 SEP 2009] The Kenneth Grahame Society Forum finally closed. It existed for about two years, and it had some interesting discussions and information. However, it was only used by a very small minority of the membership, and it often remained dormant for months at a time. At the 2009 AGM in Oxford it was agreed that the Forum, in such a dormant state, was no great credit to the name of Kenneth Grahame, and the decision to close it was approved. We would like to thank everyone who contributed postings to it over the years. All the information on it has been saved, and some of that will be repackaged and placed on the main website during forthcoming updates to the website.

- Revised Home Page

[18 SEP 2009] The somewhat static Home Page was partly redesigned to include subsections for news, events and details of publications. It is planned that this page will be updated frequently. If anyone has any relevant news, details of events, publications, and so forth, please email it to us at admin@kennethgrahamesociety.net.

The Kenneth Grahame Society is a member of the Alliance of Literary Societies (ALS) and the Children's Literature Association (ChLA).