Papers relating to the commissioning, composition, performance and publication of poems to accompany ‘Carnival of the Animals’ by Camille Saint-Saëns. The file includes correspondence and texts from the contributing poets, addressed to Judith Chernaik. Writers of correspondence and texts are: U. A. Fanthorpe (typescript copy of her poem ‘Aviary’, 1993, and 3 cards from Rosemarie Bailey, 1993); Gavin Ewart (4 letters and 1 note, 1993, with typescript copies of his poems ‘Pianists’ and ‘Kangaroos’); Gerard Benson (1 letter, 1993, with a typescript copy of his poem ‘Personages with Long Ears’); Adrian Mitchell (1 letter, 1993, with a word-processed copy of his poem ‘Elephant Eternity’); Edwin Morgan (1 letter and 1 note, with a typescript copy of his poem ‘Fossils’); Cicely Herbert (1 letter, [1993], with a typescript copy of her poem ‘Horses of Tartary’); Kit Wright (1 letter, 1993, with a typescript copy of his poem ‘Hens and Cocks’); Charles Causley (5 letters and 1 card, 1993, with a typescript copy of his poem ‘The Swan’); Wendy Cope (1 letter, with a typescript copy of her poem ‘Pianists’); Sheenagh Pugh (3 letters, [1993], with a typescript copy of her poem ‘Aquarium’); James Berry (3 letters, 1993, with 3 typescript copies (one photocopied) of his poem ‘Lion’, and a printed sheet with copies of all the poems in the set, with Berry’s autograph corrections made to ‘Lion’); Gillian Clarke (1 letter and 1 card, 1993, with a typescript copy of her poem ‘Cuckoo in the Depths of the Forest’); Judith Chernaik (typescript copy of her poem ‘Tortoise’); Valerie Bloom (typescript and word-processed copies, some photocopied, of versions of her poem ‘The Aviary’, undated); Satoshi Kitamura (1 letter, 2 cards and 1 e-mail print-out, 2006 and undated, with a business card of Kitamura); Emil Fortune (Walker Books Ltd, copy of 1 letter from Chernaik to Fortune, and 1 letter from Fortune to Chernaik, 2006, concerning the printing of Causley’s poem ‘The Swan’). With related material, including further typescript copies of the poems (some photocopies); publicity and programmes for performances of the poems with music, some with the Apollo Chamber Orchestra, 1993-1997 and no year; unbound proof sheets of ‘The Carnival of the Animals: Poems Inspired by Saint-Saëns' Music’, edited by Gerard Benson, Judith Chernaik and Cicely Herbert, illustrated by Satoshi Kitamura (London: Walker, 2005); invitation to a launch party for the book; flyer and copies of a poster events in New York featuring ‘Carnival of the Animals’ (the United States edition of the book, published 2006), no year; file of reviews and notices of the book, mostly photocopies or website print-outs; and a publicity poster for a Japanese edition of the book, 2008.