Michael Wiegers of Copper Canyon Press, who is W.S. Merwin’s longtime editor and Merwin Conservancy board member, recently travelled to the Midi Pyrenees region of France, to spend time in the stone farmhouse that W.S. Merwin purchased nearly 70 years ago.
That visit resulted in this article in Lit Hub: Windows to the World: At WS Merwin’s Old French Farmhouse, which was soon followed by Copper Canyon Press’ anticipated reissue of The Mays of Ventadorn, a book of prose where W.S. Merwin shares origins of twelfth-century Provençal troubadours and recalls his exploration of Southern France’s rich history and linguistic heritage.
In the article, Wiegers muses:
I’m left to imagine Merwin maturing into his voice and vision while living here among farmers, shepherds and old ruins, while learning to grow his own food and flowers, while translating and writing and learning from the locals.