The Keats Foundation is delighted to announce its fifth bicentenary conference, ‘Shadows, Magnitudes, Tests and Trials: John Keats in 1818’, to be held at Keats House, Hampstead 18-20 May 2018.

1818 was a productive if perilous year for John Keats, beginning with his storm-battered coach journey from London to Exeter, en route to Teignmouth where he completed Isabella; or, the Pot of Basil. Summer 1818 saw him footing slow through the Lake District and South West Scotland, then on into the Highlands and Islands of Scotland’s west coast – Mull, Iona, Staffa and the summit of Ben Nevis. Autumn back at Well Walk, Hampstead, was devoted to caring for his brother Tom, who died on 1 December. Amid all this he wrote wonderful letters and great poetry, and met Fanny Brawne for the first time. He finished the year at a bloody thirty-four round prize-fight between Jack Turner and Ned Randall. Our conference invites explorations of Keats’s life and creativity throughout this remarkable year — and beyond it.