Fair Field: Piers Plowman's Truth - books podcast
In the last of three original podcasts based on William Langland’s poem, our hero goes in search of an ideal Truth. But what does that mean?Subscribe and review: iTunes, Soundcloud, Audioboom,...
View ArticleGlastonbury 2017: Friday evening with Radiohead, Lorde and the xx – as it...
Sleaford Mods and Dizzee Rascal sent out the rhymes, Lorde graced the Other stage and Radiohead were the Pyramid stage headliners for the first big night of Glastonbury 201712.28am BSTAnd there Wayne...
View ArticleGlastonbury 2017: Jeremy Corbyn says 'another world is possible' – live updates
Liam Gallagher, Thundercat – and a certain Labour party leader as warm-up man for Run the Jewels. Share the action with us from Saturday daytime at the festival5.35pm BSTOur photographer David Levene...
View ArticleNowhere: a response to the housing crisis by poet Tony Walsh – audio
The poet, writer and performer who grew up in social housing in Manchester performs a specially composed poem in response to issues raised in the documentary Dispossession: The Great Housing...
View ArticlePoem of the week: In No Strange Land by Francis Thompson
A Victorian mystic’s appeal to the eternal in the everyday includes some gritty details from a troubled life In No Strange Land O world invisible, we view thee,O world intangible, we touch thee,O world...
View Article'Your Lifelong Prisoner' – Liu Xiaobo's poem from prison
A book of poems published in 2012 by Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese dissident released from prison on Monday, contained a moving tribute to his wife, the poet Liu XiaTo XiaMy dear,I'll never give up the...
View ArticleIt's time to bring Branwell, the dark Brontë, into the light
Though his life was dense with literary and other failures, he was a decisive influence on their work and his own story is worth hearingWe are currently in the middle of Brontë bicentenary mania. This...
View ArticleBrooke Boney: Nora Ephron's book is almost like a bible for me
In our series Beauty and the books, we chat to those who love both books and beauty products. Here the broadcaster talks about coconut oil and why anyone who doubts intergenerational trauma should read...
View ArticleTaking Ingmar Bergman’s Monika across Roger McGough’s Mersey
Fifty years ago a poster of Bergman’s film Summer with Monika inspired McGough to write a sequence of love poems, now illustrated by Chris RiddellDear Monika,I know it’s unlikely, but did you hear that...
View ArticleAs Kingfishers Catch Fire: Books & Birds – review
Alex Preston’s literary compendium of birds, illustrated by Neil Gower, is a sumptuous labour of love“It’s not quite the book I meant to write, but then, as Iris Murdoch said, ‘Every book is the wreck...
View ArticleWill You Walk a Little Faster? by Penelope Shuttle review – an ode to London
On the occasion of her 70th birthday, Shuttle reflects on the city, contemplates her place in it and leads us to see it with fresh eyesPenelope Shuttle need not walk any faster – as this, her 14th...
View ArticleHeathcote Williams, radical poet, playwright and actor, dies aged 75
His poems blasted the arms trade, consumerism and the tabloids, and he was also an accomplished painter and sculptorHeathcote Williams, the radical poet, playwright, actor and polymathic English...
View ArticleHeathcote Williams obituary
Poet, dramatist, visionary and pamphleteer whose muse was fuelled by a witty and beautiful angerHeathcote Williams, who has died aged 75, was a unique and brilliant writer – poet, dramatist, visionary...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Walking Father Blues by Miriam Nash
An unusual form, the pantun, brings a subtle, nuanced swing to the depiction of a man who is able to walk out from one marriage and into anotherThe Walking Father BluesHow does a father leave his...
View ArticleJames Berry obituary
Poet who brought the speech patterns of Jamaica to Britain, where his anthologies of black verse were widely readJames Berry, who has died aged 92, was one of the best loved and most taught poets in...
View ArticlePhilip Larkin exhibition in Hull offers fresh insights into poet's life
Hundreds of personal items gathered for City of Culture show that does not shy away from darker sides of his personalityPhilip Larkin is many things to many people; to some a bleakly beautiful poet...
View ArticleHow smart cities can create their own poetry – tech podcast
Artist Naho Matsuda has harnessed real-time smart city data in Manchester to create live poetry displays reflecting on what’s happening in real timeArtist and designer Naho Matsuda has been working...
View ArticlePhilip Larkin wasn’t as bad as all that | Letters
David Cairns thinks the poet has been unfairly portrayedAnna Farthing, curator of Hull University’s Philip Larkin exhibition, retrospectively diagnoses the poet as “clearly a narcissist with a...
View ArticleBest holiday reads 2017, picked by writers – part two
What to pack along with the aftersun and flipflops? From novels about gay footballers and updated Greek classics to biographies and poetry, our guest critics offer their holiday must-readsPart one:...
View ArticleIrina Ratushinskaya obituary
Soviet poet and dissident sentenced to seven years in a labour camp who found refuge in the UK in the 1980sEarly on the morning of 10 October 1986, Igor Gerashchenko, the husband of the dissident...
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