Mancunia by Michael Symmons Roberts review – intricately varied
In a collection that constantly defies expectation, the British poet offers a strikingly imaginative portrait of the Manchester in which he livesThere are many ways of occupying a city and Michael...
View ArticleLydia Towsey: how I discovered the Venus in me
From Botticelli to glossy magazines, women have been idealised and misrepresented for centuries. Performance poet Lydia Towsey reveals how her own near-fatal eating disorder set her on a path to...
View ArticleWhy Arab Muslims love Paradise Lost – and their leaders hate it | Islam Issa
Exactly 350 years after it was published, Milton’s epic poem is causing controversy in Egypt. That’s not surprising, given its revolutionary message• Islam Issa is the author of Milton in the...
View ArticleHe gets verse: the poetry of Donald Trump
The US president’s almost primal language is a source of widespread amusement and horror. But some have begun exploring its aesthetic power“I know words … I have the best words,” Donald Trump once...
View ArticleLarkinland by Jonathan Tulloch review – metafictional novel set in the poet’s...
Who is the real subject? Phiip Larkin, or the awkard librarian who occupies Mr Bleaney’s old room?This unusual novel is a metafictional tale set in the world of Philip Larkin’s poems, which takes its...
View ArticleCharles Baudelaire: the debauchee’s debauchee
A privileged, arrogant poet who produced only one collection, Baudelaire has had huge influence in many spheres – and it continues 150 years after his deathPioneer poète maudit Drug-addicted,...
View ArticleBritish schoolgirl named first non-Japanese winner of haiku contest
Gracie Starkey collects prize in Tokyo after her grass poem is chosen from more than 18,000 English-language entriesA British schoolgirl inspired by an autumnal stroll across a newly mown lawn has...
View ArticlePoet John Ashbery dies age 90
Ashbery, who won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for his collection, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror, died at his home on Sunday of natural causesJohn Ashbery, an enigmatic genius of modern poetry whose...
View ArticlePoem of the week: And On What by Dennis O’Driscoll
Daring to disparage comforting sentiment, this darkly witty poem addresses the ‘perpetuation of death’s lineage’And On Whatand on whatpresumptionparentsmay one askdo you blithelygive lifeact as...
View ArticleJohn Ashbery obituary
One of the most influential American poets of his generation admired for his unorthodox use of languageJohn Ashbery, who has died aged 90, was widely considered the most innovative and influential...
View ArticleBrilliant, irreverent, indefinable: my poetry class with John Ashbery
I first met the famous poet, who died on Sunday, at Bard College in the late 90s. He taught me poetry can be anything, and that there is great freedom in thatPoet John Ashbery dies age 90Enigmatic,...
View ArticleMichael Rosen: ‘Realising that poetry was performance was my eureka moment’
The writer and broadcaster on a career ranging from Émile Zola to children’s poetry with wee-wee jokesMichael Rosen is a man ambushed by stories – his own and other people’s. He thinks he has published...
View Article'Plagiarists never do it once': meet the sleuth tracking down the poetry cheats
Ira Lightman is a man on a mission: to root out plagiarism in poetry. And his latest case is the most shameless yetThe poet Ira Lightman stared at his laptop screen in disbelief. Could it be true? He...
View ArticleGrenfell Tower priest tells of community's anger and grief in poem
Alan Everett writes of residents ‘forced to watch lights at the windows … until floor by floor the darkness snuffed them out’Read Father Alan Everett’s poem in fullThe vicar of a church that became a...
View Article14 June 2017: Father Alan Everett's Grenfell poem in full
Vicar of St Clement church near site of fire describes community haunted by ‘dead black block’Grenfell Tower priest tells of community’s anger and grief in poemI Continue reading...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Argument of His Book by Robert Herrick
An inventory of some of the themes included in his huge collection Hesperides, this is also a winning celebration of sheer abundanceThe Argument of His BookI sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and...
View ArticleMichael Rosen webchat – post your questions now
The prolific children’s author of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt will answering your questions on Wednesday 13 September at 11.30am BST3.37pm BSTHe may not know how many books he has written, but as the...
View ArticleNHS patients would prefer an op over an app, Mr Hunt | Brief letters
Suffragette movement | Grenfell Tower fire | Megan McKenna | Eurovision | NHSThe Women’s Social and Political Union may have started life in Manchester (Museum secures rare relic from the fight for...
View ArticleLemn Sissay: ‘For the first time, I’m enjoying my life. I feel I have a purpose’
Life begins at 50 for the acclaimed poet, who’s overcome a traumatic childhood in care. Next up: more theatre and television projectsWhen I arrive at Benares, the Indian restaurant on Berkeley Square...
View ArticleChris Riddell illustrates the 2017 Forward poetry prize shortlist – in pictures
As a judge of this year’s Forward poetry prizes, the illustrator was inspired to create sketches for each of the poets on the best collection shortlistContinue reading...
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