Val Mulkerns obituary
Novelist and poet who became an important female voice in the literary canon of IrelandVal Mulkerns, who has died aged 93, was a unique figure in the world of Irish literature. Very few women, let...
View Article'The spark will ignite': how poetry helps engage people with dementia
Shared reading has a significant impact on mood, concentration and social interaction. A Liverpool charity is running sessions in care homesWith lifted feet, hands still / I am poised, and down the...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Our Old Lady of the Rain by Jane Commane
In this elegiac poem, a ghostly goddess lingers in derelict factories, ‘a Midas inside-out’ who represents industrial decline and ruinOur Old Lady of the Rain by Jane CommaneShe was older, iron-tasting...
View ArticleThree Poems by Hannah Sullivan – review
Hannah Sullivan’s debut collection of poems is intimate, experimental and rich in delicious descriptionHannah Sullivan is an ambidextrous writer. An associate professor of English at New College,...
View ArticleIs Sylvia Plath's driver's license worth more than a letter from Dickens?
Even Wordsworth and Napoleon couldn’t compete with Plathinalia going under the hammer this week – including clothes, a typewriter and her thesaurusDickens, Scott, Swift, Wordsworth, Darwin, Adam Smith,...
View ArticleThe Long Take by Robin Robertson review – a melancholy love song to America
Modelled on Hollywood’s postwar glory years, this masterful epic follows a second world war veteran across the US, and shows Robertson at the peak of his powersIn one of his more pontifical essays, TS...
View ArticleHow a terrible teenage poem taught me a lifelong lesson | Nikesh Shukla
Aged 16, I wanted to scream in happiness that my poem had been chosen for an anthology. All I had to do was accept the terms and send £45 (plus £5 p&p)This is my origin story: when I was a teenager...
View ArticleJoanna Skelt obituary
My friend Joanna Skelt, who has died of cancer aged 49, explored writing as an expression of conflict and identity. As Birmingham’s poet laureate in 2013-14, she found inspiration in the city’s...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Opposite of Confidential by Claudine Toutoungi
A chorus of birds takes on the leading role in a poem exploring creativity and freedom of expressionThe Opposite of ConfidentialNobody questions the birds.Their trills are never subject to inspection...
View ArticleJay Bernard’s ‘personal and brave’ poetry wins Ted Hughes award
Surge: Side A, an intimate multimedia exploration of 1981 New Cross fire, wins £5,000 prizeJay Bernard has won the Ted Hughes award for new poetry with the performance Surge: Side A, a multimedia...
View ArticleFresh voices: 50 writers you should read now
Which debut novel should you reach for this spring? Who can map our digital future? Here’s our guide to the most exciting voices in fiction, politics, SF, graphic novels and moreSmall presses are...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Class Photograph by Douglas Dunn
A return to black and white avoids the sepia of nostalgia, in this poem written to mark the Queen’s diamond jubileeRenfrew High School, 1956Continue reading...
View ArticleSpeaking out: Ted Hughes winner Jay Bernard on exploring the New Cross fire...
When Bernard won the top poetry gong last week, it was a validation for performance poetry – and for the poet’s inquiry into the 1981 fire, told in a constantly evolving poemThe awarding of this year’s...
View ArticlePoem of the Week: The sloe was lost in flower… by AE Housman
Housman’s tiny yet perfect poem harmonises nature and feeling – all the while telling a stinging tale of seduction and betrayalThe sloe was lost in flower,The April elm was dim;That was the lover’s...
View ArticleMore poetry, please. And pagination, too | Letters
Readers of Review miss the Guardian’s Saturday poem and information about the number of pages in each book reviewedThe poem Do You Think We’ll Ever Get To See Earth, Sir?, by Sheenagh Pugh, appeared in...
View ArticleMichael Rosen's Chocolate Cake review – half-baked sweet treat
Polka, LondonRosen’s epic is dished up for the stage in an adaptation that stirs in his poems about fried eggs and baked potatoesAll kids loves cake but Wilfred, aged four, is mad for it. With a rather...
View ArticlePeter Broome obituary
Peter Broome, who has died aged 81, was a gifted teacher, communicator and literary critic who specialised in modern French poetry, writing important books on Charles Baudelaire, Henri Michaux and...
View ArticleSamuel Taylor Coleridge's remains rediscovered in wine cellar
Exact location of the poet’s coffin had been forgotten until recent excavation uncovered the vaultIt probably wouldn’t have surprised his long-suffering friends, but the remains of the poet Samuel...
View ArticlePlay about silenced 1920s gay poet rivets Moscow theatre audiences
Play tells story of poet Mikhail Kuzmin who disappeared into official obscurity during Soviet era A play about a largely forgotten gay poet from early 1900s Russia has emerged as the dark horse in this...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Behind the Scenes: Empire by Arthur Symons
A shivering chorus line prepares behind the curtain in a London theatre in this poem by Symons, a symbolist poet and dance fanBehind the Scenes: EmpireThe little painted angels flit,See, down the...
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