Poem of the week: a small alba by Harry Gilonis
An elegant variation on the ‘dawn-songs’ of Provençal troubadours introduces its themes of time and loss with great delicacywhite the moonwhite the wineContinue reading...
View ArticleOndaatje prize goes to 'mythic' poems about a mother's mental illness
Pascale Petit’s Mama Amazonica takes £10,000 prize for writing evoking the spirit of a place – here blending a hospital with the rainforestPascale Petit’s poetry collection Mama Amazonica, which merges...
View ArticleEnter, Fleeing review – a man going everywhere fast
It’s a challenge to keep up with Mark Ford’s restless poetic energy but well worth the effortNairobi, 1963; Lagos 1967; Chicago 1969; Colombo, Hong Kong, Bahrain, New York… Mark Ford’s poems could –...
View ArticleLiu Xia: Paul Auster and JM Coetzee lead renewed calls for Chinese poet's...
Liu, who has never been charged with a crime, has been under house arrest in China since her late husband Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel peace prize in 2010Paul Auster, JM Coetzee, Alice Sebold and Khaled...
View ArticleThe Last Poets: the hip-hop forefathers who gave black America its voice
It is half a century since the Last Poets stood in Harlem, uttered their first words in public, and created the blueprint for hip-hop. At an intimate open house session, they explain why their...
View ArticleSalley Vickers on Stoke-on-Trent: ‘Thanks to my upbringing, my books have a...
The former therapist and novelist on her ‘committed communist’ parents, seeing Paul Robeson sing and her abiding love for the PotteriesI was born in Liverpool, my mother’s home town, which was bombed...
View ArticlePoem of the week: They (may forget (their names (if let out))) by Vahni Capildeo
A brilliantly energetic and inventive sonnet bounds into the mind of a not entirely domesticated pet dogpetcitement incitement of a pet to excitementpetcitement incitement into the excitementof being a...
View ArticleOde to whiteness: British poetry scene fails diversity test
Study shows poets of colour are underrepresented in the UK, as Forward poetry prizes announce trailblazing shortlistsThe British poetry world is “failing to meet even the most basic measurements of...
View ArticleUnicorns, Almost review – poignant portrait of a tormented war poet
The Swan Hotel, Hay-on-WyeOwen Sheers’ evocative one-hander paints a fascinating picture of Keith Douglas and places his breathtaking poetry centre-stageSince playing Wilfred Owen in a 20th-anniversary...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Straight and Narrow by Simon Armitage
A school visit by a careers adviser is the occasion for an unexpected epiphany and some ‘West Yorkshire magic realism’The Straight and NarrowWhen the tall and bearded careers advisorset up his stall...
View ArticleKayo Chingonyi: ‘The most formalist poetry I have been exposed to is rap lyrics’
The winner of the Dylan Thomas prize explains how his poems are infused with the rhythms and rhymes of garage, grime and hip-hopWhen Kayo Chingonyi was awarded the £30,000 Dylan Thomas prize for his...
View ArticleHay festival 2018: the Golden Booker, Akala, Tishani Doshi and more
In this special festival podcast, we take a tour of some of the events that have got people talking this week in Hay. We discover the novel that has knocked Midnight’s Children out of the running for...
View ArticleSimon Armitage on Marsden: ‘The hills stand far taller than the architecture’
The poet on growing up in Yorkshire and watching the world from his bedroom windowI grew up in the West Yorkshire village of Marsden at the head of the Colne Valley, a close-knit community of about...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Husk by Margot Armbruster
A strikingly accomplished work from a 16-year-old poet reflects on the resonances of anorexia with religious fastingHusk How did we ever get here? I have been measuringmy worth in etched wrists for so...
View ArticleMary Wilson: Corbyn leads tributes after death of Harold Wilson's widow
Labour leader says 102-year-old was a ‘wonderful poet and huge support’ to her husbandJeremy Corbyn and Gordon Brown have led tributes to Mary Wilson, a poet and wife of the former Labour prime...
View ArticleMary Wilson obituary
An accomplished poet who brushed off the caricatures attracted by her life as the wife of prime minister Harold WilsonIn the widely recorded history of Harold Wilson’s years in British politics, his...
View ArticleLawrence Ferlinghetti's 'experimental' new book due in time for 100th birthday
Blending autobiography, literary criticism poetry and philosophy, Little Boy will be published in March 2019, the author’s centenaryThe 99-year-old poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, one of the last surviving...
View ArticleCarol Ann Duffy: ‘I wish I’d written Harry Potter, obvs’
The poet laureate on her deep shame at not having read Don Quixote and always laughing at Cold Comfort FarmThe book I am currently readingThe Poem: Lyric, Sign, Metre by Don Paterson. Reading it, your...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Leaving home at 10 by Harry Garuba
In this story of a boy’s departure to boarding school, the author remembers leaving behind not only his family but a whole linguistic worldLeaving home at 10 It was an old Peugeot 403They don’t make...
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