Weatherwatch: Lord Byron's reflection of the rain in Genoa
The English poet in a letter to his half-sister describes a colossal downpour in the Italian cityLord Byron is in Italy near Genoa and sees a monumental deluge. “But being on a hill we were only nearly...
View ArticleMichael Mott obituary
My father, Michael Mott, who has died aged 88, was a poet, novelist and biographer who published widely on both sides of the Atlantic.He upheld a daily practice of letter-writing. He corresponded with...
View ArticleThe best recent poetry – review roundup
The Mizzy by Paul Farley; The Book of Taliesin translated by Gwyneth Lewis and Rowan Williams; After Cézanne by Maitreyabandhu; and Afterwardness by Mimi KhalvatiPaul Farley’s fifth collection The...
View ArticlePoem of the month: A Portable Paradise by Roger Robinson
Each month the Guardian’s review section selects a poet or poem to highlightAnd if I speak of Paradise,then I’m speaking of my grandmotherwho told me to carry it alwayson my person, concealed, sono one...
View ArticleYou say chumping, we say progging | Brief letters
Ciaran Carson | Salem witch-hunt | British values | Halloween oranges | Bonfire NightTo Patricia Craig’s illuminating and affectionate obituary of Ciaran Carson (31 October), I’d only add a tribute to...
View Article'It made me really crazy': Ben Lerner on confronting male rage and family trauma
As the final book in his acclaimed trilogy is published, The Topeka School author reflects on writing as his mother and ‘pompous’ Great American NovelsWandering around a Vija Celmins retrospective at...
View ArticlePoem of the week: My Hat by Stevie Smith
From a poet known for her gloom, this is a sunny, witty vision of a young woman’s liberationMy Hat Mother said if I wore this hatI should be certain to get off with the right sort of chapWell, look...
View ArticleCountry diary: Snowdonia's folklore river still invites a poetic pilgrimage
Llan Ffestiniog, Gwynedd: The Cyfnal gorge has attracted writers, mages and mystics over centuries, and the atmospherics still thrumA path descends from the hilltop village, its route following...
View ArticleTeacher who helps migrant children turn pain into prize poetry
One child wrote of a suicide bomber; another of the ‘sweet honey mangoes’ of home. Kate Clanchy helps them tune into their inner voiceKate Clanchy, tall, fast-talking and slightly intimidating, lays...
View Article'I needed a new home': how Debris Stevenson left Mormonism for grime
Her musical Poet in da Corner brought raving to the Royal Court. Now the writer and performer is exploring first love. She talks Mormonism, trauma and teen dreamsDebris Stevenson’s first public...
View ArticleBrexit poetry may not heal our divided nation, but it helps | Rhiannon Lucy...
I fear what this crisis is doing to us. But verse is an antidote, illuminating where political commentary falls shortSimon Armitage, the poet laureate, was undoubtedly wise when he declined to pen a...
View ArticleBlood, terror and bass: the heavy return of dub poetry
It was the insurrectionist sound of the turbulent 70s – and now it’s back, thanks to Moor Mother and King Midas SoundEarlier this year, British poet Roger Robinson met one of his idols, Linton Kwesi...
View ArticleThe week in radio and podcasts: Have You Heard George’s Podcast?; How’s Work?
Two favourite podcasters returned last week, as relationship therapist Esther Perel tackled the workplace and George the Poet told the BBC to eff offHave You Heard George’s Podcast? (BBC Sounds)How’s...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Drunken Bellarmine by Emily Berry
Seething with contradictory impulses and emotions, this character study is also full of life and witDrunken Bellarmineafter Renee SoIn this spirit of affliction I beheld two things,that shame is also...
View ArticleFrom carnage to a camp beauty contest: the endless allure of Troy
Why has the ravaged fallen city been such an inspiration to artists for millennia? Ahead of an epic show at the British Museum, our writer unravels its extraordinary influenceTroy is a real place. The...
View ArticleBaudelaire’s unknown extra verse to erotic poem revealed
New lines to The Jewels, inscribed in a copy of Les Fleurs du Mal, has been unveiled as the volume comes up for auctionMore than 150 years ago, Charles Baudelaire scrawled an extra verse of his erotic...
View ArticleOn my radar: Sarah Hall’s cultural highlights
The English novelist on an ideal fusion of art and retail, the inspiring verse of Kathleen Jamie and the joys of the electric sazNovelist Sarah Hall was born in Carlisle in 1974 and educated at...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Ablation by Helen Mort
A heart treatment provides the inspiration for a lyric as precise as the procedure it reflects onAblationInside the Northern Generalthey’re trying to burn awaya small piece of your heart.Continue...
View ArticleStray Dogs review – Russian poet's struggle against Stalin
Park theatre, LondonAnna Akhmatova is forced to choose between artistic integrity and saving her son in Olivia Olsen’s playIn 1935, Anna Akhmatova began writing Requiem in Soviet Russia. Her son, Lev,...
View ArticleWe spend so much time staring at our phones. What do we miss when we don't...
The deeply corny film Last Christmas was maligned for its main character’s ‘look up’ philosophy. But perhaps it’s the philosophy we need right nowIn Paul Feig’s romantic comedy Last Christmas, jaded...
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