Jean Kenward obituary
My mother, Jean Kenward, who has died aged 102, was a poet whose work, for both children and adults, was published in many anthologies. She also wrote children’s stories; the Ragdolly Anna series...
View ArticleShock ending: how the Costa book awards changed reading – and pitted husband...
After 50 years, the prize has been scrapped. How did it change Britain’s literary landscape? And what happened at the awards when Margaret Drabble was seated next to Theresa May?Margaret Drabble was a...
View ArticleNadhim Zahawi: axing Larkin and Owen poems for GCSE is cultural vandalism
Education secretary denounces exam board’s decision to replace the two poets in English literature courseShelley said “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world”, but politicians may be...
View ArticleCancelling Kate Clanchy has blocked publication of our kids’ poems | Letter
So, Tory MPs, you hate cancel culture – why aren’t you sticking up for her, asks Sushila BurgessI am the (mixed-race) mother of one of the kids from diverse backgrounds that Kate Clanchy nurtured into...
View ArticleMichael Rosen marks Anne Frank anniversary with new poem
Seventy-five years after Diary of a Young Girl’s publication, Sonnet for Anne Frank reflects on the ‘awful paradox’ of the journal’s bright spirit and her fateRead the poem belowFormer children’s...
View ArticleSummer books: Bernardine Evaristo, Hilary Mantel, David Nicholls and more...
Authors recommend their favourite recent reads, from addictive novels and fascinating cultural history to a game-changing graphic memoirSummer reading: the 50 hottest books for a great escapeBernardine...
View ArticleOn my radar: Lucy Kirkwood’s cultural highlights
The playwright on the poetry and silliness of Aldous Harding, an inspiring new theatre in Suffolk and binge-reading Saba Sams’s short storiesThe playwright and screenwriter Lucy Kirkwood was born in...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Llyn Gwynant by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett
A bracing celebration of the exhilaration and refreshment found in wild swimmingLlyn GwynantAll through the night I twitch my heart.Swimming is a kind of hiccupthat jolts the body clean apart.All...
View Article‘The beating pulse of poetry’: why you should visit Keats House
The Romantic poet’s home in London was a haven where he wrote some of his most famous works. Today, two centuries after his death, it still evokes Keats’ spiritIt’s testament to the hold that John...
View ArticleWhat we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in June
Sinéad Gleeson, Gurnaik Johal and Guardian readers discuss the titles they’ve read over the last month. Join the conversation in the commentsIn this series we ask authors, Guardian writers and readers...
View ArticleMoor Mother: Jazz Codes review – a stunning continuum of Black music
(Anti-)What started life as a poetry book has evolved into an ambitious anthropological project spanning jazz, R&B, hip-hop and moreAs a poet, composer, educator, audiovisual artist, activist and...
View ArticleThe best recent poetry – review roundup
Poukahangatus by Tayi Tibble; Rookie by Caroline Bird; One Language by Anastasia Taylor-Lind; Sonnets for Albert by Anthony Joseph; High Desert by André Naffis-SahelyPoukahangatus by Tayi Tibble...
View ArticleSummer reading: the 30 best holiday reads – chosen by authors and critics
From an evocative story set in a Trinidad graveyard to a riveting exposé of the Sacklers… Novelists including Johny Pitts, Monica Ali and Nina Stibbe on their essential holiday booksSummer reading: the...
View ArticleBilingual poetry book about A470 sets Welsh hearts racing
Welsh-English anthology about Welsh equivalent of Route 66 republished twice since release on St David’s DayIt is variously described as a snake, a zip, a ribbon, a scar, a Welsh version of Route 66....
View ArticleJoseph Coelho chosen as Britain’s new children’s laureate
The poet and children’s author, who takes over from Cressida Cowell, was praised as an ‘extraordinary advocate for making poetry accessible to all’Poet, playwright and author Joseph Coelho has been...
View ArticleThe Illustrated Woman by Helen Mort – verse as indelible as tattoos
The poet’s risk-taking third collection uses body art as a means of self-examination and as an emotional keepsakePoetry is more than skin deep, like the tattoos that are the subject of Helen Mort’s...
View ArticleWales appoints Hanan Issa as its first Muslim national poet
The Welsh-Iraqi writer said she plans to make use of her experience ‘sitting with one foot on either shore of different heritages’ Hanan Issa, a Welsh-Iraqi poet, film-maker and artist, has been named...
View ArticleThe death of Percy Bysshe Shelley – archive, 1822
The celebrated Romantic poet drowned in Italy on 8 July 1822, although reports of his death did not appear until a few weeks later24 August 1822Those who know a great mind when they meet with it, and...
View Article‘For him, the poetic was political’: how Shelley stands tall as a great...
Two centuries on from his untimely death, Shelley’s work remains widely read and deeply loved. Reeta Chakrabarti pays tribute to his geniusPercy Bysshe Shelley: poet, atheist, and determined opponent...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on maths and poetry: seeing the world another way | Editorial
Hours at a desk aren’t necessarily the key to success – ask June Huh, the would-be poet who has won the Fields medal for mathematicsJune Huh, a poet manqué who says he struggles to do more than three...
View Article