Alastair Campbell may be white and centrist, but he’s not a Scot | Brief letters
Scottish identity | Opening doors and closing roads | Pension bonus | Hen harriers | Coastal grandmothers | Proper drainsIsn’t describing Alastair Campbell as “white, centrist, Scottish” a tad...
View ArticleWorks by Mexican writer Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz recovered from auction
Two books containing 17th-century works by pioneering feminist poet and nun saved from US auction and returned to SpainTwo precious and well-travelled books containing works by the Mexican nun, writer,...
View ArticleThe best recent poetry – review roundup
The Slain Birds by Michael Longley; The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón; Faust by Sandeep Parmar; Radical Normalisation by Celia SorhaindoThe Slain Birds by Michael Longley (Jonathan Cape, £12)Birds are some...
View ArticlePoetic justice: WB Yeats’s time in London to be celebrated at last
Years of campaigning will come to fruition this week with the unveiling of a sculpture in Bedford Park to the great writerHomesickness often brings fellow expats together and drives the creative...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Ballad by William Soutar
A tragic folk romance is told in fresh, vivid Scots that is both deeply traditional and awake to a much changed modern worldO! shairly ye hae seen my loveDoun whaur the waters wind:He walks like ane...
View ArticleFive men and one woman who took on impossible job – of poet laureate
Several of the poets appointed by, or inherited by the Queen, had to deal with public mockery. No wonder Philip Larkin turned down the role“Oh, God, the royal poem!” John Betjeman wrote to a friend...
View ArticleJavier Zamora: ‘Now the chances of me crossing the border and surviving would...
The Salvadorian poet on his journey to the US as a nine-year-old, the exciting literature coming from his homeland – and why he is indebted to Dave EggersJavier Zamora was born in El Salvador in 1990....
View ArticleOdyssey of the overlooked: a journey around Black Britain
Photographer Johny Pitts and poet Roger Robinson wanted to use their art to reflect on the experiences of Black Britons outside the capital. So they rented a red Mini Cooper and set off clockwise...
View ArticleBlake, Barnes and a different patriotism | Letters
Blake’s words are now wrapped in the flag, writes John NashJason Whittaker’s description of the cultural battle that engulfed Parry’s and Wallen’s setting of Blake’s poem Jerusalem (Anti-empire,...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Sunflower by Dora Greenwell
An allegory of Christian devotion also sounds a lot like a lyric of unrequited loveTill the slow daylight pale,A willing slave, fast bound to one above,I wait; he seems to speed, and change, and fail;I...
View ArticlePoet laureate honours Queen Elizabeth II with new work, Floral Tribute
Simon Armitage’s poem, which spells out the late monarch’s name acrostically, pays homage to ‘a promise made and kept for life’Floral Tribute, a poem for the Queen by Simon ArmitageThe poet laureate,...
View ArticleFloral Tribute, a poem for the Queen by Simon Armitage
The poet laureate pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth IIContinue reading...
View ArticleFolio from ‘world masterpiece’ illuminated manuscript goes up for auction
Section of the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh is expected to fetch between £4m and £6m at auction next monthA folio from the Shah Tahmasp Shahnameh, one of the “finest illustrated manuscripts in existence”...
View ArticleMichael Rosen and his son Joe look back: ‘I am gooning about, but this photo...
The poet and children’s author and his film-maker son on homework, holidays and health scaresBorn in 1946 in Harrow, Middlesex, Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s most celebrated poets and the creator...
View Article‘Bitter, gentle, funny’: Irish stars unite to celebrate overlooked poet...
Celebrities including Bono and Liam Neeson hope to bring their homeland’s bard to a global audience with an album of read poemsPatrick Kavanagh is one of Ireland’s most revered poets – a genius from a...
View ArticleMichael Dawson obituary
In the dedication of the copy of Cave Birds belonging to my father, Michael Dawson, its author, Ted Hughes, wrote: “For Michael, who provided the incubator.” It was a fitting tribute to Michael, who...
View ArticleFormer poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy shares poem to mark Queen’s passing
Poem entitled Daughter written in tribute to Queen Elizabeth IIFuneral of Queen Elizabeth II - live updatesCarol Ann Duffy, the former poet laureate – who was appointed by the Queen in 2009 – has...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Spell by Greta Stoddart
A childlike curiosity opens up questions of what we can and cannot knowOnly this morning you swore you sawsomething swift and white fly through the nightand land on the gate in the dark.Continue...
View ArticleSam Byers: ‘JM Coetzee made me vegetarian’
The novelist on being inspired by the Beats, discovering Chekhov, and taking notes from Pierre BoulezMy earliest reading memoryLike many people who go on to have an overactive imagination, I was unwell...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on Philip Larkin at 100: a lasting gift | Editorial
Whatever we may feel about the man, some things are eternal, and in his work he found the words for themWhen, 50 years ago, the Department of the Environment commissioned a poem from Philip Larkin, he...
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