Banjo Paterson: is he still the bard of the bush?
Simon Caterson: The man who wrote Waltzing Matilda was born 150 years ago on 17 February – though his status as Australia's national poet may be waningSimon Caterson
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Read Sappho's 'new' poem
One of two, unknown fragments of poetry discovered in private collection are thought by scholar to be by much-loved classical author. The first translation is reproduced below News: Scholar says...
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What might James Joyce have made of 21st-century Scottish independence?
Scotland's current political situation – with its parallels to Ireland's early-1900s Home Rule movement – would have held his attentionSunday is James Joyce's birthday. It might have pleased him that...
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Impromptus: Selected Poems by Gottfried Benn – review
Michael Hofmann's compelling new translations, focussing mainly on the late works, reveal Benn's journey from early high-brow pessimism to a late 'sadness of the unfulfilled'"And here he cited Benn,...
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The Saturday Poem: With Joe on Silver Street
by Helen TookeyTuesday 1 August 1967Said goodbye to Kenneth this morning. He seemed odd. On the spur of the moment I asked if he wanted to come home to Leicester with me. He looked surprised and said,...
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On my radar: Corin Sworn's cultural highlights
Glasgow-based artist Corin Sworn on learning Italian, listening to poems and being amazed by ShanghaiBased in Glasgow, artist Corin Sworn was born in London and raised in Toronto. Her films, drawings,...
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Poem of the week: Engram by Ahren Warner
A droll, sophisticated take on first poetic inspiration – including some very adult reflections on its natureAlert to subtle linguistic nuance, a witty and wide-ranging Francophile, Ahren Warner has a...
View ArticleWhy swimming is sublime
In this extract from his new book, Damon Young explores the joy and terror of swimming – the feelings of being isolated and immersed in something massive and eternalDamon Young
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Poster poems: Wind
It's whistling through all of our lives at the moment, so can you make it sing in poetry?After weeks of storms rolling in off the Atlantic it's beginning to feel like the world is made of little else...
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The Saturday Poem: And
by Alison BrackenburySex is like Criccieth. You thought it would be a tumble of houses into a pure seaand so it must have been, in eighteen-ten.The ranks of boarding houses marched up then.They linger,...
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Falling Out of Time by David Grossman – review
David Grossman's slim book broadens the scope of his moving inquiries into the grieving processIn August 2006, the Israeli novelist David Grossman's son, Uri, was killed in southern Lebanon, his tank...
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Poem of the week: Black Beans by Sarah Kirsch
Composed of small, domestic details, this love poem is also an oblique reflection on materialism and East German communismThis week's poem, Black Beans (Schwarze Bohnen) is by Sarah Kirsch, the...
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Sebastian Barker obituary
Lyrical poet, much influenced by William Blake, whose later work contained a strong philosophical and reflective streakFrom the start, Sebastian Barker, who has died aged 68 of a cardiac arrest after...
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Robert Muchamore goes after fellow children's authors with 'big samurai sword'
Festival event leaves bestselling Cherub author dreaming of going on 'slaughter a whining lefty' spreeThe bestselling children's writer Robert Muchamore has written an extraordinary diatribe in which...
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Execution of Arab Iranian poet Hashem Shaabani condemned by rights groups
Poet and leading member of banned cultural organisation run by Ahwazi Arab minority reported hanged after public confessionInternational human rights activists have strongly condemned the execution of...
View ArticleGirls: Warsan Shire's poem about FGM – video
Warsan Shire recites her poem Girls, written exclusively for the Guardian's campaign to end female genital mutilationSymeon BrownMaggie O'KaneTom SilverstoneMary Carson
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If audiences are so well-versed in theatre, why is there so much fuss about...
An upcoming play at a major theatre is written in blank verse - not that the publicity would let you knowWould you attend a play written in blank verse? Of course you would; every day thousands of...
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This Is Yarrow by Tara Bergin – review
An confident debut that dares to stray from the familiarIt takes a certain decidedness to set aside the furnishings of realism and its overweening stylisation of everyday life in order to hold out for...
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Mad Girl's Love Song by Andrew Wilson – review
A generous biography that focuses on Sylvia Plath's writing and relationships before she met Ted HughesIn his introduction to Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems, Ted Hughes identifies 1956 as the year his...
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The Saturday Poem: Nightrunning
by Tiffany AtkinsonSo much coldeven the moon can't swallow itor the harbour in its fishy dark. Youbalance your breath like a bowl of dryice. It's all a mistake, this body,this job, this love. Somewhere...
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