Clive James: It's awkward I'm still alive
Writer and broadcaster, who wrote a poem earlier this year predicting he would be dead by autumn, says he’s embarrassed he is still hereClive James has lost none of his arch wit or charm, despite his...
View ArticleMagna Carta story illuminated by discovery of medieval poem
The Melrose Chronicle, written in Latin almost 800 years ago, is an account of events at RunnymedeA little-known medieval poem written almost 800 years ago by Scottish borders monks was revealed on...
View ArticleWas Shakespeare gay, and does it matter? | John Sutherland
Although not a new question, its re-emergence is germane to the interpretation of his plays, and not just a scholars’ spatShakespeare’s Sonnet 116, Let me not to the marriage of true minds, has of...
View ArticlePhilip Pullman: William Blake and me
As an exhibition of Blake’s paintings opens in Oxford, Philip Pullman reflects on how his poetry has influenced and intoxicated him for more than 50 yearsThe 10 best works by William BlakeTime running...
View ArticleHow well do you know contemporary Scottish literature? Quiz
You might be brilliant on Burns and superb on Scott, but how much do you know about the Caledonian books of recent years? It's Scottish Book Week, so high time you checked Continue reading...
View ArticleTime is running out for campaign to buy William Blake’s home
The Blake Society is £400,000 short of the amount needed to turn the Sussex cottage in which the poet penned Jerusalem into an artists’ space, visitors’ centre and memorialTime is running out to save...
View ArticleWriters pick the best books of 2014: part one
It’s been a year of calls to action. Naomi Klein tackled climate change, Owen Jones got to grips with class politics, and Russell Brand preached revolution. Writers from Hilary Mantel to Lena Dunham...
View ArticleGrocery rhymes: how poetry has flourished in supermarket aisles
After a couple of students used a sonnet to take a swipe at Tesco, we look back at the often strained relationship between poets and superstoresIn 1956, Allen Ginsberg’s poem A Supermarket in...
View ArticleMark Strand, former US poet laureate, dies aged 80
Strand, a Pulitzer prize winner, was haunted by absence, loss and the passage of time from the beginning of his careerMark Strand, a Pulitzer prize winner and former US poet laureate widely praised for...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Cat by John Gallas
In this modern take on Baudelaire, a moment of sensual connection with a pet resonates with a lover’s unknowabilityThe New Zealand-born poet John Gallas recently published an enticing and timely...
View ArticleSnow by Walter de la Mare - video
Happy December everyone! Now we are officially allowed to think about Christmas and wintery things – so let’s get in the mood with a very beautiful animationWalter de la Mare’s beautiful poem Snow has...
View ArticlePJ Harvey to publish first volume of poetry
The Hollow of the Hand is a collaboration with Seamus Murphy, who created films for the album Let England ShakeNot content to be bound by the song, PJ Harvey is to release a book of poetry and images....
View ArticleWorld Book Night adds poetry to mass giveaway next April
Twelve and a half thousand copies of an anthology featuring poets from TS Eliot to Les Murray will be distributed free in the spring to promote readingThe people of Britain are set to become a little...
View ArticleCelebrities, do your worst with verse – just don't call it poetry
PJ Harvey can be trusted to produce the good stuff, but when other arty types wax poetic, the results – and reviews – can be mixed• Oh great and gentle muse, inspire Beyoncé with your geniusThe indie...
View ArticleJon Stallworthy obituary
Poet, biographer and literary scholar who became closely linked with the war poet Wilfred OwenWhen Jon Stallworthy, who has died aged 79, delivered the British Academy’s Chatterton lecture in 1970,...
View ArticleThe best poetry books of 2014
From Kate Tempest’s Greek gods to an ode to Didcot power station and Dannie Abse’s farewell – this year’s poetry roundupThe British poetry community has been mourning the loss of one of its leading...
View ArticleDo good characters inevitably make for bad fiction?
It’s quite the moral test for an author to turn virtuous lives into compelling stories, and some of the greatest authors have failed itThe books blog has been hosting a series of posts on readers’...
View ArticlePoster poems: bees
Many poets have hymned the giant impact of these miniature creatures – now it’s time for you to get busyIt’s a startling fact that one third of everything we eat depends on the presence of the humble...
View Article'I can't breathe': young Twitter poet gives new voice to Eric Garner
Jason Fotso’s poem, Last Words, is a response to the no indictment decisionThe Duke University freshman has also written about FergusonShot in the chest by Cleveland police – then handcuffed and fined...
View ArticleWar poet Isaac Rosenberg recognised in archive footage from the trenches
Formal identification of stretcher bearer would be first time a serving war poet is captured on film, say expertsAfter 30 years in the police force, retired DS Terry Abrahams has developed a sixth...
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