Joyce Carol Oates: ‘People think I write quickly, but I actually don’t’
The prolific author on the unreality of romance, the fickle memory of Americans and how tweeting has got her into troubleWhen Joyce Carol Oates, the 77-year-old author of well over 100 books, told the...
View ArticlePoem of the week: Poem With Two Endings by Jane Hirshfield
Language’s inability to express the reality of a death, and the human struggle to cope with it, are reflected in Zen-like versePoem With Two EndingsSay ‘death’ and the whole room freezes –even the...
View ArticleTopography of Poetry: Love the Stranger by Jay Deshpande
Inspiration can come in many different shapes – poet Jay Deshpande shows and tells everything that was behind the writing of his latest book, including René Magritte’s paintings, merciless edits – and...
View ArticleRachel McCarthy: the climate change scientist and poet unlocking elemental...
Inspired by ‘hardcore’ chemistry, the poetry of Met Office scientist Rachel McCarthy has been called mesmerising by British laureate Carol Ann DuffyIt’s not every poet who manages to work a demanding...
View ArticleTS Eliot prize: poet Sarah Howe wins with 'amazing' debut
Judges hail daring use of form in a collection that examines poet’s joint British and Chinese heritageA new voice, who judges say “will change British poetry”, has won the TS Eliot poetry prize. Sarah...
View ArticleLoop of Jade by Sarah Howe review – the winner of the TS Eliot prize
This playful, memorable and affecting poetry collection reconciles the tensions between opposing worldsTS Eliot prize: poet Sarah Howe wins with ‘amazing’ debutPoetry, as RS Thomas once claimed, is...
View ArticleWriters join worldwide action to protest Palestinian poet's death sentence in...
Hundreds of writers in 44 countries take part in coordinated readings to support Ashraf Fayadh, condemned to death for allegedly promoting atheismHundreds of writers including Irvine Welsh, Ruth Padel...
View ArticleJames Robertson's Pilgrimer: 'Joni Mitchell offered me the key to open up'
The poet and novelist talks about his painstaking reimagining of Mitchell’s 1976 album Hejira in Scots, which premieres on Saturday Ten Celtic Connections gigs not to missHejira is Joni Mitchell’s...
View ArticleJung Chang presents PEN awards – while winners remain in prison or barred...
Wild Swans author honours work by Eritrea’s Amanuel Asrat, Turkey’s Can Dündar, and Egypt’s Omar HazekJung Chang, famous to millions of readers for Wild Swans, the harrowing account of her family’s...
View ArticlePoetry, music and identity with Sarah Howe, Emmy the Great and Solomon OB –...
The winners of the TS Eliot prize and the National poetry slam explore the territory between lyric and music with singer-songwriter Emmy the GreatIn this week’s podcast we investigate how words can be...
View ArticleClive James: ‘Having scarcely left home since winter began, I hobbled to the...
En route, our writer stumbles across four wandering Moldavian jazz musicians Trigger warning: this column may contain material offensive on grounds of racism, sizeism and elitism. In the universities...
View ArticleThe Saturday poem: The Walled Garden
by Sarah HoweAcross the road, the girls quit school in threesand fours, tripping off at speed to stationsor familiar cars, their silhouettes, slungwith shoulder bags and hockey sticks, like...
View ArticleLiz Lochhead: ‘You’re stuck writing something until you go, “To hell with it,...
The new Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry winner on learning how to be a Scottish writer and why becoming the national poet saved her lifeLiz Lochhead is one of nature’s talkers, asking as many questions...
View ArticleOn my radar: Julie Hesmondhalgh’s cultural highlights
The actor on Oldham Street, Manchester, the magic of Slow Club, a friend’s brilliant memoir, British feature film Radiator and Lemn Sissay’s poetryJulie Hesmondhalgh is best known for her award-winning...
View ArticlePoem of the week: The Gartan Mother’s Lullaby by Joseph Campbell
Originally written as a folk song, with Herbert Hughes, figures from Irish mythology are used here to weave a fresh, beguiling spellThe Gartan Mother’s LullabySleep, O babe, for the red bee humsThe...
View ArticleTerence Davies' Emily Dickinson biopic to premiere at Berlin film festival
British director’s biopic of American poet, A Quiet Passion, starring Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon, will receive its world premiere in Berlin in FebruaryThe Berlin film festival has announced that...
View ArticleWelsh authors rally against steep cuts to Books Council budget
More than 250 writers have written to the Welsh government, warning of the severe impact of planned reductions to support for literary cultureSlashes to the Welsh Books Council budget will have a...
View ArticleHow well do you know Edgar Allan Poe – quiz
‘Even in the grave, all is not lost.’ Today is the birthday of gothic author Edgar Allan Poe. How well do you know the man behind all that is macabre and mysterious? Take our quiz1In the year of Poe’s...
View ArticleTranslation Tuesday: Two Poems by Kim Seung Hee
Poetry is an emergency room and ‘avantgardists’ are butterflies in these powerful poems by South Korean author Kim Seung HeeBy Kim Seung Hee and Brother Anthony of Taizé for Translation Tuesdays by...
View ArticleDiolch! Authors cheer climbdown on Welsh Books Council cuts
Following a concerted outcry by hundreds of authors, the government has dropped plans for a 10.6% reduction in support for literature in WalesAuthors rally against steep cuts to Books Council budgetThe...
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