Carol Ann Duffy: ‘With the evil twins of Trump and Brexit … There was no way of not writing about that, it is just in the air’

After 10 years, the poet laureate is preparing to step down. She talks politics, swearing – and how poetry has changed since she started writing.

Read Lisa Allardice’s interview

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/27/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate-books-interview

Poem of the week: The Gulls by Howard Altmann

In this rhythmic poem, a figure finds his state of mind reflected in the wheeling movements of birds and a briny, rocky seascape.

Read the poem and a discussion of it below.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/sep/03/poem-of-the-week-the-gulls-by-howard-altmann

The Prime of Miss Jean Rhys

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/oct/01/tvnews.books

Photo by Diego Madrigal on Pexels.com

Poem of the week: Spathes by Loretta Collins Klobah

Etymology invites the imagination to a host of new places as the poet explores the rich possibilities of a botanical term

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2018/aug/27/poem-of-the-week-spathes-by-loretta-collins-klobah

 

Newly seen letters show Philip Larkin’s close relationship with mother

Larkin and his mother wrote to each other twice weekly for 35 years. Newly published letters shed light on the complex relationship between the old curmudgeon and his mother, Eva.

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/15/philip-larkin-mother-newly-seen-letters-writers-and-their-mothers-?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=260572&subid=1800738&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Andrew Michael Hurley: ‘It’s not about whether you want to write. It’s an urgent necessity’

Andrew Michael Hurley: Meet the author

‘It’s not about whether you want to write. It’s an urgent necessity’

Read the article below about the former Winstanley College teacher and Costa First Novel Award Winner’s new novel, Devil’s Day

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/15/andrew-michael-hurley-devils-day-the-loney

 

 

Neil Gaiman: ‘I like being British. Even when I’m ashamed, I’m fascinated’ The award-winning author on his new book of Norse mythology, Brexit and being an Englishman in New York

What the Norse myths teach us about dark times – and new beginnings

Read the article below

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/04/neil-gaiman-interview-books

 

‘It will be called Americanism’: the US writers who imagined a fascist future

From Sinclair Lewis and Philip Roth to Donald Trump’s favourite film, Citizen Kane, US culture has long told stories about homegrown authoritarianism. What can we learn from them?

Read the highly topical  article, which discusses The Handmaid’s Tale, among others, below:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/feb/03/americanism-us-writers-imagine-fascist-future-fiction

 

Why Bob Dylan deserves his Nobel literature win

There will be some who doubt Dylan’s right to the Nobel prize in literature. There are others who believe he should get a special Nobel just for being Bob Dylan

Read the article below about the most recent Nobel laureate, awarded for ‘having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/oct/13/bob-dylan-wins-2016-nobel-prize-in-literature

 

 

 

A Good Read – Wide Sargasso Sea

The first novel featured is Wide Sargasso Sea and there is also some discussion of Jane Eyre too.  Listen to the ten minute clip here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x2zdd

Perfect for second year Literature students writing their coursework.