Poetry News Digest: January 2014

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2014, ABC, activist, advert, affair, American, Amiri Baraka, ancient, Apple, Argentinian, artsHub, August Kleinzahler, Australian, award, Bakery and Snacks, BBC, Black Arts Movement, book, BookReviewBlogger, Boston Music Spotlight, British, Cambrian News, Camden Review, Chinese, commercial, Dalit Panthers, Dannie Abse, death, DNA India, Dylan Thomas, English, Examiner, Express, Global Post, GoodReads, Gottfried Benn, Greek, guerrilla, Harvard University, heart attack, Herbie Hancock, HK Standard, Impromptus: Selected Poems and Some Prose, Indian, iPad, iPad Air, January, jazz, Jennifer Maiden, Jose Emilio Pacheco, journalist, Juan Gelman, lecture, Liquid Nitrogen, Literature Works, Liu Xia, Liu Xiaobo, Live Science, Marathi, mayor, Mexican, Minneapolis, music, Namdeo Dhasal, New Republic, New Statesman, New Welsh Review, New York Times, news, News 24, News International, Nobel Laureate, Norton Professor of Poetry, Oh Me! Oh Life!, papyrus, Parallax, PC Mag, Pearl Kazin, photo, Pilgrim's Flower, poet, poetry, prize, prose, Publishers Weekly, Pune Mirror, Rachael Boast, review, RS Thomas, RT Ryback, Russian, Sappho, sex, Sinead Morrissey, Sophie Hannah, Speak Old Parrot, Sydney Morning Herald, The Arts Fuse, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Hindu, The Hotel Oneira, The Independent, The Poetry of Sex, The Root, The Skinny, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Washington Post, TS Eliot Prize, TV, TwinCities, twitter, Tyrrell's Crisps, University of Oxford, Victorian Prize for Literature, video, Wales Online, Wall Street Journal, Walt Whitman, Welsh, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Tech, YouTube

All the essential poetry news from the first month of 2014.

News

• A Russian poetry lover stabbed a champion of prose to death in drunken row over the merits of the two literary forms. Read more at BBC News, The Guardian and Global Post.

• A video of Liu Xia, the wife of imprisoned Chinese Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, reading two self-written poems while under house arrest, was posted online. Read more at The HK Standard, The Guardian and News 24. Here is the video:

• The mayor of Minneapolis RT Ryback suffered a heart attack and posted a short poem about it on Twitter, which read: “My cardiac surprise/ Gave me quite a start/ But it proves this politician/ Has a great big heart.” Read more at TwinCities.

• A University of Oxford papyrologist said that a poem found on ancient papyrus is indubitably the work of the sixth-century Greek poet Sappho. Read more at The Guardian, Mail Online and Live Science. Read a translation of the poem at The Guardian.

• Apple released a iPad Air commercial that features quotes from Walt Whitman’s ‘Oh Me! Oh Life!’ Read more at Yahoo! Tech, New Republic and PC Mag. Here is the ad:

• It was announced that a forthcoming book will reveal a year-long love affair between Dylan Thomas and the American journalist Pearl Kazin. Read more at Wales Online, Express and Mail Online.

• An image of the Welsh poet RS Thomas appeared on packs of Tyrrell’s Sweet Chilli & Red Pepper crisps as pack of a promotion they were running which featured the tagline “Win a fleeting look of contempt… or £25,000.” Read more at The Telegraph, Cambrian News and Bakery and Snacks.

• Jazz musician Herbie Hancock was appointed the Harvard University 2014 Norton Professor of Poetry. He will deliver six lectures on a variety of topics. Read more at The Root, Boston Music Spotlight and Examiner.

Herbie Hancock
[Flickr Creative Commons © Evert-Jan]

Deaths

• Amiri Baraka, the provocative writer and leader of the 1960s Black Arts movement, died aged 79. Read more at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Guardian.

• Juan Gelman, the renowned Argentinian poet who was a left-wing activist and guerrilla in the 1960s and 1970s, died aged 83. Read more at BBC News, The Guardian and The New York Times.

• Namdeo Dhasal, noted Marathi poet and one of the founders of the radical organisation The Dalit Panthers, died aged 64. Read more at The Hindu, DNA India and Pune Mirror.

• José Emilio Pacheco, one of Mexico’s foremost poets, died aged 74. Read more at BBC News, The New York Times and News International.

Awards

• Sinéad Morrissey won the 2013 TS Eliot Award for her fifth collection, Parallax. Read more at The Guardian, The Independent and The Telegraph. Watch her read from the collection here:

• Jennifer Maiden won Australia’s Victorian Prize for Literature for her most recent collection, Liquid Nitrogen. Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald, ABC and artsHub.

Book Releases

• The Poetry of Sex, ed. Sophie Hannah (not yet rated on GoodReads). Read reviews at The Sunday Times, The Guardian and The Independent.

• The Hotel Oneira by August Kleinzahler (3.8/5 based on 11 ratings at GoodReads). Read reviews at The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly and New Statesman.

• Pilgrim’s Flower by Rachael Boast (not yet rated on GoodReads). Read reviews at The Skinny, The Guardian and BookReviewBlogger. Author interviewed at Literature Works.

• Speak, Old Parrot by Dannie Abse (4/5 based on 2 ratings at GoodReads). Read reviews at The Guardian, New Welsh Review and Camden Review.

• Impromptus: Selected Poems and Some Prose by Gottfried Benn (4.4/5 based on 5 ratings at GoodReads). Read reviews at The Arts Fuse and The Guardian.

All ratings are from GoodReads as at 10/02/2014.

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Poetry News Round Up: June 2013

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Alexei Ulyukayev, American, army, award, Beattie's Book Blog, book, Booksellers NZ, Canadian, David McFadden, Economy Minister, Father Victor Phalana, Fleur Adcock, freedom, Ghassan Zaqtan, Glass Wings, Griffin Poetry Prize, In Flanders Fields, Israeli, Jeffrey Brown, John McCrae, John Redmond, loss, love, Madiba, Margaret Atwood, Mediclinic Heart Hospital, Natasha Trethewey, Nelson Mandela, New Zealander, news, NewsHour, Palestinian, PBS, photomosaic, poem, Poet Laureate, poetry, Poetry and Privacy, politician, politics, Pretoria, priest, radio, Russian, social media, society, soldier, South African, The Guardian, The Independent, visa, Vladimir Putin

We’re at the halfway point of 2013.  Here’s your regular poetry news round up. My pleasure.

A Poem for Madiba

As South Africans come to term with Nelson Mandela‘s recent deterioration in health, a Pretoria priest, Father Victor Phalana, has put his love and sense of loss for Mandela into a poem.

Mandela has been in the Mediclinic Heart Hospital for four weeks now and remains in a “critical but stable” condition. Here is an extract from Father Victor’s poem, which you can also read in full here:

“We are busy with your last paragraph and your last chapter

We have started to mourn and grieve as you melt away

We are anxious and worried; we are paying our respects,

We say Goodbye.”

– Nelson Mandela Photomosaic
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © MastaBaba]

Poets ARE Fighters

A Israeli soldier was banned from reading his poetry out on the radio because officers said it would “ruin the image of the combat soldier.” Cue much media outrage.

As The Independent pointed out, “Can anyone really say that John McCrae was a wuss when he wrote ‘In Flanders Fields’ and before dying of pneumonia on a French battlefield in 1918?”

An Unfortunate Poem…

Vladimir Putin appointed a new Economy Minister, Alexei Ulyukayev – who it was recently revealed wrote a poem two years ago urging Russians to leave the country and seek freedom. The poems begins: “Get out, my son, get out of here.”

Natasha still going strong

The US poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey, has been reappointed for a second one-year term. According to mail.com, in her second term she will collaborate with PBS senior correspondent Jeffrey Brown and the NewsHour series of reports about poetry and society from around the country.

US Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © WTPfefferle]

A Trip to Canada

The 2013 Griffin Poetry Prize in Canada was won by David McFadden and Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan. However, before the ceremony, Zaqtan had initially been the subject of refusal for a visa when Canadian authorities said the reason for his visit was “unconvincing.”

This unleashed a social media storm, with the likes of the novelist Margaret Atwood weighing in with their support. Happily, within 72 hours the visa was granted.

Book Releases

Here are a couple of highlights from the poetry books published during June.

• Poetry and Privacy by John Redmond, a study of the treatment of public and private spheres in contemporary poetry. The Guardian says there is “a cut and thrust to Redmond’s work” and that it is a “fine book.”
• Glass Wings by Fleur Adcock. Booksellers NZ assesses this collection as “a mixed bag,” whereas Beattie’s Book Blog thinks Adcock “has a stunning ear, pulling off rhyme- and rhythm-schemes which appear, deceptively so, easy.”

Poetry News Round Up: February 2013

Tags

A E Housman, African, African-American, ambassador, American, animation, Archangel, auction, award, BBC, Black History Month, Black Panthers, book, British, bullying, Charlotte Bronte, childhood, Chris Beckett, civil rights, Dear Boy, Democrat, East Sussex, Emily Berry, English, Ethiopian, Ethiopian Boy, European, expressive men, February, Frost Medal, graffiti, Guardian, handwritten, He Wonders Whether to Praise or Blame Her, Henry Shukman, Herald Scotland, Japanese, Jewish, John Boehner, John Clare, Jupiter Hammon, king, Latin American, Leicester, Les Ballons, London, Manhattan, manuscript, medieval, Mohammed al-Ajami, New Mexico, obscene, Oscar Wilde, Patty Murray, poetry, Poetry Society of America, politics, Qatari, radio, Radio 4, Republican, Richard III, Robert Bly, Romanian, Rudyard Kipling, Rupert Brooke, Russian, Saudi, school, Senate, Shane Koyczan, Telegraph, To This Day, Tony Harrison, translation, treasure, twitter, unpublished, v, Valentine, Valentine's Day, VAWA, video, Welsh

Your summary of all the essential poetry news from the month of February, painstakingly distilled by yours truly…

Be My Valentine

A study in the UK for Valentine’s Day showed that a quarter of women would like their partner to write them a handwritten poem on February 14^th, compared to just 1% of women who said they wanted lingerie.

Love Poem
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © paloetic]

The Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, on the other hand, probably didn’t want or expect the poem he received on Twitter from Democrat senator Patty Murray, which read: “Roses are red. Violets are blue. The #Senate passed #VAWA. Now it’s up to you.” VAWA is the Violence Against Women Act.

Bullying

An animated video about bullying went viral this month. The video is an animated version of Shane Koyczan’s excellent and harrowing poem ‘To this Day’ about the impacts of bullying and it’s a must see.

v

On the 18^th February BBC Radio 4 read out Tony Harrison’s landmark but controversial poem v. The poem was inspired by an incident when Harrison visited his parent’s grave and discovered it has been desecrated by obscene graffiti.

The Guardian published an excellent article about v examining its links to social changes in the north of England.

 “A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

The recent news that the body of the medieval English king Richard III has been found in a Leicester car park has attracted a lot of attention.

Richard III’s Remains
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © fotemas]

One interesting story reported that a Welsh poem was being used to work out exactly how Richard died. The poem describes how Richard’s head was scalped or “shaved” and this is being compared to forensic evidence from the remains.

Black History Month

It was Black History month in the USA and this threw up a few stories. A student at the University of Texas at Arlington discovered a poem written by the USA’s first published black writer, Jupiter Hammon. The poem dates from 1786 and is an important addition to the history of African-American literature.

Meanwhile, a poem read out over the intercom at a high school as part of Black History month caused controversy when it was discovered that it was written by a Black Panther. The Black Panthers were a controversial 1960s civil rights movement that supported militant action.

News from the Gulf

The life imprisonment of the Qatari poet Mohammed al-Ajami, which I reported in November, has been reduced to 15 years on appeal.

Poetry in Translation

A Saudi university student attracted plenty of attention in local media by skillfully writing and delivering a poem in perfect Japanese to government officials.

Equally impressively, the British ambassador to Romania wowed local senators this month by reciting an iconic Romanian poem.

Treasure Troves

50 unpublished Rudyard Kipling poems have been found during renovations at a house in Manhattan. The hoard has been described as a “treasure trove.” There are hopes the poems could be displayed at the family home in East Sussex.

Rudyard Kipling’s House in Sussex
[Source: Flickr Creative Commons © florriebassingbourn]

Meanwhile a real treasure trove of millions of dollars has been hidden by a New Mexico multimillionaire who has sensationally published a poem revealing clues to its whereabouts.

Up for Auction

There was an unusually steady stream in February of rare poetry manuscripts going up for auction. These included:

• A rare handwritten A E Housman draft of a poem about unrequited love.
• The manuscript of Oscar Wilde’s poem ‘Les Ballons.’
• An extremely rare handwritten poem by Charlotte Bronte.
• A Rupert Brooke poem, ‘He Wonders Whether to Praise or Blame Her,’ which contains multiple revisions in his own hand.
• An unpublished John Clare verse of 12 lines.

Awards

The American poet Robert Bly received the Poetry Society of America’s Frost Medal for a “distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry.” Bly is known for being part of “the expressive men’s movement” that sought to reconnect men with their masculinity, and for his translations of European and Latin American poetry.

Book Releases

Notable poetry book releases in February included:

• Archangel by Henry Shukman, which tells the story of several thousand Jewish tailors who were forcibly repatriated from London to Russia in 1917. Herald Scotland describes the poems as “moving and narrative-led.”
• Dear Boy, a debut collection from Emily Berry. The Guardian says that Berry’s voice is “new yet anything but hesitant” and that “she approaches poetry as a flexible, permissive, dynamic ally.”
• Ethiopian Boy by Chris Beckett, inspired by the author’s childhood in Ethiopia. The Telegraph says that his “colourful incantations evoke the sights and sounds and above all the food of the East African nation.”

Archive: Poetry News from January 2013 can be viewed here.