‘It will be jolly nice’: illustrator Helen Oxenbury, 86, on preparing for her first solo show – and a new book with Michael Rosen
Acclaimed for her work on children’s books, the artist is teaming up again with her collaborator on Bear Hunt
Morag Styles obituary
First professor of children’s poetry at Cambridge, who also worked to promote the teaching, dissemination and understanding of Caribbean poetry
Poem of the week: Reciprocity by John Drinkwater
Formally adventurous for its time, this poem arrives at its Romantic epiphany by a down to earth route
The best recent poetry – review roundup
Swell by Maria Ferguson; There Lives a Young Girl in Me Who Will Not Die by Tove Ditlevsen; Mind’s Eye by Carol Rumens; Strange Beach by Oluwaseun Olayiwola; Foxglovewise by Ange Mlinko
Poem of the week: Hurry by Marie Howe
An anecdote about a mother and daughter running everyday errands turns into a parable about time passing
Sunday with John Cooper Clarke: ‘My wife does a chicken with 60 cloves of garlic’
The poet talks about newspapers and television, coffee and strawberries, and how Monday’s gloomy presence hangs over every Sunday
On my radar: Jasleen Kaur’s cultural highlights
The Turner prizewinner on the art of the Gaza Biennale, the joys of a queer community choir, and a poet who speaks to today’s injustices
What in Me Is Dark by Orlando Reade review – the afterlife of Paradise Lost
The writers, philosophers and politicians who have raided Milton’s epic poem for inspiration
Poem of the week: Villanelle by John Davidson
A still potent vision of a Glasgow family in poverty at the end of the 19th century, clinging on to hope
‘It’s like having an affair’: Blackadder, the Beatles, Gavin & Stacey … the chemistry of successful writing duos
The long-awaited return of Ruth Jones and James Corden’s hit BBC sitcom represents the latest in a long line of successful creative duos. An author who writes with her husband examines why partnerships work so well
Mick Felton obituary
Other lives: Publisher and chief executive of Seren with an unwavering commitment to his authors
Poem of the week: The Jackdaw by William Cowper
The breezy wit of this nature study lightly carries darker thoughts about the human world
How Nikki Giovanni’s Black American consciousness changed the world
One of the foremost poets of the Black arts movement died on Monday but continues to inspire her literary children
The 25 best Australian books of 2024: Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Nam Le and more
Just in time for your Christmas shopping: Guardian Australia’s critics and staff pick out the best of the best
A life in quotes: Nikki Giovanni
The poet, who died at 81 on Monday, was a leading figure of the Black Arts movement, writing at the intersection of love, creativity, gender, race and more