Ishion Hutchinson: ‘I can hear a poem before it arrives’
The Jamaican poet on his new collection about West Indian soldiers in the first world war, diving into the messiness of language, and the book he rereads every autumn
Poem of the week: Prickly Moses by Simon West
A study of the little regarded acacia grows, as vigorously as the plant, into reflections that match its name’s biblical grandeur
The Fourth Sister by Laura Scott review – the deadliest slur of all?
The poet pays homage to Chekhov in her second collection, in which boredom is both feared and acknowledged and desperation tussles with wit
John Burnside wins the 2023 David Cohen prize for amazing body of work
‘He casts a spell with language of great beauty, power, lyricism and truthfulness’ said judging chair Hermione Lee of the poet and novelist
The Letters of Seamus Heaney review – amazing grace
Generosity, warmth and joie de vivre characterise this collection of the great poet’s letters
Poem of the week: from ‘Proof …’ by Peter Riley
A bitter look at what awaits the refugee arriving in modern Britain
The best recent poetry – review roundup
School of Instructions by Ishion Hutchinson; The Wrong Person to Ask by Marjorie Lotfi; Housebreak by Shareen K Murayama; Cowboy by Kandace Siobhan Walker; Incubation: A Space for Monsters by Bhanu Kapil
Caroline Gilfillan obituary
Other lives: Poet and writer who explored feminist themes, including with the all-female 1970s band the Stepney Sisters
Poem of the week: candelabra with heads by Nicole Sealey
A careful look at a sculpture raises harrowing ghosts that might not be seen by other gallerygoers
Yeats’ play on sale for £125,000 – thanks to message from the dead
A 1924 seance has solved the mystery surrounding a signed copy of the dramatist’s first play
Letters reveal the dispute that pushed poet Thomas Chatterton to the brink
The romantic writer took his own life aged just 17 after a row with Horace Walpole
On my radar: Carlo Rovelli’s cultural highlights
The physicist and philosopher of science on the lessons the Roman empire holds for us today, the mystery of black holes, and his favourite beat poet
RSC to put on work by poet who wrote Stratford theatre’s first words
John Masefield wrote poem for 1932 opening of Shakespeare Memorial theatre, which is now staging The Box of Delights
The Penguin Book of Elegy by Andrew Motion and Stephen Regan review – surprisingly uplifting
From Charlotte Brontë grieving Emily to Ted Hughes lamenting a lamb, this exceptional anthology of poems is full of scholarly discernment
Poem of the week: On the Death of an Absent Father by Rachel Coventry
A very complicated grief for the lost promise of youth does not wipe out all hope