In brief: The Short End of the Sonnenallee; Oxblood; Because They Can Play F’cking Good Football – reviews

A pitch-perfect East German novel translated by Jonathan Franzen; a gripping tale of the Manchester underworld; and Erik ten Hag in verse

What we’re reading: writers and readers on the books they enjoyed in April

Authors, critics and Guardian readers discuss the titles they have read over the last month. Join the conversation in the comments

Menage a quatre: why most poetic biopics are romantic fiction

Director William Nunez describes why he focused on a time when the poet Robert Graves – best known for a memoir Goodbye to All That and historical novel I, Claudius – left his wife and family in pursuit of creativity at any cost

Heard the one about the standup lawyer? Why even top artists now need a side job

Want to survive in the arts? Get a side hustle. We speak to an award-winning poet and governance manager, a gigging guitarist and teacher – and a successful comic who doubles as an immigration lawyer

Sarah Holland-Batt wins Stella prize for ‘tender’ poems about her father’s death

Poet and outspoken advocate for aged care reform is the second poet in a row to win $60,000 award for Australian women and non-binary writers

Poem of the week: In the Tunnel of Summers by Anne Stevenson

The blurring of time in the fragile experience of summers past and present provides the ground for this poignant reflection

How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney review – secret shame and practical woodwork

The writer’s impressionistic second novel follows a pupil and teacher as they navigate the social codes of rural Ireland

Time Come: Selected Prose by Linton Kwesi Johnson review – voice of a generation

A collection of the radical poet’s writing charts a groundbreaking career chronicling the black British experience

Poem of the week: The Bin-Men Go on Strike by Raymond Queneau

Discovering treasure in what the world has discarded, this freewheeling reverie carries with it radical ideas about art

Solmaz Sharif: ‘I don’t shy away from hurting the reader’

The Iranian-American poet on puncturing comfort, staying an apostate and her teenage love of RL Stine

Plot by Claudia Rankine review – the lives of mothers

The award-winning author of Citizen turns her mind to the complexities of balancing art and parenting

Poem of the week: The Place I Am by Peter Bennet

The boundaries between place and self become intriguingly fuzzy in this painterly reflection

The new LGBTQ+ lit list, chosen by writers

From sensational memoirs to sublime poetry, Douglas Stuart, Ali Smith, Colm Tóibín and others share lesser-known books about queer life that deserve to be classics

‘I’m a CBE, I’m poet laureate so I’m clearly not a republican am I?’: Simon Armitage on his radical roots and rock star dreams

When Simon Armitage left his job as a probation worker to become a full-time poet his dad was horrified. Is the former young subversive turned royal appointee now part of the establishment?

‘Plenty to savour’, ‘sensual’, ‘a great gift’: the best Australian books out in April

Each month, Guardian Australia editors and critics pick out the upcoming titles they’ve already devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on