Poem of the week: The Secret Day by Stella Benson
Writing towards the end of the first world war, the poet, novelist, journalist and suffragist Benson here dreams of a secure peace
‘Unjust and inhuman’: how royal family ignored a Black abolitionist’s plea to end the slave trade
In this adapted extract from The Crown’s Silence, which examines the royal family’s links with slavery from Elizabeth I to the present, Ottobah Cugoano directly appeals to the monarchy – but is met with silence
Virgin by Hollie McNish audiobook review – myth-shattering poetry about purity and sex
The author and spoken word artist’s delivery is full of tenderness and humour as she confronts the outdated notions of innocence that surround women
‘Keep slaying the dragon inside’: Simon Armitage pens poem for World Cancer Day
Poet laureate tackles ‘daunting’ commission from Yorkshire Cancer Research to mark charity’s centenary year
Eric Huntley obituary
Activist and co-founder of Bogle-L’Ouverture, one of the most important black publishing houses in Britain
Poem of the week: Song by Lady Mary Chudleigh
Words of stern moral advice to a besotted young man are delivered with a brisk and even sunny touch
‘There is a sense of things careening towards a head’: TS Eliot prize winner Karen Solie
The Canadian poet, whose winning collection explores environmental and personal loss, discusses making art in existential times
Karen Solie’s Wellwater wins TS Eliot poetry prize
Poet’s sixth collection explores the destruction of the natural world, with a perspective shaped by her upbringing in rural Canada
The Guardian view on Poems on the Underground at 40: public art to be proud of
Editorial: This simple idea has travelled around the world, bringing hope and inspiration to millions
Poem of the week: Now, Mother, What’s the Matter? by Richard W Halperin
An exploration of what constitutes the literary arts – plus all the ‘troubled hearts’ and demons that accompany it – through the lens of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Poem of the week: Dream-Pedlary by Thomas Lovell Beddoes
From an almost whimsical beginning, these verses on wishing to overcome mortality grow lyrical and deeply moving
Poem of the week: Renegade by Lionel Johnson
A faultless lyric from 1887 mourns what seems to be repressed gay love
The best recent poetry – review roundup
The Bonfire Party by Sean O’Brien; Plastic by Matthew Rice; Retablo for a Door by Michelle Penn; Jonah and Me by John F Deane; Intimate Architecture by Tess Jolly
Poem of the week: The Man in the Wind by Anne Stevenson
This haunting poem depicts an elusive, dangerous figure of overwhelming destructive power
Poem of the week: Down on the canal on Christmas Day by Chris McCabe
A melancholy December vision in Liverpool invokes a Dickensian ghost with more worldly but still warm realism