Georgi Gospodinov: ‘Jorge Luis Borges gave me an exhilarating sense of freedom’
The Bulgarian Booker winner on the letter he wrote to JD Salinger, the allure of Homer’s Odyssey and the magic of Thomas Mann
Poem of the week: To Wordsworth by Percy Bysshe Shelley
The radical young poet’s backhanded tribute to the older writer is a stern judgment on his lapsed political idealism
The best recent poetry – review roundup
Afterburn by Blake Morrison; Into the Hush by Arthur Sze; Unsafe by Karen McCarthy Woolf; Only Sing by John Berryman; Lamping Wild Rabbits by Simon Maddrell; Dream Latitudes by Alia Kobuszko
‘Pain is a violent lover’: Daisy Lafarge on the paintings she made when floored with agony
Suffering from a connective tissue disorder and enduring endless calls to try and get benefits, the poet and novelist turned to painting – resulting in work that could change perceptions of disabled people
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The author and spoken word artist’s delivery is full of tenderness and humour as she confronts the outdated notions of innocence that surround women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