MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
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Round-up 2016: Poetry
Andy Croft hosts some of Britain’s leading poets as they review the collections which have made a big impression on them this year
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
• JOHN BURNSIDE
A FINE year for British poetry, with excellent collections from three poets who have, perhaps, not been consistently accorded all the praise they deserve.
Bernard O’Donoghue, a veteran poet of craft, deftness and quiet elegance, is on top form in The Seasons of Cullen Church (Faber), while Ian Duhig, another true original and, arguably, one of the most formally astute poets working today, delights, moves and astonishes with The Blind Road-Maker (Picador).
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