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GORDON PARSONS recommends an entertaining account of the years between Germany’s defeat in WWI and Hitler’s seizure of power
Contrasting collections of northern poets at the height of their considerable powers
21st Century Poetry with Andy Croft
MIGUEL YOSHIDA explains the evolution and influence of the Cuban Casa De Las Americas in joining culture to the revolutionary struggle
ANDY HEDGECOCK is charmed by a skilful adaptation of Tove Jansson’s lyrical portrait of three generations of a family, overcoming grief
ALEX HALL treads warily through a messy, dialectical struggle fought in the mundane machinery of driving licences, criminal law, and birth registries
MICHAL BONCZA, FIONA O’CONNOR, JAMES WALSH and ANGUS REID review Atlas of Disappearance, Love Me Tender, Bouchra, and This Tempting Madness
Flitting between myth and the modern world, Medusa is determined to steer clear of human affairs. When her resolve crumbles, the result is petrifying in every sense
IT’S hard not to like Simon Armitage Despite all the prizes, professorships and profiles in the broadsheets, his work is genuinely popular, likeable and readable, entertaining without trying to be funny and serious without being “difficult.”
Unusually for the contemporary poetry scene, the critical praise and commercial success he enjoys is actually merited.
The publication of Paper Aeroplane: Selected Poems 1989-2014 (Faber, £14.99) confirms his reputation as the most significant British poet of his generation. The first half of the book is pretty well the same as Faber’s 2001 Selected Poems — the main difference is that the new version includes only six poems from CloudCuckooland instead of 30.
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The Odyssey is a tale of evasions and half-truths; this reflects the effects of traumatic ‘moral injury’ common to war veterans, suggests STEPHAN BLUM
Two inspring books — that’s your New Year’s musing from me on January 2 2026
ANDY CROFT welcomes the publication of an anthology of recent poems published by the Morning Star, and hopes it becomes an annual event
Including races at Haydock and Ascot