One Midsummer’s Day by Mark Cocker review – soaring with swifts Wonder and gratitude drive a revelatory account of this vital summer visitor The Guardian - UK · Jun 16, 2023
Book Review: 'George' is a memoir by Frieda Hughes is about saving and being saved by a wild bird Poet-painter Frieda Hughes sets out in “George: A Magpie Memoir” to recount the months she spent caring for an injured magpie she named George The Independent UK · Jun 5, 2023
Gerald Rose obituary Children’s illustrator whose picture books with his wife, Elizabeth, and authors such as Ted Hughes, are enjoyed worldwide The Guardian - UK · May 12, 2023
Play on poet Sylvia Plath trains the spotlight on clinical depression Sylvia, a play scripted and directed by Athira Nikathil, is an intimate portrayal of the life of American poet Sylvia Plath and her struggle with depression The Hindu · May 11, 2023
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 The Guardian - UK · Apr 28, 2023
‘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? The Guardian - UK · Apr 8, 2023
Max Porter: ‘Empower yourself to think carefully about men and masculinity’ As he releases his fourth novel, ‘Shy’, Max Porter talks to Patrick Sproull about the end of his ‘boyhood’ trilogy, sensitivity readers, and still reading Philip Roth and Ted Hughes The Independent UK · Apr 6, 2023
Sylvia Plath's famous collection Ariel is far darker than she envisaged “Love” is the first word in Ariel, the collection of poems published by Faber and Faber in 1965 that made Sylvia Plath one of the most famous poets of the post-war generation. The Conversation · Feb 10, 2023
Calderdale: a hike in Yorkshire’s Happy Valley Our writer dons his waterproof trousers for an 11-mile stroll along the towpaths and moortops of Happy Valley country, from Sowerby Bridge to Todmorden The Guardian - UK · Feb 2, 2023
How Chaucer's medieval Wife of Bath was tamed and then liberated in the 21st century Chaucer’s Wife of Bath is one of the most famous characters in English literature. Since appearing in the Canterbury tales in 1387, her tale has been rewritten and adapted by authors from the French philosopher Voltaire in the 18th century to the contemporary author Zadie Smith in 2021. The Conversation · Jan 12, 2023
Euphoria by Elin Cullhed review – inside the mind of Sylvia Plath The Swedish writer offers an audacious, gripping novel imagining the poet’s final year and the conflict between creative genius and domestic life The Guardian - UK · Dec 15, 2022
Philip Larkin’s letter about the Ilkley screamer Brief letters: Ted Hughes poetry reading | Avanti trains | Hoarding toes | A measure of squidge | Deep dive into jargon The Guardian - UK · Dec 6, 2022
Austin Hobbs obituary Other lives: Old-school bank manager whose work took him to the agricultural and coastal communities of the south-west The Guardian - UK · Nov 25, 2022
Sylvia Plath’s life should fascinate us far more than her death State of the Arts: How do we fix the way we think about Sylvia Plath? Ninety years since her birth, Jessie Thompson asks if we need to challenge ourselves as the bold poet herself did with her work The Independent UK · Oct 28, 2022
The Guardian - UK · Oct 9, 2022 Even Ted Hughes has fallen to the sickly cult of the twee From the Queen to Robin Williams, sentimental images abound to help us through grief and avoid staring death in the face
The Guardian - UK · Oct 6, 2022 Station to station: a walk in Brontë country The first in our new series of car-free walks is an enjoyable tramp across the West Yorkshire moors from Haworth to Hebden Bridge
The Guardian - UK · Sep 18, 2022 Michael Dawson obituary Other lives: Arts administrator who founded the Ilkley Literature festival in 1973
The Guardian - UK · Sep 10, 2022 Five men and one woman who took on impossible job – of poet laureate Several of the poets appointed by, or inherited by the Queen, had to deal with public mockery. No wonder Philip Larkin turned down the role
The Guardian - UK · Jul 8, 2022 Unpublished Ted Hughes poems about partner Assia Wevill to be sold The recently found notebook of fragments and finished work has been described as the poet’s ‘most direct’ response to the suicide of his partner and daughter in 1969
The Guardian - UK · Apr 27, 2022 A moment that changed me: my dream job healed my excruciating pain The autoimmune disease lupus had ruined my life until I landed an interview at the Southbank Centre. After years of trying to fit in I’d found my tribe – and a way to get better
Salon · Mar 8, 2022 Sylvia Plath’s secret miscarriage Newly released private letters to her psychologist reveal the import behind Plath's tragedy
The Conversation · Feb 14, 2022 How Sylvia Plath’s secret miscarriage transforms our understanding of her poetry In 2017, one of Sylvia Plath’s private letters, which had previously not been made public, included a startling revelation: Plath suggested that her husband, poet Ted Hughes, was responsible for the miscarriage of their child in February 1961.
The Guardian - UK · Feb 11, 2022 This be the verse for the Queen’s jubilee: Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes and Elizabeth II Letter: David Evans recalls Philip Larkin’s poem for the silver jubilee and his pastiche of what he imagined Ted Hughes might write
Wales Online · Dec 18, 2021 The most common Welsh surnames and their meaning, history and origin Are you a Jones, Davies, or maybe a Morgan?