-
Jan 14, 2025 | 
thetimes.com | Graeme Richardson
-
Nov 29, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Paula Byrne |Graeme Richardson |Laura Hackett |Robbie Millen
Literary feuds, betrayal, murder, “almost murder”, disturbing hallucinations, passionate romance, countryside knee-tremblers, friendship and “overboogie”: bookish types do get up to all sorts. This guide to the best literary non-fiction, a collection for discerning readers, provides enchantment too. In his titanic survey of children’s literature, Sam Leith goes back to the beginning of our existence to investigate the magic of childhood reading. So if you’re sitting comfortably, then we’ll begin.
-
Nov 23, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Graeme Richardson
The New Generation poets of the Nineties had some success. First Carol Ann Duffy, then Simon Armitage, became poet laureate. Kathleen Jamie is the makar in Scotland. Poets such as Don Paterson and John Burnside became big fish in poetry’s small pond. Prizes, professorships and publishing jobs were shared out. For a poet, though, the greatest success is to last.
-
Aug 9, 2024 | 
themag.co.uk | Graeme Richardson
Although I read The Mag daily, I only submit the occasional article, normally when I get a bee in my bonnet about something and so I spontaneously crack open a beer, put pen to paper (fingers to keyboard) and feel better after pressing ‘send’. I’ll start with a confession; I write under a pseudonym. I started submitting articles many years ago when I was a serving Police Officer with Northumbria Police and it made sense not to have my name and occupation published.
-
Jun 22, 2024 | 
thetimes.com | Graeme Richardson
Why not take poetry to the beach this summer? Small books, light in your luggage. Brain-training less tedious than sudokus. More emotionally nourishing than another ghoulish thriller. Sure, a collection can be hit-and-miss (whisper it — even the greatest were). But if you’re lucky there’ll be a poem to learn and remember — a souvenir to take home. Here are four books you should consider packing. If you’re not a regular reader of poetry, Imtiaz Dharker gives you a place to start.
-
Apr 27, 2024 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Graeme Richardson
Poetry collections are easier to sell with a strong theme. Racism, addiction, suicide: these grab the attention. More humdrum themes — motherhood, mortality — have to be played fortissimo to compete. Does that make for good poetry? Hammering away at a theme soon dispels its charm. The best collections are subtler: they engage the reader, but they also disquiet and surprise. Armen Davoudian, of Armenian descent, grew up in Iran and lives in America.
-
Feb 24, 2024 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Graeme Richardson
John Cooper Clarke’s new collection, What, following his 2019 memoir I Wanna Be Yours, confirms his creative Indian summer. Not many poetry books make it into the Sunday Times bestseller list, as this one did last week. At 75, he’s still a rhymer to be reckoned with, the trademark Mancunian snarl audible here in each poem’s thumping rhythms. The aim is comedy and swagger.
-
Feb 19, 2024 | 
themag.co.uk | Graeme Richardson
Let’s talk about the marvellous new Newcastle United digital ticketing. We are now seventeen home matches into the new fiasco of having to scan your ticket via your mobile phone as you enter the turnstile. It seems a simple idea; moving with the times, what could possibly go wrong? I am old enough to remember the early 1970s where we used to sit drinking underage in a city centre pub, before deciding at about 2.50pm, who was actually going to bother their backside wandering up to the ground.
-
Jan 16, 2024 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Graeme Richardson
Jason Allen-Paisant’s Self-Portrait as Othello has won the 2023 TS Eliot prize, shortly after winning the 2023 Forward prize for best collection. Allen-Paisant is only the fourth writer to achieve this “double”. His win is slightly surprising — judging panels often decide to share out the loot. But now Jason Allen-Paisant stands alongside names such as Ted Hughes, who won both prizes in 1998 with Birthday Letters. What’s the secret of the book’s success?
-
Dec 7, 2023 | 
thetimes.co.uk | Graeme Richardson
Noisy, charismatic, provocative but ultimately thoughtful, Benjamin Zephaniah was not just a poet but a cultural force. As a black British writer, and as a performer at home on stage or TV, he cut a path for others to follow. This year’s Forward Prizes for Poetry nicely illustrate the influence of Zephaniah, who died today at the age of 65. For best collection and best first collection, the shortlists had a majority of ethnic minority writers.
