Poetry blog

We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.

Recent posts

Lesya Ukrainka Poems

 

Lesya Ukrainka was one of Ukraine’s best known poets who also wrote plays.  She was politically active, especially on feminist issues. She was born Larysa Petrivna Kosach-Kvitka on the 25th February 1871 in the Ukrainian town of Novohrad-Volynskyi.  Her mother was a writer who used the pseudonym Olena Pchilka to write poetry and short stories aimed at children and it seems likely that she ...

Leslie Coulson Poems

 

Leslie Coulson was an English First World War poet and journalist who tragically lost his life on the battlefields of the Western Front. He was born on the 19th July 1889 in the Kilburn district of London, the son of a Sunday Chronicle journalist.  After a boarding school education in Norfolk he followed his father into newspapers, obtaining a post as a junior ...

Poetry on Vinyl/Vancouver Laureate – Poetry news roundup November 29th

 

In today’s new post we bring you a poetry round up that takes a look the return of poetry on vinyl and also the search for the 5th poet laureate of Vancouver. Live Poetry Returns to Vinyl One of the most prolific poets in America, Alice Notely, has created something a little different with her latest poetry collection. Rather than being published as a ...

Airport Poetry/Kenyon Prize/6 word memories – Poetry News Roundup November 28th

 

In todays round-up we bring you poetry at the airport, the 2017 Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry, and the school children studying 6-word memories, and other types of poetry. Poetry at the Airport Canadians were delighted this weekend to find Peter Mansbridge, who retired as CBC’s The National news reader in July at Vancouver International Airport. With just a month to go he ...

Lady Jane Wilde Poems

 

Lady Jane Wilde was a 19th century, pro-Irish nationalist poet who used the pseudonym "Speranza".  Although famous in her own right one of her children was the renowned poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. She was born Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee on the 27th December 1821 in Wexford, the daughter of a lawyer.  Her ancestors were originally Italian.  As she grew up she became ...

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Poems

 

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an aristocratic English writer who is chiefly remembered for her poetry and a large catalogue of letters.  These were of the travelogue variety, documenting her time in the Ottoman Empire while she was married to the British ambassador to Turkey.  It was unusual for a woman at that time to write in such detail about the “Muslim ...

Shrewsbury/Tree Charter – Poetry News Roundup November 27th

 

We start another week here at My Poetic Side with a news story about the headline speaker at the second annual Shrewsbury Literature Festival. We also look at the signing of the Tree Charter. Shrewsbury Festival of Literature This weekend saw the second annual Shrewsbury Festival of Literature taking place. A variety of events relating to both prose and poetry took place at various ...

Poetry Books Out Soon – Poetry News Roundup November 24th

 

Our final news round-up of the week takes a look at three new poetry books that will be available very soon; an anthology of poetry based on the works of Ovid, an English translation of the Wine poetry of Abu Nuwas and the English launch of Andri Snær Magnason’s, “Bónusljóð”. Ovid’s Poetry, as Current Now as It Was 2000 Years Ago 2017 marks ...

CBC/CantoMundo/Iraqui Poet in Exile – Poetry News Roundup November 23rd

 

Today on My Poetic Side we have two news articles on the winners of poetry prizes. We also take a look at the Iraqi poet who has been living in exile since he was sentenced to death in 1996. 2017 CBC Poetry Prize Winner The winner of the 2017 CBC poetry prize has been announced; Alessandra Naccarato has won this year’s prize for her ...

Konstantin Batyushkov Poems

 

Konstantin Batyushkov was a Russian elegiac poet and translator of the literary and artistic Romantic movement which swept Europe during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.  He also served in his country’s diplomatic corps, spending two years in Naples between 1818 and 1819, and also as a junior officer in the Russian army during the Napoleonic wars. He was born Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov on ...