We keep you updated on the world of poetry with our news roundups.
Born in Volhynia in the Ukraine in 1873, Hayyim Nahman Bailik grew up to become one of the leading forces in Hebrew poetry. His father was a shrewd businessman and academic but died early on when Bailik was just seven years old. Being orphaned at such a young age left its mark on the poet and the misery he felt ...
Born in Ghazni in the south of Afghanistan sometime during the eleventh century, Sanai is considered one of the most influential early mystics from the Persian region and author of The Walled Garden of Truth. Despite his strong influence not much is known about his life and much is gleaned from his poetry which is often autobiographical. His name is generally ...
Born around 1554 in the small village of Chandrahar in India, Habba Khatoon is remembered as one of the great mystic poets of her era and was called Zooni (translated as the moon) because of her great beauty. She is considered one of the great influences on Kashmiri culture and her songs and poetry are still popular within the region today. Unlike ...
The 19th century Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen was primarily an author of fairy tales and short stories for children, but he was also a renowned poet. He was feted in his own country and throughout Scandinavia. Once he had travelled further afield his fame and popularity grew even more and his name is now synonymous with children’s stories across every continent ...
Helen Maria Williams was a colourful character born in the 18th century who managed to stir up trouble for herself at almost every turn. Her considerable output of poetry and prose was often of a highly political nature, criticising the French government of Napoleon, supporting the revolutionaries during France’s Reign of Terror or making outspoken statements on the abolition of the slave ...
Haniel Long was an American writer known primarily for his prose writing but at least two collections of poetry were published under his name. He was also a teacher of English and contributor to a newspaper called The New Mexico Sentinel where he edited the writers’ page, thus continuing his efforts to encourage new writers. He had begun that task when he ...
George Wither was a controversial English poet, born in the late 16th century when the country was changing in style and outlook from the perceived excessive glamour of the Elizabethan age to the more austere times under James I. He was one of those who was, on the one hand, nostalgic for the reign of Elizabeth I, but on the other ...
Reading the story of the famous Harry Harbord Morant, often referred to by his nickname of “The Breaker”, it is hard to believe that this man was a poet. He was generally known as a rollicking, womanising, horse-breaking drover and soldier who found his way from England to Australia and then on to the Boer War battlefields of 19th Century South Africa. ...
Born in 1874 in London, Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a writer, critic, lay preacher and poet who was known for his sharp wit and more popularly remembered for his fictional detective creation Father Brown. Over his lifetime, G. K. Chesterton wrote some 80 novels and prose works, 200 short stories and thousands of essays on everything from religion and philosophy ...
Born in 1884 in London, writer Gilbert Frankau was mostly known for his prose work but was also an important contributor to the poetry of the First World War. Although he was born into a Jewish household, Frankau was actually baptized into the Anglican Church when he was thirteen years old. His father was a merchant who had been born in ...
