Andrew Motion RSS feed

If you need love poetry, Byron�s the perfect valentine

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:54:18 GMT

In Waterstone�s I found 10 love poems in a pristine white envelope. Though mostly contemporary, they seem almost sweetly Victorian in the context of the modern "F**k off, he's mine" Valentine�s card

Arctic Monkeys are pure poetry, says Laureate Carol Ann Duffy

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 11:21:53 GMT

Poet Laureate praises the pop 'poetry' of rock band Arctic Monkeys ahead of a literary Live Aid for the victims of the Haiti earthquake

Don�t teach bored teenagers poems about Wayne Rooney, says ex-laureate

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:27:32 GMT

Sir Andrew Motion launches impassioned attack on the 'narrow, box-ticking' approach to teaching �literature in schools

Our writers are allowed to pick a pocket or two

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:25:12 GMT

You can lay many faults at the door of Sir Andrew Motion but plagiarism is not among them

Motion 'rips off historian' in Remembrance poem

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:43:55 GMT

Sir Andrew Motion has been accused of 'ripping off' a military historian's research for his Remembrance Sunday poem about shell-shocked soldiers

�20 million of art received in death deals

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:19:24 GMT

What Universities have done for us

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:17:18 GMT

Please don�t tell me my hero has feet of clay

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:03:18 GMT

I am in mourning for one of my favourite Sixties pop songs, California Dreamin�, by The Mamas and the Papas

A fitting tribute to the greatest Cockney poet - John Keats

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:58:50 GMT

With Keats House, the Heritage Lottery executives have got it right and bestowed their largesse on preserving something priceless

Tennis - it's a fortnight, not a game

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:50:56 GMT

SPORTING events turn us all into instant experts. Cometh the World Cup, cometh our intimate knowledge of "catenaccio" and Cameroonian goalkeepers. Then, when the jamboree folds up, so does our dossier of facile judgments.

Triumph of love and tax: Titian left to the nation goes on show

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 07:43:54 GMT

A �1million painting by Titian given to the nation in lieu of death taxes will go on show at the National Gallery next month

Concert celebrates Cambridge's 800th anniversary

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:00:00 GMT

The City of London Festival programme juxtaposed two big choral pieces by Peter Maxwell Davies with a new one by John Harle.

Champion of picture books named Children's Laureate

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:49:41 GMT

Author and illustrator Anthony Browne was announced as the Children's Laureate, and described how picture books helped families to bond

London is a poet's playground

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:09:52 GMT

From Seamus Heaney's Underground underworld to Andrew Motion's Thames trek, London is a poet's playground. Adam O'Riordan explores the capital's text appeal

Sound check: My word! It's a rap

Fri, 22 May 2009 10:57:22 GMT

Rising MC Speech Debelle is the latest performer to bring music to Bookslam, the literary nightclub that's breaking new ground.

Keats casts spell on Cannes star

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:46:00 GMT

Rising star Ben Whishaw has described falling in love with the poetry of John Keats as he prepared for his new movie, a contender for the Palme d�Or prize at Cannes

Forget 'honorary jokes': Carol Ann can show us why poetry matters

Fri, 01 May 2009 08:26:40 GMT

With its token �5,750-a-year salary and case of wine for your trouble, our Poet Laureateship has long been what the outgoing laureate Andrew Motion has affectionately termed an "honorary joke"

Ten years late, this lesbian icon is the right poet for the nation

Fri, 01 May 2009 14:50:21 GMT

After considerable dithering and havering, Carol Ann Duffy has agreed to take on the position of Poet Laureate

Duffy to donate Laureate money to poetry prize

Fri, 01 May 2009 08:27:32 GMT

Carol Ann Duffy, who will be unveiled as the new Poet Laureate, will give up her stipend to fund an annual poetry prize

Duffy dithers over whether to become first female laureate

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:19:41 GMT

The appointment of the new Poet Laureate descended into farce as the woman offered the role pondered over whether to accept it

Let's not panic - at least, not yet

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:03:54 GMT

The very possibility that swine fever has reached Clapham has brought the global scare uncomfortably close to home in London

Locals reveal world heritage with museum treasures

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:12:33 GMT

Hidden stores of the nation�s museums will be opened up as part of the Olympic cultural legacy in a �6 million scheme

No room for me at this Chatto reunion

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:54:18 GMT

One of my first jobs after leaving university was to work for the feminist publisher Carmen Callil

Newcomer wins �15,000 poetry prize after tragic death of rival

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:13:41 GMT

A newcomer has beaten favourites Glyn Maxwell and Mick Imlah to take one of the most prestigious prizes in poetry

Here�s the Queen�s church, here�s the steeple ...

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:52:20 GMT

... and inside the newly renovated St Martin-in-the-Fields there�s still room for all the homeless people...

Tributes pour in for legendary literary agent Pat Kavanagh

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:21:11 GMT

Tributes poured in for Pat Kavanagh, the legendary literary agent and wife of novelist Julian Barnes, who has died from a brain tumour

Being Laureate does not inspire poetry in Motion

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:39:30 GMT

The Poet Laureate has revealed that during his nine years in the role his works have failed to provoke a single response from the Queen

Bring some romance into choosing our Poet Laureate

Tue, 20 May 2008 08:24:27 GMT

In some ways, Andrew Motion has been the perfect Poet Laureate. As a poet, Motion has never shown the tiniest inkling of talent at any point in his career - and this lucky chance has freed him to perform the public duties of the laureateship without anybody worrying that he is betraying his genius

Stand up for Larkin, the true poet of the people

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:57:18 GMT

When Philip Larkin died in 1985, he was much the best-loved poet since the war (with the possible exception of Betjeman). That all changed with the publication of Larkin's previously uncollected poems and, in 1992, his Selected Letters. They revealed a lot more about Larkin and earned him excoriation as a racist and misogynist, fascist and porn addict

I was a bard behind bars, says Doherty

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 08:59:04 GMT

Pete Doherty has revealed how poetry kept him sane during his time behind bars. He said he adopted a character inspired by the French poet Paul Verlaine to survive.