James K Baxter: venerated poet’s letters about marital rape rock New Zealand

Collection of writings just released includes references to rape of then-wife Jackie Sturm, herself an acclaimed poet and author

A new collection of letters from one of New Zealand’s most significant poets, James K Baxter, that includes a blunt admission of marital rape is causing shockwaves through the literary community.

Baxter died in Auckland in 1972 but remains one of New Zealand’s literary giants. He achieved international attention in the late 1950s after Oxford University Press published his poetry collection, In Fires Of No Return.

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The Ms. Q&A: What Feminist Poet Ada Limon is Carrying Through the Trump Era

Bright Dead Things , Lucky Wreck , This Big Fake World and Sharks in the Rivers- returned in August with a selection of work that bravely explores agency, power and autonomy. Inside, LimA3n, who currently serves on the faculty of Queens University of Charlotte Low Residency M.F.A program and the 24Pearl Street online program for the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, writes frankly and ferociously about racism, fertility and gender roles-and even drafts up a new National Anthem.

LKJ slowing down

For the past 40 years his writing and poetry have been the voice of the West Indian living in Britain. With his trademark fedora ever at a jaunty keel, and his wired spectacles, Jamaican-born, UK-bred writer Linton Kwesi Johnson, the has, through his work, continuously provided a window on the experiences of his people using the rich and multi-layered culture of his native Jamaica, particularly patois and reggae rhythms as the substrate from which grows the biting social and political commentary which is at the heart of his work.

NEA Tries to Boot Refugee Student From National Poetry…

A high-school student in Maine is suing the National Endowment for the Arts after the agency disqualified him from a poetry contest because he isn't an American citizen or green card holder. Allan Monga, a junior at Portland's Deering High School, fled Zambia last year and applied for asylum in the United States.

US poet laureate starts rural reading tour in New Mexico

Smith has embarked on the first of several trips to bring her poetry to rural pockets of the co... The oldest victim swept away in a California mudslide was Jim Mitchell, who had celebrated his 89th birthday the day before and died with his wife of more than 50 years, Alice. The oldest victim swept away in a California mudslide was Jim Mitchell, who had celebrated his 89th birthday the day before and died with his wife of more than 50 years, Alice.

Hollywood’s Homo-Hypocrisy

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? When I saw that headline, I immediately had a hunch and - surprise! surprise! - my hunch was correct: As the year comes to a close, Hollywood releases its final batch of films, many of which will go on to earn plenty of Oscar nominations. One of them is Call Me By Your Name , a coming-of-age drama about a 17-year-old boy who develops a romantic relationship with a 24-year-old man .

“Bunk”: From P.T. Barnum to the post-truth age

These days renowned poet and cultural critic Kevin Young is one of the most reviled and dismissed of figures: He's a learned expert on fakery. The author of "Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News" began the book six years ago, long before "fake news" became a depressingly common pejorative.

Books, events mark late poet Gwendolyn Brooks 100th birthday

In this June 1989 file photo, Illinois Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks holds a portrait of herself painted by Anne-Cressey McGraw-Beuchamp at a ceremony in Chicago. Brooks would have turned 100 on June 7, 2017, something places around the country are commemorating all year with new books, poetry readings, writing contests and even a bus tour through her hometown of Chicago, all inspired by her.

Trump inaugural puts artists in quandary

Several months ago, before the presidential election, San Francisco poet and author Dean Rader found himself engaged in a philosophical debate with some of his fellow poets: If Donald Trump were to win the presidency, and if he asked one of them to compose a poem to be read at the inauguration, would they do it? On the one hand, none of them supported Trump for the presidency. Rader didn't know many politically conservative poets, in general, and his friends found the prospect of Trump's election to be "terrifying" and offensive.