PoetryObituaryJohn Montague obituaryProlific poet, writer and translator inspired by his Irish homelandThose who enjoy the Chieftains may not realise that the band took their name from a collection of short stories, Death of a Chieftain (1964), by the Irish poet John Montague, who has died aged 87.
Anyone who heard Montague himself performing, however, is quite likely to recollect what the poet Derek Mahon called his “mythical stammer”. This struggle to express himself, to find words for the ineffable or the unspeakable (as in the poem about an attempted rape, The Wild Dog Rose) is crucial to his often autobiographical work. Read More...
Life and styleFor Jane Rosenberg, a professional courtroom artist who has covered four decades of notorious trials, her viral sketch of Maxwell is just part of a strange and fascinating job Pastel drawings don’t typically go viral on the internet. But this month, thousands of Twitter users were mesmerized by a courtroom artist’s sketch of Ghislaine Maxwell – the alleged sex-trafficking accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein – staring at the artist and sketching back. Read More...
Comfort readingChinese literatureThe Tao Te Ching by Laozi: ancient wisdom for modern timesThe mysterious Laozi's ancient wisdom may be hard to translate, but the meaning is clear – learning to be self-aware could improve modern lifeTwo thousand four hundred years after it was composed, we need the Tao Te Ching's lessons in self-awareness more than ever. Little can be said with absolute certainty about the origins of the Tao Te Ching. Read More...