Jarvis Cocker's lyrics to be published in a book
As knowing insights into the first flush of love go, it's not exactly Shakespeare. But "I took her to a supermarket/ I don't know why but I had to start it somewhere/ So it started there," has its own, peculiarly left field charm. It's also the second verse of the Britpop band Pulp's 1995 hit Common People - and last week the publishing house Faber announced that it is to publish a book of the frontman Jarvis Cocker's witty, playful and always intelligent lyrics in October.
In typically self-effacing fashion, Cocker announced on Faber's Vimeo page that "I went back and looked at the words [to Pulp's songs] and with the passage of time I realised that some of them were alright."
He was being seriously modest: his acerbic dissection of the British class system in Common People is spot on. The evocative flashbacks to growing up in a northern English town in Disco 2000 ("Your house was very small/ with woodchip on the wall") are straight out of a Simon Armitage poem.
It remains to be seen whether these excerpts will feature in Mother, Brother, Lover: Selected Lyrics - or indeed whether Faber might experiment with the e-book and ask Cocker to read the lyrics rather than sing them. It would be an interesting exercise, because Cocker's book reignites the old debate about the literary merit of songwriting once the tune is taken away.
Recent developments certainly suggest songwriters are beginning to enjoy the kind of plaudits usually reserved for authors. Last month, the Canadian songwriter Leonard Cohen won the Prince of Asturias Award for Letters, a Spanish prize that has in the past gone to esteemed novelists such as Margaret Atwood and Paul Auster. The jury gushed that he had created "emotional imagery in which poetry and music are fused in an oeuvre of immutable merit". Anyone with a passing knowledge of Cohen's heartbreaking anthem Hallelujah will find that hard to argue with.
Meanwhile, Bob Dylan has been nominated for the highly regarded Neustadt International Prize for Literature, for which he will compete with the likes of the Booker Prize-winning author John Banville, the Bosnian writer Alexsandar Hemon and other renowned novelists from around the world. Dylan, of course, is often referred to as the beatnik bard, and has not only published books of his lyrics but had them dissected and analysed by academics and critics. The Oxford Book of American Poetry contains TS Eliot's The Waste Land and Walt Whitman's Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, but also the surrealist lyrics to Dylan's epic song from 1965, Desolation Row.
Margaret Atwood Poems - News
Toby Litt, Kim Newman, Pat Cadigan and Paul McAuley – plus filmed contributions from Margaret Atwood – discuss their favourite science fiction works, at the British Library (6.30pm, £7.50 / £5). Niall O'Sullivan hosts the regular open mic night Poetry
Award for Letters, a Spanish prize that has in the past gone to esteemed novelists such as Margaret Atwood and Paul Auster. The jury gushed that he had created "emotional imagery in which poetry and music are fused in an oeuvre of immutable merit".
Previous winners of the Trillium Book Award include Margaret Atwood, Wayson Choy, Alice Munro and Michael Ondaatje. Publishers of the winning books each receive $2500 towards their promotional costs. Local writer Dr Marina Ama Omowale Maxwell has made
Margaret Atwood. The great Canadian novelist has worked tirelessly to help explain Canada and Canadians to the rest of the world. Plus, if she becomes Queen, may get props after choosing her book as its first pick for its 1book140 book
Margaret Atwood, a long-time fan, listed 32 reasons why Anne attracts Japanese readers in an article for Britain's Guardian newspaper. They include: her passion for cherry blossoms, her exotic red hair, her willingness to work hard (while still being
YAWP! (Young Adult Writers Perform) « HCunite
YAWP! (Young Adult Writers Perform) is a night of poetry and performance – a competitive platform for contestants to bring out the value of literary arts to their audience. YAWP! 2011 is no different, with this year’s theme being adapted from Margaret Atwood’s poem “A Woman’s Issue”.
YAWP! 2011: Exhibit A hopes to look beyond its gritty subject matter, with a refocus on the discovery of self through art; allowing participants to journey inwards and to transform literature from page to stage.
Come watch your friends battle it out in teams or as individuals.There will also be an Open Mic round, where the public can move on stage to share their own - or their favorite - literary pieces.
This year we are honored to have Ms. Teng Qian Xi poet (author of "They intend to crystallize the salt") and Mr Yeow Kai Chai (author of "pretend I'm not here" and "secret Manta" ), as well as our previous leader Literature Wing Akilan Shanmugaratnam, decide on the competition and share their work with us.
We are also pleased to have Theophilus Kwek, the latest voice in Singapore’s literary scene, share some extracts from his poetry collection ‘They Speak Only Our Mother Tongue’.
Selected Poems, 1965-1975: 
Selected Poems, 1965-1975: Margaret Atwood Poems - Bookshelf
Selected poems II, poems selected & new 1976-1986
This collection of seventy-three poems includes poems culled from "Two Headed Poems," "True Stories," and "Interlunar," as well as seventeen poems not ...Selected poems, 1965-1975
Poems deal with death, self-image, disasters, politics, children, evolution, history, the news, language, dreams, animals, and loveThe Door
A volume of fifty works by the author of the Handmaid's Tale and Morning in the Burned House applies urgent, meditative, and prophetic tones to pieces that ...Selected poems, 1966-1984
Morning in the burned house
A collection of intimate reflections on such diverse subjects as classical history, popular mythology, love, and the fragility of natureCasual Posts Directory
Margaret Atwood - Poems, Biography, Quotes
Free collection of all Margaret Atwood Poems and Biography. See the best poems and poetry by Margaret Atwood.
Poet: Margaret Atwood - All poems of Margaret Atwood
Poet: Margaret Atwood - All poems of Margaret Atwood .. poetry ... Atwood's poems reveal a raw sense of feminism and wit. She writes freely yet craftily addresses the issues ...
Margaret Atwood Poems and Poetry
All of Margaret Atwood Poems. Margaret Atwood Poetry Collection from Famous Poets and Poems.
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood Poems 1976-1986; Virago Press Limited, 1991. ... Audio editions of Margaret Atwood's novels are available, read by actresses and actors. ...
Margaret Atwood : The Poetry Foundation
Regarded as one of Canada's finest living writers, Margaret Atwood is a poet, novelist, story writer, essayist, and environmental activist. Her books have received ...