The great love poet is here locked in an anxious wrestle with his religious conscience
November 2022
‘Taking life advice from John Donne would be disastrous’ – the roof-walking, trapeze-flying Baillie Gifford winner
£50K Baillie Gifford non-fiction prize won by Katherine Rundell
April 2022
Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell review – a deft portrait of John Donne
Rundell captures John Donne’s unique vision in all its power, eloquence and strangeness
Plague poems, defiant wit and penis puns: why John Donne is a poet for our times
Master of the Revels at a time of persecution, Donne broke new ground with poems that burst with sexual desire and intellectual curiosity
Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne review – masterly study
Katherine Rundell’s engaging and playful biography of the metaphysical poet demands – and rewards – your attention
December 2021
2022 culture preview
Nonfiction to look out for in 2022
From studies of grief to memoirs from Melvyn Bragg and Jarvis Cocker, along with Norman Scott’s account of a very English scandal, here are the titles coming your way next year
December 2020
The book of love: 400-year-old tome of John Donne’s poems is unveiled
Handwritten manuscript acquired by British Library gives new clues to his work
March 2020
Lockdown reading
Tackle that to-be-read pile: the books to try if you're self-isolating
From Nora Ephron to Thomas Mann, here are 12 books to entertain, challenge and inspire if you’re confined at home due to Covid-19
December 2019
Carol Rumens's poem of the week
Poem of the week: The Flea by John Donne
A ludicrous image of physical intimacy provides a suitor with a feeble wooing ruse – and us with sharp romantic comedy
July 2019
Top 10s
From Bag End to Babel: Top 10 libraries in fiction
Writers as different as JRR Tolkien and Jorge Luis Borges have stacked some of their most giddying visions on imaginary shelves. Check them out
May 2019
Carol Rumens's poem of the week
Poem of the week: Twickenham Garden by John Donne
Intriguingly attuned to modern science, this acid-spotted Arcadia comes complete with blight, bugs and bad weather
November 2018
Unknown John Donne manuscript discovered in Suffolk
Found in a box, the 400-year-old volume is one of the largest handwritten collections of the poet’s verse and is expected to sell for more than £200,000
