Great Regulars: Kipling scholars are celebrating the publication

of lost poems by the author whose exhortations in "If" to "keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on you" are regularly voted the nation's favourite poem. Discovered by the American scholar Thomas Pinney in an array of hiding places including family papers, the archive of a former head of the Cunard Line and during renovations at a Manhattan house, more than 50 previously unpublished poems by Rudyard Kipling will be released for the first time next month.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: 50 unseen Rudyard Kipling poems discovered

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Much-loved community stores including Langton's Bookshop in Twickenham, which had been in business for more than half a century, Walkers Bookshop in Sleaford and Baytree Books of Waterlooville all closed down last year, said the Booksellers Association, which is calling for the government and the publishing industry to "act urgently" to improve conditions for booksellers on the high street. Other victims include Farthing Books in Coulsdon and a number of independent Christian booksellers.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Decline in independent bookshops continues with 73 closures in 2012

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Talk to publishers or booksellers about poetry, and you'll hear the same refrain. It's niche, it's difficult to sell--and young people just aren't interested. Look online and you'll see a different picture. More than 20,000 teenagers are writing poetry on the social reading website Wattpad, and over 100,000 are actively reading Wattpad's poems on both web and mobile, while on the young adult community writing site Movellas, there are 20 to 30 new poems uploaded a day, with the most popular read up to 15,000 times, receiving between 20 and 200 comments. That's not a particularly convincing display of indifference.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: How the internet is kickstarting a teen poetry revolution

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"The whole idea is that of the barter. All I've got to offer is my work, and the reading of it," said [Simon] Armitage, who was awarded the CBE for services to poetry in 2010. "Will that be enough for people to say I can stay at their home, or that they'll give me some sandwiches? I'm looking for anyone who can tolerate me . . . In the Pennines there was never a night when I didn't have anywhere to stay, even if it was in someone's front room."

Armitage's Pennine walk gave rise to the book Walking Home, and he is planning to write a follow-up, Walking Away, about his journey through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Simon Armitage to walk south-west coast path, paying his way with poetry

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