Love poetry is hardest to write, says new poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy
Speaking at the Guardian Hay festival, Carol Ann Duffy explained why, when it comes to poetry, love is both the 'most exciting' and 'most challenging' subject

Alison Flood writing in the guardian.co.uk, Thursday 28 May 2009

Carol Ann Duffy. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Love poetry is the most difficult thing for a poet to excel at, admitted new poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy today at the Guardian Hay Festival, where she was making her first major appearance since accepting the role.
It's the most prone to cliché, or to "saying something which has been said before," said Duffy, but is also "the most exciting, the most challenging poetry to write".
The freshly minted laureate was in conversation with national poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, who defended Duffy against herself, describing her as a "terrific" female love poet in what has been a long line of male writers – "all the John Donnes and Shakespeares".

Read Alison Flood's full piece here.