Poetry Books

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Book SynopsisJimmy McAleavey is the author of numerous stage plays, including: Inventors (Kabosh, 2013), The Queen's Shilling (Goldin+Senneby 2013), Titans (Kabosh, 2012), Monsters, Dinosaurs (Abbey Theatre, 2011), Get Gaddafi (Tinderbox, 2011), The Sign of the Whale (Tinderbox, 2010), The Joy (and Roy) of Irish (Kabosh, 2010), The Virgin Father (Tinderbox, 2009) and Weirdwolf (Tinderbox, 2008). He has had several radio productions: Hearing Voices (BBC Radio 4 Afternoon Play, 2011), Wigs on the Green (a six-part series co-written with John Murphy on RTE radio, 2010), Food of the Blue (Radio 4 Afternoon Play, 2009), Moonmen (BBC Radio 3, 2008), The Last Words of Van Helsing (BBC Radio 7, 2007), The Ballad of Shane O'Neill (Radio 4 Afternoon Play, 2006), Cemetery Sunday (Radio 4, 1995). He has written for feature films, written and directed short films, scripted TV drama and produced and directed factual TV.

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Book SynopsisJack Michael Stacey is a playwright and actor whose first play was shortlisted for the Verity Bargate Award; he was also the runner-up for the Sir Alec Guinness Award. His plays have been performed at Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, Waterloo East, Arcola, Bread and Roses and The Hope.Matthew Howell is an actor, writer and purveyor of sagacity with wit. He is one half of the sketch duo Horrigan and Howell. Their award-nominated show was a sensation at Edinburgh Fringe in 2022. His work has been performed at The Pleasance, Hen and Chickens and The Hope.

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Book SynopsisGurpreet Kaur Bhatti writes for stage, screen and radio. Her first play Behsharam (Shameless) broke box office records at Soho Theatre and the Birmingham Rep. Behzti (Dishonour) was sensationally closed after protests at the Birmingham Rep in December 2004. Behzti won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the play was then translated into French and did sell-out tours in France and Belgium. Behud (Beyond Belief) was co-produced by Soho Theatre and Coventry Belgrade and shortlisted for the John Whiting Award. Khandan had a sell out run at the Birmingham Rep before transferring to the Royal Court. Her latest play A Kind Of People opened at the Royal Court Downstairs in December 2019. Other credits include Elephant, Birmingham Rep; Dishoom, Rifco/Watford Palace Theatre, Fourteen, Watford Palace Theatre; the feature film Everywhere And Nowhere; DCI Stone, Radio 4; Londonee, Rich Mix; Dead Meat, Channel 4 and An Enemy Of The People (BBC World Service). Her first collection of plays, Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti: PLAYS ONE, is published by Oberon Books. She is currently writing screenplays for Moonage Pictures, Cuba Pictures and Martha Stone Productions. She is also adapting Sathnam Sanghera's Marriage Material for the Birmingham Rep.

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Book SynopsisNima Taleghani is writer and performer, whose debut play Bacchae marks the first ever playwright debut on the National Theatre's Olivier stage. As an actor, he recently starred alongside Tom Holland as Benvolio in Jamie Lloyd's production of Romeo & Juliet, where he also served as the production's Text Editor. Nima's screen and stage performance credits include Heartstopper for Netflix as series regular Mr Farouk, and Cyrano de Bergerac alongside James MacAvoy in the West End & New York.

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Book SynopsisOver the past 25 years, Tanika Gupta has written over 25 stage plays that have been produced in major theatres across the UK and has written extensively for BBC Radio drama. Some of her theatre credits include: A Doll's House (Lyric Hammersmith); Lions And Tigers (Globe Theatre); The Empress (Royal Shakespeare Company); and Wah! Wah! Girls - A British Bollywood Musical (Sadler's Wells). In 2008 Tanika was awarded an MBE for Services to Drama and in 2016 was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

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Book SynopsisNiall Moorjani is an award winning and critically acclaimed Scottish-Indian, non-binary and neurodiverse writer, storyteller and theatre maker based between Edinburgh and London. They create for both children and adults, but at the core of all their work are themes of hope, joy and kindness.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisFrom grief to toothache, heartbreak to homesickness, the power of finding solace in the words of another cannot be overstated.Whether it was written 300 years ago or in our present day, poetry provides a comforting light in the dark. Words may not always provide solutions, but they can at the very least offer us a sense of hope, and the reassurance that we are not alone in our experiences and in our feelings.The Poetry First Aid Kit is a ready-made toolkit that offers you a light in the dark, no matter what you are feeling. Comprising poems from literary classics to new, cutting edge voices writing about the world today, this extraordinary collection proves that we are never alone in the suffering we endure, and in the human spirit''s capacity to overcome.Whether you are well-versed in poetry or sceptical to the power it holds, we hope that this collection will surprise you, entertain, and ultimately offer comfort through those difficult days.

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Book SynopsisSet on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero, lives with his daughter Miranda, and his two servants: Caliban, a savage monster figure, and Ariel, an airy spirit, The Tempest was written c. 1610-11 and is believed to be one of the last plays that Shakespeare wrote alone. With music and songs that evoke the spirit of enchantment on the island, The Tempest explores many themes, including magic, betrayal, revenge, and family. Although The Tempest is listed in the First Folio as the first of Shakespeare''s comedies, modern studies have created a category of romance for this and others of Shakespeare''s late plays. Some modern interpretations have seen it as a fable of art and creation, with Prospero representing Shakespeare, and Prospero''s renunciation of magic representing Shakespeare''s farewell to the stage, while others consider it an allegory of Europeans colonizing foreign lands.This edition is based on the First Folio and i

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Book SynopsisAs You Like It follows the heroic Rosalind as she flees persecution at her uncle''s court with her cousin Celia, to eventually find safety and love in the Forest of Arden. While in disguise, they encounter many memorable characters, especially the melancholy Jaques, who gives many of Shakespeare''s most famous speeches, including ''All the world''s a stage'', ''too much of a good thing'' and ''A fool! A fool! I met a fool in the forest''. This edition is based on the First Folio and includes an extensive introduction that examines the origins of the work, the plot and the characters as well as notes on the text, a glossary and a timeline of Shakespeare''s life and work. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Shakespeare Editions series brings together many of Shakespeare''s celebrated plays, presented with striking contemporary cover designs. Each edition is based on the First Folio and includes an informative introduction, glossary and timeline.

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Book SynopsisWhen a group of soldiers descend on the town of Messina, two romantic entanglements ensue. Shakespeare''s sparkling comedy trades on the skilful interplay between Beatrice and Benedick and the shades of light and dark that the mix of bright new love and dark deeds provides. This edition is based on the First Folio and includes an extensive introduction that examines the origins of the work, the plot and the characters as well as notes on the text, a glossary and a timeline of Shakespeare''s life and work.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Shakespeare Editions series brings together many of Shakespeare''s celebrated plays, presented with striking contemporary cover designs. Each edition is based on the First Folio and includes an informative introduction, glossary and timeline.

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Book SynopsisThe original poetry by Walter Scott in the Waverley Novels and other works

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Book SynopsisA beautiful collection from one of the great Romantic poets - the perfect introduction.

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Book Synopsis** An instant Sunday Times bestseller! **The new book from two-time Sunday Times bestselling poet, Hussain Manawer, I WANTED TO QUIT TOO. Split into five parts - Health, Hustle, Help, Hope and Healing - and featuring exclusive poetrythroughout from award-winning creative, Manawer, this groundbreaking anthology includes short stories and conversations from global household names and hometown heroes including photographer Greg Williams, actress Courteney Cox, actors Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Jay Ellis, YouTuber KSI, rugby union player Maro Itoje, singer-songwriter Sinead Harnett, amongst many others. The book is centred around powerful life lessons, where contributors share their experiences navigating difficult personal circumstances and how when weathering even the toughest storms, instead of giving up they have found the strength to move forwards. It is a powerful celebration of human resilience and love and will offer a vehicle

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Book SynopsisPenguin presents the CD edition of Heroes written and read by Stephen Fry.Mortals and Monsters. Quests and Adventures . . . __________There are Heroes - and then there are Greek Heroes.Few mere mortals have ever embarked on such bold and heart-stirring adventures, overcome myriad monstrous perils, or outwitted scheming vengeful gods, quite as stylishly and triumphantly as Greek heroes.In this companion to his bestselling Mythos, Stephen Fry brilliantly retells these dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales. Join Jason aboard the Argo as he quests for the Golden Fleece. See Atalanta - who was raised by bears - outrun any man before being tricked with golden apples. Witness wily Oedipus solve the riddle of the Sphinx and discover how Bellerophon captures the winged horse Pegasus to help him slay the monster Chimera.Filled with white-knuckle chases and battles, impossible puzzles and riddles, acts of base Trade ReviewThis is a spirited retelling of stories that Fry clearly knows and loves * The Times *Assured and engaging. The pace is lively, the jokes are genuinely funny, and Fry once again proves himself a master of great learning worn lightly * Guardian *Here, indeed, be monsters, myriad adventures and machinating gods. Fry is a personable and passionate narrator * Mail on Sunday *Just as delightful and difficult to put down as the first. Heroes makes the stories relatable without skimping on the gory details, or sacrificing the truths of the myth. It's rich, it's funny and you'll feel like you've learned a lot * Herald *Fry brilliantly retells the dramatic, funny, tragic and timeless tales of these heroic men and women in all their grit and glory. Filled with white-knuckle chases and twisted labyrinths, impossible puzzles and blood-curdling monsters * Northern Ireland Homes & Lifestyle *Just as delightful and difficult to put down as the first. It makes stories relatable without skimping on the gory details * Sunday Life *Rich, funny and you'll feel like you've learned a lot along the way * Eastern Daily Press *Tales of fatal flaws, perilous journeys and shining acts of heroism are told with gusto and young and old will be engrossed. The audiobook is an absolute gem too, read by the author who has a winning way of bringing these epic tales to life * Western Morning News *Joyfully informal yet full of the literary legacy. The Greek gods of the past become relatable * Guardian (on 'Mythos') *The best thing he's written since his superb first novel . . . entertaining and edifying * Telegraph (on 'Mythos') *A rollicking good read * Independent (on 'Mythos') *Perfect for the 21st Century. Ebullient, funny, Fry retells the Greek myths with elegance * The Times (on 'Mythos') *A wondrous new immersion in ancient stories we only thought we knew. Brilliant, funny, erudite, inventive, surprising and enthralling -- Richard North Patterson (on 'Mythos')Fry makes the stories relatable without skimping on the wonderful gory details, or sacrificing the traditional truths of the myth * i (The paper for today) *Stephen Fry has created a magnificent book. Humorous, but with serious stories told with wit and erudition. This is a book that will delight readers of all ages. Fry's writing is never less than delightful * Moorlander *Fry is a natural storyteller and his lively retellings make for an entertaining read * Hannah Beckerman, Observer *The comedian and polymath retells age-old Greek myths in dramatic, modernised style * i *One of the nation's favourite intellectuals retells the epic myths of the Greek heroes in his own unique and very enjoyable way * Cambridge Independent *

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Book SynopsisJoin Lola on her backstage adventure in the first picture book created with the National Theatre.It''s showtime! Lola is a little actor with big dreams. But when disaster strikes on opening night and an important prop goes missing backstage, can Lola save the show in time?A fun and engaging picture book for both daytime and bedtime, packed with backstage drama and laugh-out-loud moments, with references to theatre roles and departments. The perfect gift for any little one that loves the theatre.This book is ideal for fans of Chris Haughton and Michelle Robinson.Trade ReviewThis fabulous collaboration with the National Theatre is a rip-roaring romp […] Beautifully illustrated and full of fun, Lola really does turn out to be the G.O.A.T. * WRD Magazine *What a brilliant idea to introduce children the areas of a theatre they are never likely to see - but which are vitally important when putting on a show… I have never seen a book do anything similar for small children - a great idea for all our young theatre goers. * The School Librarian *Created in association with The National Theatre, this fun adventure set on opening night, has most of the action taking place behind the scenes. […] Guilherme Karsten’s funny, vibrant artwork is suitably dramatic. * Red Reading Hub *This is a lovely book to share or use at story time, in early years and KS1 classrooms, to talk about theatre and plays. * Just Imagine *

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Book SynopsisA Student Edition of Brecht's classic parable, set in an unjust society where good can only survive by means of evil. The text of the play is accompanied by an extensive commentary and study notes.

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Book SynopsisWith over 3,000 quotes organized by topic and by play the Dictionary is very easy to use. It also includes a glossary of unfamiliar terms and a brief biography of Shakespeare. The key word index makes it easy to dip into by word, theme or play allowing you to track down a half-remembered quote easily.

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Book SynopsisA collector's edition of Shakespeare's wonderful Sonnets, based on the Arden Shakespeare edition. All 154 sonnets are included here in this handsome hardback. A must for all Shakespeare and poetry lovers everywhere.

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Book SynopsisA Student Edition of Wedekind''s classic 1891 expressionist play about adolescent sexuality.Wedekind''s notorious play Spring Awakening influenced a whole trend of modern drama and remains relevant to today''s society, exploring the oppression and rebellion of adolescents among draconian parents and morals. This seminal work looks at the conflict between repressive adulthood and teenage sexual longings in a provincial German town.Highly controversial and with themes of sexuality, social attitudes and adolescence, the play is a popular and provocative text for study, especially at undergraduate level.This translation by Edward Bond first brought the play to English audiences when it premiered at the National Theatre in 1974. Receiving high praise (''scrupulously faithful both to Wedekind''s irony and his poetry.'' The Times), this version is now considered to be the definitive English translation.This Student Edition features expert and helpful annotation, including a scen

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Book SynopsisMacbeth is one of the most popular and bloody of Shakespeare''s tragedies. This accessible introduction offers a springboard into the play, taking a hands-on, performance-based approach, exploring the challenges and the rewards it presents to actors, audiences and students. Springboard Shakespeare: Macbeth has a three-part structure: whether you''re watching or reading, Ben Crystal takes you through exactly what you need to know Before, During and After the play. He combines a genuine passion and understanding of Shakespeare with his experience as an actor, giving the reader a clear route to thinking about, understanding and enjoying Macbeth.Trade ReviewHaving Crystal as a companion through the stickier parts of Hamlet and Macbeth is like going to the theatre with an intelligent friend. * The Independent *How different it might have been if we’d had Ben Crystal’s sparky little books to introduce us. My Shakespearean epiphany would have come much sooner...[the books] lead newcomers into the play in question in a gentle, upbeat, unpretentious way. Fresh and slim, they’re about as far as could be from dusty, dry study guides relating to school exams...much better than the average theatre programme...I’d like to see them on sale in theatre bookshops, and/or wherever there’s a production of one of these plays...I’d also recommend them for classroom use. -- Susan Elkin * The Independent on Sunday *A highly worthwhile series, which should prove to be valuable for directors, actors and students…This formula really works. As an experiment, your dedicated reviewer tried out Macbeth in preparation for and following on from the Eve Best production of the Globe. The experience was definitely improved, with some of the tips on words and language proving especially helpful and enlightening… These really are excellent little guides that will prove informative to almost anybody with an interest in the subject. -- Philip Fisher * British Theatre Guide *

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Book SynopsisI'm making a decision. I'm changing things. This is it. Three old friends in their mid-twenties. One remarkable day. For Ted, Danny and Charlotte, it's time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it. A day trip through the parks and raves and cafes of South London, where life is what you make it. The rapid fire words of Kate Tempest paint a picture of lives less ordinary in an unforgiving world, sound-tracked by an exhilarating score. The drama mixes rap-style poetry delivered with microphones and self-reflexive addresses to the audience. A play about love, life and losing your mind, and the first play from one of the UK's most exciting performance poets, Kate Tempest.Trade ReviewAn ingenious whole that's funny and true about growing up, getting wasted and – as they gather round a tree planted to remember their friend – wasting life. Tempest's writing oscillates between dynamic poetry that's full of vividly phrased acute observation and dialogue that's plainer but just as spot-on ... [a] very exciting new play. -- Elisabeth Mahoney * Guardian *Tempest is a distinct emerging voice on the poetry and rapping scene in London ... it’s an often electrifying script filled with sharp observations on life ... there’s also hope and, without sentimentality, the play becomes a lesson in when to seize the day. -- Daisy Bowie-Sell * Telegraph *Kate Tempest is a poet and rapper, jobs whose cadences shine enticingly through in the punchy rhythms of her writing. Theatre has borrowed her for her debut play and I heartily suggest we try to make the arrangement permanent, as Tempest provides a welcome shot in drama’s arm ... Tempest’s is a talent to be harnessed, not wasted. -- Fiona Mountford * Evening Standard *Kate Tempest’s debut Wasted is a punchy, poignant and perceptive play about life ... The three protagonists may be in their mid-20s but their sagas and struggles, aspirations and hesitations will resonate with audiences in generations above and below ... the characters are so close to home that it regularly strikes a nerve - and many a funnybone ... Tempest’s writing is smart and electric, all pith and wit, marking her out as one to watch. This may be her first play, but her poetry and rap experience shines through in the accomplished, confident script. -- Evelyn Curlet * Stage *As Ms. Tempest’s gorgeous streams of words flow out, they conjure a story so vivid it’s as if you had a state-of-the-art Blu-ray player stuffed into your brain, projecting image after image that sears itself into your consciousness. Both as writer and performer, Ms. Tempest stitches together words with such animate grace that language acquires an almost tactile quality * New York Times on 'Brand New Ancients' *

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Book SynopsisFirst performed at Edinburgh''s Royal Lyceum Theatre, the first stage play from the SUNDAY TIMES No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMESIt''s been 25 years since Alfred Chalmers was convicted of the gruesome murder of four young women in Edinburgh. Isobel McArthur, Scotland''s first Chief Constable, was the woman responsible for putting him behind bars, but the case has haunted her ever since.Now, with her retirement approaching, McArthur decides the time has come for answers. To uncover the truth, she revisits the case and interviews Chalmers for the first time in decades. But her decision rips opens old wounds and McArthur is soon caught up in a web of corruption, psychological mind-games and deceit that threatens not only her own life, but those of her fellow officers and even her own daughter.Tense, gritty and hard-hitting, DARK ROAD is the first ever stage play from bestselling crime writer Ian Rankin, co-written by the Royal Lyceum''Trade ReviewRankin continues to be unsurpassed among living British crime writers - THE TIMESOutstanding ... very ambitious and very confident - SUNDAY TELEGRAPHGritty and hard-hitting, it's the work of a writer at the very top of his game - SUNDAY MIRRORGenius ... Rankin once again proves himself to be the consummate master of crime - SCOTLAND ON SUNDAYRankin's dialogue flows so naturally that it's easy to dismiss his subtler gifts; no one captures the bleak grandeur of Scotland, or the mindset of those charged with upholding its law, in quite the same way - FINANCIAL TIMESA richly-plotted and densely-textured portrait of modern Scotland and its ills - INDEPENDENT

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Book SynopsisFrom the No.1 bestselling author of A SONG FOR THE DARK TIMESThe stage debut for the legendary detective John Rebus in this brand new, original story by Ian Rankin, written alongside the award-winning playwright Rona Munro.John Rebus is not as young as he was, but his detective instincts have never left him. And after the daughter of a murder victim turns up outside his flat, he''s going to need them at their sharpest.Enlisting the help of his old friend DI Siobhan Clarke, Rebus is determined to solve this cold case once and for all. But Clarke has problems of her own, problems that will put her at odds with her long-time mentor and push him into seeking help from his age-old adversary: ''Big Ger'' Cafferty.This haunting story takes Rebus to places he has never been before, sets him and his long-time foe on a collision course and takes us deeper into one of the most satisfying conflicts in modern fiction.Featuring an introduction

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Book SynopsisWhy be frightened of the most wonderful collection of tales ever written? No Fear: The Canterbury Tales makes it simple for students to love Chaucer's masterpiece in all its humor, bawdiness, and poignancy. It features the original text on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right; in addition, there is a complete list of characters with descriptions and plenty of helpful commentary.

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Book Synopsis*WINNER OF THE DESMOND ELLIOTT PRIZE*''Sharp, concise, stunningly visual'' Sunday TimesOn 30th May, 1593, a celebrated young playwright was killed in a tavern brawl in London. That, at least, was the official version. Now Christopher Marlowe reveals the truth: that his ''death'' was an elaborate ruse to avoid being convicted of heresy; that he was spirited across the Channel to live on in lonely exile; that he continued to write plays and poetry, hiding behind the name of a colourless man from Stratford - one William Shakespeare. With the grip of a thriller and the emotional force of a sonnet, this remarkable novel in verse gives voice to a man who was brilliant, passionate and mercurial. Memoir, love letter, confession, settling of accounts and a cry for recognition as the creator of some of the most sublime works in the English language, The Marlowe Papers brings Christopher Marlowe and his era to vivid life. ''Trade ReviewA big, clever, vividly wrought work of conspiracy fiction, filled with impeccable but lightly worn research. Elizabethan England, in all its stifling atmosphere of repression - writers were regularly being imprisoned and having their hands cut off - is brought to life by Barber's faultless poet's ear...[she]cannily uses the poetry to do just what any prose narrative aspires to: it's sharp, concise, stunningly visual. -- Robert Collins * Sunday Times *This rich and charmingly playful work avoids the potential for whimsy inherent in such an undertaking. The thrill at reimagining the events and era comes through wave after wave in Barber's blank verse. * Adam O'Riordan, Sunday Telegraph *The Marlowe Papers grips. * John Sutherland, The Times *This is effortlessly better stuff than many far more trumpeted poets can produce, even on a good day...The Marlowe Papers is the best read, so far, this year. * Martin Newell, Sunday Express *this highly ambitious debut makes for an engrossing read...brought to life by smatterings of exquisitely poetic descriptions and turns of phrase worthy of the Bard himself, whoever he was. * Time Out *This terrifically accomplished and enjoyable novel/play/poem, call it what you like, restores one's faith in English fiction. * Fay Weldon *Lush, inspired and provocative, this spellbinding dossier conjures up a bewitching Marlowe. * Kirkus *Barber ingeniously weaves the action of the plays and sonnets into her story...The verse is subtle and varied enough never to disturb the ear, and in fact you forget that you're reading poetry at all. This is no bawdy cod-Shakespearean romp. * Suzi Feay, Financial Times *The best book I've read for a long time. Truly innovative, truly original, and a powerful poetic journey to another truth. Ros Barber has told a great story, in a fascinating way, so fascinating that she had someone like me gripped to the very end. This really is a joy to read and a true work of art. * Benjamin Zephaniah *now that I've reached the end I want to go back and read it all again...Written in Marlowe's voice the reader doesn't need to know his work or that of Shakespeare to enjoy the book and relish the accomplishment of the author...The proof copy I read is already battered with rereading. I will be buying myself a hardback copy when it comes out. Don't buy it on an e-reader, buy a proper copy and hold it lovingly as you read. * Newbooksmag.com *What a pleasure it was to discover that the book is not only packed with the kind of upper-echelon phrase-making that one expects from a poet of Barber's standing ('snow is falling like small promises', 'I'd make world in words, I'd show it things/you'd only see in mirrored glass, and then/scratch off the silver, let the truth go through') but it is also as excitingly plotted as any thriller... The Marlowe Papers thunders along like an episode of some Elizabethan 24 * Jonathan Barnes, Literary Review *Themes of identity and self-esteem, of truth and loyalty, give substance to Barber's enthralling plot in a work that combines historical erudition with a sharply satisfying read. Marlowe's passion infects the page; Barber's skill draws the fever. * James Urquhart, Independent *A magnificently original novel...this is a marvellous reconstruction of a life, told beautifully...A truly superb achievement. * Lesley Mc Dowell, Glasgow Herald *

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Book SynopsisBlack Rainbow is the powerful first-person story of one woman''s struggle with depression and how she managed to recover from it through the power of poetry.In 1997, Oxford graduate, working mother and Times journalist Rachel Kelly went from feeling mildly anxious to being completely unable to function within the space of just three days. Prescribed antidepressants by her doctor, and supported by her husband and her family, Rachel slowly began to get better, but her anxiety levels remained high, and six years later, as a stay-at-home mother, she suffered a second collapse even worse than the first.Throughout both of Rachel''s periods of severe depression, the healing power of poetry became an integral part of her recovery. As someone who had always loved poetry, it became something for RachTrade ReviewIt's a book we should all read, especially women, and especially those of us who have, like me, had their own struggles with what Winston Churchill (another sufferer) called the Black Dog... Women, especially those with new babies, exhausted from pregnancy, sleepless nights and the sheer shock of motherhood, are often consumed with fear bordering on terror. That's what depression is, and if it applies to you or your daughter, take heart. Help is available. And it will help to read Rachel Kelly's Black Rainbow -- Judy Finnigan * Daily Mail *The memoir has the gripping immediacy of a novel and taught me much about depression that perhaps I should have known, but didn't. Its advice on diet, exercise, supplements and getting help will be invaluable for anyone who finds themselves barked at by the black dog. -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisCarol Ann Duffy has been a bold and original voice in British poetry since the publication of Standing Female Nude in 1985. Since then she has won every major poetry prize in the United Kingdom and sold over one million copies of her books around the world. She was appointed Poet Laureate in 2009.Her first Collected Poems includes all of the poems from her nine acclaimed volumes of adult poetry - from Standing Female Nude to Ritual Lighting (2014) - as well as her much-loved Christmas poems, which celebrate aspects of Christmas: from the charity of King Wenceslas to the famous truce between the Allies and the Germans in the trenches in 1914. Endlessly varied, wonderfully inventive, and emotionally powerful, the poems in this book showcase Duffy's full poetic range: there are poems written in celebration and in protest; public poems and deeply personal ones; poems that are funny, sexy, heartbroken, wise. Taken together they affirm her b

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Book SynopsisKate Tempest is one of the most exciting and innovative performers to have emerged in spoken-word poetry in many years; her dramatic poem Brand New Ancients won the prestigious Ted Hughes Prize for innovation in poetry. Tempest’s wholly unique blend of street poetry, rap and storytelling - combined with the spellbinding delivery of an open-air revivalist - has won her legions of followers all over the UK. Her remarkable stage presence is wholly audible in this poem, a spoken story written to be told with live music. Brand New Ancients is the tale of two families and their intertwining lives, set against the background of the city and braided with classical myth. Here, Tempest shows how the old myths still live on in our everyday acts of violence, bravery, sacrifice and love - and that our lives make tales no less dramatic and powerful than those of the old gods.Trade Reviewbreathe[s] new life into old classic forms . . . a long poem about us and the gods that's all high-kicking verve and long-range understanding. I loved its vision, powerful and merciful. -- Ali Smith, Books of the Year * Observer *

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Book SynopsisWith an introduction by Helen DunmoreCome for a walk down the river road,For though you're all a long time deadThe waters part to let us passThe way we'd go on summer nightsIn the times we were childrenAnd thought we were lovers.The Drowned Book is a work of memory, commemoration and loss, dominated by elegies for those the author has loved and admired. Sean O'Brien's exquisite collection is powerfully affecting, sad and often deeply funny; but it is also a dramatically compelling book - disquieting, even - and full of warnings. As the book unfolds, O'Brien's verse occupies an increasingly dark, subterranean territory - where the waters are rising, threatening to overwhelm and ruin the world above. Winner of both the T. S. Eliot and Forward prizes, The Drowned Book is an extraordinary collection, a classic from one of the leading poets of our time.Trade ReviewO'Brien's talent extends far beyond description . . . powerful, resonant and thought-provoking * Guardian *It's almost as though he's seeing into a kind of pool in which the past is there, held in a sort of suspension . . . exhilarating -- Peter Porter

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Book Synopsis''We knew that black and brown bodies, working class voices, women''s voices, did not have a space where they could be heard - and so this writing collective was a necessary and political act''In the early years of the new millennium, poets Malika Booker and Roger Robinson saw the need for a space for writers outside of the establishment to grow, improve, discuss and learn. One Friday night, Malika offered her Brixton kitchen table as a meeting place. And so Malika''s Poetry Kitchen was born.''Kitchen'', as it became known, has ushered in a new generation of voices, launching some of the most exciting writers, books and initiatives in British poetry in the past twenty years. Today, Kitchen is a thriving writers'' collective, with a wealth of talented poets and branches in Chicago and India.Too Young, Too Loud, Too Different is a celebration of Kitchen''s legacy, an appreciation of its foundational spirit and a rallying cry for all writers to dreTrade ReviewThis magnificent book is a celebration of community, collectivism, reading, rereading, learning, talking, thinking, drafting and redrafting. Above all it's a song of praise to the power of poetry to remind us who we are and who we can become -- Ian McMillanA critical and urgent moment . . . Malika's Kitchen is as much a gift to poets of colour in the UK as it is a gift to British poetry . . . this anthology is a loud proclamation of the aesthetic value of embracing difference -- Kwame DawesLike the best kitchens, Malika's fills and satisfies with a mixture of the raw and the sizzling. The tastes are new, the fusion is fun and the heat is transformative -- Samuel WestFor two decades now, British poetry has been flavoured by the products of Malika's Kitchen. Without that Kitchen we would have been blander; we would not have understood as deeply, how much craft and urgency and ambition belong in the same pot. Gather now at this most important table. Sit. Feast. -- Kei Miller

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Book SynopsisSHORTLISTED FOR THE T S ELIOT PRIZE 2020''Out of personal history, out of the history of an enduringly fractured nation, and out of the deep history of language, Shane McCrae is writing the most urgent, electric poems of his generation'' Garth Greenwell''Shane McCrae is one of our best, a great poet who mines the rhythms and vernacular of America, excavating the most exquisite of poems. His work is risky, not risqué; intelligent, not clever; deep, not jocular surface play. He is sui generis'' Rabih AlameddineI think now more than halfOf life is death but I can''t dieEnough for all the life I seeIn Sometimes I Never Suffered, Shane McCrae remains ''a shrewd composer of American stories (Dan Chiasson, New Yorker). Here, an angel, hastily thrown together by his fellow residents of Heaven, plummets to Earth in his first moments of consciousness. Jim Limber, the adopted mixed-race son of JeffeTrade ReviewOut of personal history, out of the history of an enduringly fractured nation, and out of the deep history of language, Shane McCrae is writing the most urgent, electric poems of his generation -- Garth GreenwellShane McCrae is one of our best, a great poet who mines the rhythms and vernacular of America, excavating the most exquisite of poems. His work is risky, not risqué; intelligent, not clever; deep, not jocular surface play. He is sui generis -- Rabih AlameddineShane McCrae is a shrewd composer of American stories . . . He is a prospector for speech rhythms, collecting his material wherever he can. But American attics are full of old boxes of diaries and letters; and testimony, no matter how arresting, is not itself poetry. What makes McCrae's compositions so ingenious are their marvels of prosody and form, learned from the English Renaissance poems that he read in libraries when he was just starting out. The result is beautifully up-to-date, old-fashioned work, where the dignity of English meters meets, as in a mosh pit, the vitality - and often the brutality - of American speech -- Dan Chiasson * The New Yorker *Shane McCrae has many gifts as a poet, but among his most hypnotizing is his ability to create poems that simultaneously blare and beacon . . . McCrae has been creating ambitious work that demands - earns - our attention. I often feel out of time when I am reading his words; they arrive with a Miltonic fury, and yet they are so contemporary and critical for our present, strange world -- Nick Ripatrazone * The Millions *This sprawling yet astute collection revisits the brutal history that enabled the election of Trump . . . In McCrae's timely observations, the American Dream is an illusion that silences its victims * Publishers Weekly *

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Book SynopsisFrom the author of Magical Negro, Winner of the National Book Critic''s Circle Award''Hilarious and hard-hitting . . . it ripples with energy, insight, and searing music'' Tracy K. Smith, author of Wade in the WaterOther People''s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night - the book that launched the career of one of our most important young American poets - is now in print for the first time in the UK, featuring a new introduction from Danez Smith.The debut collection from award-winning poet Morgan Parker demonstrates why she''s become one of the most beloved writers working today. Her command of language is on full display. Parker bobs and weaves between humor and pathos, grief and anxiety, Gwendolyn Brooks and Jay-Z, the New York School and reality television. She collapses any foolish distinctions between the personal and the political, the ''high'' and the ''low''. Other People''s Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night not only introduTrade ReviewHer poems shred me with their intelligence, dark humor and black-hearted vision. Parker is one of this generation's best minds, able to hold herself and her world, which includes all of us, up to impossible lights, revealing every last bit of our hopes, failings, possibilities and raptures -- Danez Smith * T Magazine *Honesty, says one of Morgan Parker's speakers, "is uncomfortable and funny." And how apt, how acrobatic and unflinching Parker is in bearing this thesis out . . . These poems are delightful in their playful ability to rake through our contemporary moment in search of all manner of riches, just as they are devastating in their ability to remind us of what we look like when nobody's watching, and of what the many things we don't - or can't - say add up to. OTHER PEOPLE'S COMFORT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT is hilarious and hard-hitting, and it ripples with energy, insight, and searing music -- Tracy K. SmithThis collection further evidences Morgan Parker's considerable consequence in American poetry. * The New York Times *Fierce, playful and political, Parker's poems celebrate the everyday just as they face off ancestral hurt. . . . Meets prejudice with an unwavering eye. * Guardian *Parker's voice is surprising, ranging from elegiac to conspiratorial to ecstatic; she interrogates both blackness and femininity like ports in a long personal journey, as places to land but also as points of departure. * Vogue *Parker is a poetic superstar * Publishers Weekly *

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Book Synopsis''It fizzes like a just-opened bottle of soda. It sprints like the Beatles running through a train station. It talks a mile a minute like a person swept away in the druggy lunacy of a serious crush... There have been moments when, for me, its effervescence has failed to rhyme with the despondency of these days. But far more often, Love and Other Poems has felt like a long-awaited remedy'' New York TimesLove and Other Poems is full of praise for the world we live in. Taking time as an overarching structure - specifically, the twelve months of the year - Alex Dimitrov elevates the everyday, and speaks directly to the reader as if the poem were a phone call or a text message. From the personal to the cosmos, the moon to New York City, the speaker is convinced that love is ''our best invention''. Dimitrov never resists joy, even in despair. These poems are curious about who we are as people and shamelessly interested in hope.Trade ReviewIf hope were an object, it would be Alex Dimitrov's Love and Other Poems * NPR *Love and Other Poems has felt like a long-awaited remedy * New York Times *It's the kind of surprise that makes you smile and nod, like catching a glimpse of the full moon in the middle of the day * BOMB Magazine *Full of fierce astonishment * O, The Oprah Magazine *In this affecting collection, his most fully achieved thus far, Dimitrov provides the reader with a needed celebration ofpleasures * Publishers Weekly, starred review *'A highly pleasurable, heavily Frank O'Hara-influenced collection in love with moments and New York City and the aesthetics of cyclical ephemerality, full of exuberance and wistfulness, longing and joy' * New York Times *

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Book SynopsisLos Angeles Times Book PrizePEN Voelcker AwardAnisfield-Wolf Book PrizeNew York Times 100 Notable Books Time Magazine''s 100 Must-Read Books NPR''s Best Books National Book Award in Poetry, LonglistNational Book Critics Circle, FinalistGriffin Poetry Prize, ShortlistFrank Sanchez Book AwardAfter her mother died, poet Victoria Chang refused to write elegies. Rather, she distilled her grief during a feverish two weeks by writing scores of poetic obituaries for all she lost in the world. These poems reinvent the form of newspaper obituary to both name what has died (''civility,'' ''language,'' ''the future,'' ''Mother''s blue dress'') and the cultural impact of death on the living. Loss, and the love for the dead, becomes a conduit for self-expression. In this unflinching and lyrical book, Chang meets her grief and creates a powerful testament for the lTrade Review'In Chang's telling, grief shoots off in all directions, killing off dozens of other things: appetite, blame, the deceased's old clothes. Chang sets out to catalogue them all, and does so with rangy metaphysical imagination and terse precision...[a] solemn, gorgeous, understated book' -- Stephanie Sy-Quia * TLS *Chang's new collection explores her father's illness and her mother's death, treating mortality as a constantly shifting enigma. A serene acceptance of grief * New York Times '100 Most Notable Books 2020' *Exceptional . . . Chang's poems expand and contract to create surprising geometries of language, vividly capturing the grief they explore * Publishers Weekly, starred review *These are poems that reproduce the logic and feeling of loss?a gift for anyone who has struggled to find words to express grief * NPR *[Obit] is heartbreaking and enthralling. It sings and instructs. It is a world all its own -- Ilya Kaminsky * The Week *Victoria Chang has created something powerful and unconventional. These poems are zinger curveballs * Los Angeles Review of Books *Chang has created a unique poetic construct . . . The feeling of hope is a theme throughout this solid collection, in variations Chang evokes with grace * Booklist *Chang is consistently a poet who resurrects mediums, her work living within surprising spaces and forms, and both exposing and surpassing the possibilities for those structures . . . Chang has the rare poetic talent to follow the edges of dark comedy to find sentiment rather than irony * The Millions *Each poem is a masterwork of compression and compassion * Kenyon Review *

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD''[Promises of Gold] has put Olivarez at the forefront of not only first-generation poetics, but of all poetry. This one here is for us -- the ones who hide garden shears in their poems'' Javier ZamoraLove is at the heart of everything we do, and yet it is often mishandled, misrepresented, or narrowly defined. In the words of José Olivarez: ''How many bad lovers have gotten poems? How many crushes? No disrespect to romantic love -- but what about our friends? Those homies who show up when the romance ends to help you heal your heart. Those homies who are there all along -- cheering for us and reminding us that love is abundant.''Written in English and combined with a Spanish translation by poet David Ruano, Promises of Gold explores many forms of love and how ''a promise made isn''t always a promise kept,'' as Olivarez lays bare the ways in which ''love is complicated by forces larger thTrade Review"My people I am poly with the tortillas" might be my favorite single sentence I have ever read in a poem. Get the book for that line alone. Promises of Gold is a heartfelt and hilarious series of odes to the large and small joys of life. It is also a battle rap and a clapback to all the death-making institutions we live under at every level. I could call this book soft and I would only be telling a half-truth. This is a collection that delights in the softness of every kind of love from familial to homie to culinary to romantic. But this is also a book that is hard on colonizers, and cruel billionaires, and capitalist exploitation. This book shines bright as the gold that got us into all this colonial mess. -- Nate Marshall, author of FINNAVisceral and moving -- Kate Baer, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of What Kind of WomanIn his preface, José Olivarez writes: "despite my best efforts, I am who I am". And what we see unfold through the book, who we see José is through his writing, is someone who is charting a journey of complicated love - sometimes specific, sometimes funny, sometimes cutting, sometimes bitter, sometimes angry, sometimes soft, sometimes yearning - but always, love. A love built in honesty, a love built without myth or fable. This book pushes us to think beyond love as we've known it, as the overly romantic always lighthearted love that's been sold to us for generations. Instead, it shows us a map into loving at the end of the world, in isolation, in fear, when our backs are cornered to the wall. And still then, Olivarez chooses to love, to hope, to dream. This book is a necessary dream, one that is a gift to the world -- Fatimah Asghar, author of When They Come For UsThe truth is: Technically, I don't understand poetry. I never have. I miss everything in it. It's a language I can't process. And, for me anyway, that's what makes Jose special. Because when he writes poetry, I don't need to understand it - at least, not in the traditional sense - because I FEEL it. I feel his words under my fingertips like velvet. I feel his words in my chest like I'm looking at a painting that moves me in a way I can't fully explain. And, again, for me anyway, that's more important -- Shea Serrano , NYT Bestselling author of The Rap Year BookOut of Calumet City, weighing in at around 160 plus Promises of Gold, in both English and Spanish, the one that's poly with his tortillas, the masterfully playful, the uniquely imaginative, the one that bets everything he has on his people, the one, the only, José Olivarez is the undisputed Mexican champ. The cypher that straddles between dólares and dolores, this quintessential second collection has put Olivarez at the forefront of not only first generation poetics, but of all poetry, in and outside the stringent confines of academia. This one here is for us -- the ones who hide garden shears in their poems -- Javier Zamora, author of The New York Times bestselling memoir, Solito

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Book Synopsis''Will Burns is a soulful English poet of the kind we don''t make enough of'' Max PorterIn his beautiful, evocative new collection, Natural Burial Ground, Will Burns explores his deep interest in place and the natural world to excavate the emotional impact of grief and loss. Natural Burial Ground is by turns melancholy and musical, haunting and deeply empathetic, a collection that wrestles with the scope and heft of elegy, while retaining the poet''s world-weary humour and range of imagery.There is throughout a sense of ''home'' as unsettled, or unsettling - the landscapes of the Home Counties and of the Channel Islands - the very concept of islands themselves, becoming changed, haunted, in the wake of human experience.Time seeps into the soil of Natural Burial Ground. Reckoning with profound grief, and a country rife with ''Restrictions, recriminations . . .'' - the poet finds the past visible everywhere on these grounds, where pl

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Book Synopsis''Davoudian is an enchanting and intriguing new voice'' Sunday Times''In this formally radical debut, Armen Davoudian shows how rhyme enacts longing for a homeland left behind; how meter sings to a lost beloved; and how a combination of the two can map a self - or idea of the self - relinquished so that a new life, and all the happiness it deserves, can take shape'' Paul Tran''Marks the arrival of a notable new voice . . . The Palace of Forty Pillars is a moving book as well as an elegant one; its central preoccupation with the theme of belonging speaks memorably to one of the most urgent questions of our time'' Andrew MotionWry, tender, and formally innovative, Armen Davoudian''s debut poetry collection, The Palace of Forty Pillars, tells the story of a self estranged from the world around him as a gay adolescent, an Armenian in Iran, and an immigrant in America. It is a story darkened by the long shadow of global tr

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