A haiku, an ode, a sonnet, a limerick, an elegy ... more poetry,please.
Poetry Books
Alfred A. Knopf My Childhood in Pieces
Book Synopsis
£19.20
Carcanet Press Ltd Centenary Selected Poems
Book SynopsisThis is the third Selected Poems by Edwin Morgan from Carcanet, but the first since 2000 and the first to cover the full range of his poetry from his first collection in 1952 to his last in 2010, the year of his death at the age of ninety. All his different voices speak here - animals, inanimate objects, dramatic monologues by people, (famous people, unknown people and imaginary people) - in a multitude of forms and styles - sonnets, science fiction, concrete, sound, his own invented stanzas - together with his evocations of place, especially his home city of Glasgow, and a wide selection of his deservedly famous love poems. They all illustrate his incurable curiosity and a kind of relentless optimism for humanity.Trade Review'For the range of his inventiveness, the generosity of his imagination, the moral alertness of his social observation. Edwin Morgan is the man for me.' - Carol Ann Duffy
£13.49
Faber & Faber The Forward Book of Poetry 2025
Book SynopsisThe judges of the 2024 Forward Prizes for Poetry comprising the poets Alycia Pirmohamed, Vanessa Kisuule, Daniel Sluman and Jane Clarke, and chaired by actor and comedian Craig Charles read hundreds of recent books and individual poems before arriving at this anthology. Their selections celebrate the diversity and innovation of poetry today, offering readers explorations of society, culture and personal experience.The Forward Prizes are the most influential awards for new poetry published in the UK and Ireland. This selection combines fresh voices with familiar names, making the book essential reading for seasoned poetry enthusiasts and new readers alike.''Central to the literary landscape of modern Britain' Andrew Marr
£9.49
Oxford University Press Arms and the Man The Devils Disciple and Caesar
Book SynopsisArms and the Man, The Devil's Disciple, Caesar and Cleopatra are some of Shaw's most popular and frequently performed works. They demonstrate the development of Shavian comedy and contain early formulations of his idea of the Superman, an extraordinary individual who catalyzes the evolution of mankind.Table of ContentsIntroduction Select Bibliography Chronology Arms and the Man The Devil's Disciple Caesar and Cleopatra Explanatory Notes
£10.44
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Collected Works of Jim Morrison
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe Collected Works of Jim Morrison is a revelation for fans, particularly those eager to look beyond the Lizard King Lothario persona. — People As thought-provoking as it is provocative and, beyond the priapic bluster, Morrison is elegiac, too. — inews.co.uk Morrison wrote that 'we had a great visitation of energy,' proclaimed that 'the ancient ones' time has come again,' urged readers to 'enter again the sweet forest/enter the hot dream.' While he deliberately drove down toad-squirmy backroads of primal terror, ecstasy was often naked in the shotgun seat, spinning jeweled pinwheels, peeling a peach. — Tom Robbins, from the foreword, “Fireflies of the Apocalypse"
£38.00
Faber & Faber Magnetic Field
Book SynopsisGrowing up in Marsden among the hills of West Yorkshire, Simon Armitage has always associated his early poetic experiences with the night-time view from his bedroom window, those private, moonstruck observations' and the clockwork comings and goings in the village providing rich subject matter for his first poems. Decades on, that window continues to operate as both framework and focal point for the writing, the vastness of the surrounding moors always at his shoulder and forming a constant psychological backdrop, no matter how much time has elapsed and how distant those experiences.Magnetic Field brings together Armitage's Marsden poems, from his very first pamphlet to new work from a forthcoming collection. It offers personal insight into a preoccupation that shows no signs of fading, and his perspective on a locality he describes as transcendent and transgressive', a genuinely unique region forming a frontier territory between many different worlds. Magnetic Fi
£11.69
Nick Hern Books Jerusalem
Book SynopsisJez Butterworth's hugely acclaimed, prize-winning play - a comic, contemporary vision of life in England's green and pleasant land. On St George's Day, the morning of the local country fair, Johnny 'Rooster' Byron, local waster and Lord of Misrule, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice, his son wants to be taken to the fair, a vengeful father wants to give him a serious kicking, and a motley crew of mates wants his ample supply of drugs and alcohol. Jerusalem premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in July 2009 in a production directed by Ian Rickson and starring Mark Rylance. It transferred to the Apollo Theatre in the West End in January 2010, and played on Broadway in 2011. Jez Butterworth's play won the Evening Standard Best Play Award and the Critics Circle and Whatsonstage.com awards for Best New Play.Trade Review'Unarguably one of the best dramas of the twenty-first century' * Guardian *'Tender, touching, and blessed with both a ribald humour and a haunting sense of the mystery of things... one of the must-see events of the summer' * Telegraph *'Jez Butterworth's gorgeous, expansive new play keeps coming at its audience in unpredictable gusts, rolling from comic to furious, from winsome to bawdy' * Observer *'Storming... restores one's faith in the power of theatre' * Independent *'Show of the year' * Time Out *'Arguably the best play of the 21st century so far, a work whose importance and resonance has only increased since its premiere in 2009' * Whatsonstage (in January 2022) *
£10.44
Nick Hern Books A Moon for the Misbegotten
Book SynopsisThe last work from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers, continuing the semi-autobiographical cycle centring on the Tyrone family started by Long Day's Journey into Night. James 'Jamie' Tyrone Jnr is a hard-drinking Broadway playboy, trying to blot out his painful memories of the past by indulging his craven self-destructive streak. One day he finds that he has wandered to the home of his salty tenant-farmer Phil Hogan; and Hogan's lusty, jaded daughter Josie. Under the Connecticut moon, Jamie and Josie find something in each other they never knew existed – though it is only when he passes out dead drunk that Josie can really touch him. But will he still be there when the moon goes? Eugene O'Neill's play A Moon for the Misbegotten had its world premiere at the Hartman Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, in 1947. It premiered on Broadway in 1957. This edition of the play includes a full introduction, biographical sketch and chronology.Trade Review'Eugene O'Neill is arguably the greatest of American playwrights... this play is a work of shattering genius' * Independent *'A scorching play about the eternal American theme of reality and illusion... that rarest of theatrical treats: an evening of raw, powerful emotion' * Guardian *'Tremendous, often shatteringly powerful... wrenches the heart like few other 20th-century dramas' * Daily Telegraph *
£10.44
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Antony and Cleopatra
Book SynopsisEdited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. Antony and Cleopatra is one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies: a spectacular, widely-ranging drama of love and war, passion and politics. Antony is divided between the responsibilities of imperial power and the intensities of his sexual relationship with Cleopatra. She, variously generous and ruthless, loving and jealous, petulant and majestic, emerges as Shakespeare's most complex depiction of a woman: ‘Age cannot wither her, nor custom staleHer infinite variety.’ Unsurpassed in sumptous eloquence and powerful characterisation, Anthony and Cleopatra deservedly retains its popularity in the theatre. Its insights into the corruptions of power and the ambiguities of desire remain timely. This volume is part of the Wordsworth Classics' Shakespeare Series, in which each volume has been edited by Cedric Watts. Readers wishing to know more of Cedric Watts’ work should buy his ‘Shakespeare Puzzles’, published by PublishNation (ISBN 978-1-291-66410-2), available from Amazon (both in printed and Kindle editions) and through all good bookshops.
£5.62
The Lilliput Press Ltd Rhapsody In Stephens Green: And The Insect Play
Book SynopsisUsing a play by Karl and Josef Capek as source, Flann O’Brien locates his insect drama in Dublin, his most familiar stalking- territory. His adaptation is a vehicle for ridicule and invective, targeting race, religion, greed, identity and purpose. With his extraordinary ear for dialogue, O’Brien creates his own fantastical world, and the outcome is a hilarious satire of Irish stereotypes – as Orangemen, Dubliners, Corkagians and culchies become warring ants, bees, crickets, dung-beetles, and other small-minded invertebrae. The lost text of this play, Hilton Edwards’ prompt copy from the 1943 Gate Theatre performance, was discovered in the archives at Northwestern University, Illinois.Trade ReviewA play by Ireland’s most celebrated comic writer, Flann O’Brien, lost for fifty years, has been discovered in the archives of Northwestern University, Illinois, by an American academic. The O’Brien play, Rhapsody in Stephen’s Green, was put on in Dublin by the Edwards-MacLiammoir company at the Gaiety Theatre during Lent in 1943 with a cast of 150 – representing millions, as is obligatory with an insect play. But, presumably because of the offence it gave to Catholics, Ulster Protestants, Irish civil servants, Corkmen, and the aspersions it seemed to cast on married life and the superpatriotic Fianna Fail party, it only ran six days and was never again performed … However it and the context in which it was born – and rapidly snuffed out – gives intriguing insights into neutral Ireland of the 1940s, suffocating in puritanism and insular politics.’ -Peter Lennon, The GuardianA play by Ireland’s most celebrated comic writer, Flann O’Brien, lost for fifty years, has been discovered in the archives of Northwestern University, Illinois, by an American academic. The O’Brien play, Rhapsody in Stephen’s Green, was put on in Dublin by the Edwards-MacLiammoir company at the Gaiety Theatre during Lent in 1943 with a cast of 150 – representing millions, as is obligatory with an insect play. But, presumably because of the offence it gave to Catholics, Ulster Protestants, Irish civil servants, Corkmen, and the aspersions it seemed to cast on married life and the superpatriotic Fianna Fail party, it only ran six days and was never again performed … However it and the context in which it was born – and rapidly snuffed out – gives intriguing insights into neutral Ireland of the 1940s, suffocating in puritanism and insular politics.’ -Peter Lennon, The Guardian
£7.51
Muslim Academic Trust Poems on the Life of the Prophet Muhammad:
Book Synopsis
£7.95
The Waywiser Press Shore Ordered Ocean
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Black Ocean Pillar of Books
Book SynopsisThis debut collection in English from Korean poet Moon Bo Young insists that you, as a reader, put down your expectations of what should be important or serious. While these poems are about god, death, love, and literature, they are also just as much about a hat with a herd of cows on it, science experiments on monkeys’ attention, the eating of cherry tomatoes, weeping carrots, and pimple popping. The surrealism and humor in these poems allow them to travel so far in the span of a stanza. Reading this book is like going on a picnic with your weirdest best friend and asking them what-if questions until the sun goes down—there’s room for everything, from dark anecdotes to funny quips and surprising vulnerability. This book is like that: there’s room for everything. Skillfully rendered by award-winning translator Hedgie Choi, this is a book that will change the way you think about what a poem can accomplish.
£11.39
Andrews McMeel Publishing Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things
Book Synopsisin her new standalone poetry collection, flower crowns & fearsome things, bestselling & award-winning poetess amanda lovelace explores the complexity of femininity through alternating wildflower & wildfire poems.within these pages, you will find that each of us has the ability to be both soft & fierce at the same time. there is no need to choose one or the other.
£9.49
Profile Books Ltd The Aeneid: A New Translation
Book Synopsis'Gripping ... A remarkable achievement' TLS On his deathbed in 19 BCE, Vergil asked that his epic, the Aeneid, be burned. If his wishes had been obeyed, western literature - maybe even western civilization - might have taken a different course. The Aeneid has remained a foundational text since the rise of universities, and has been invoked at key points of human history - whether by Saint Augustine to illustrate the fallen nature of the soul, by settlers to justify manifest destiny in North America, or by Mussolini in support of his Fascist regime. In this fresh and fast-paced translation of the Aeneid, Shadi Bartsch brings the poem to the modern reader. Along with the translation, her introduction will guide the reader to a deeper understanding of the epic's enduring influence.Trade ReviewGripping ... A remarkable achievement -- Llewelyn Morgan * TLS *This ambitious and successful translation is probably the best version of the Aeneid in modern English -- Professor Jim O'Hara, George L. Paddison Professor of Latin University of North CarolinaA tight, readable translation with a welcome feminist outlook and savvy engagement with the poem's political and imperial themes -- Ada Palmer, author * Reading Lucretius in the Renaissance *
£10.44
Carcanet Press Ltd Mr Dineens Careful Parade New and Selected Poems
Book SynopsisPresents a selection of poems that engage both to the private and the public. This book features poems that are a special blend of wit and lyricism.Trade Review'Not many poets have the gift of being able to write so tenderly about private affections and so acutely about public figures and events' - Brendan Kennelly'McCarthy has a tone which is very much his own, a kind of burnished commonplace. He writes true satires of circumstance.' - Peter Porter, The Observer'A body of work to be treasured by anyone interested in Irish literature today' - Dermot Bolger, The Sunday Tribune
£9.45
Birlinn General To Learn the Future: Poems for Teachers
Book SynopsisEdited by Lilias Fraser, Jane Cooper and Kate Hendry, To Learn the Future is a selection of poems that will grip at first reading – perfect if the only time you have is five minutes in a rushed lunch break. The choice of poems includes insight for days when teachers need to find extra courage, compassion and commitment, as well as celebration of the inspirational, the funny and the reflective. This is a pocket-sized reminder of the integrity, passion and commitment that inspires people to become teachers, and the wealth of experience and voices in classrooms and staffrooms. With these poems to hand, for the good days and the tough moments, no teacher is ever alone.
£8.24
Hackett Publishing Co, Inc Alcestis Medea Hippolytus
Book SynopsisOffers economical, metrical translations that convey the range of effects of the playwright's verse, from the idiomatic speech of its dialogue to the high formality of its choral odes.Trade ReviewDiane Arnson Svarlien's body of work means a quantum leap forward in the vibrancy and immediacy of classical verse drama. I first learned of her work when I was searching, madly, for a translation of Medea for a production I had been hired to direct. I sought out every published version. I tried to track down any unpublished ones rumored to exist. All the others were wanting; her translation was revelatory. Merely read her translation of the play, then read another. You will sense the difference. This is particularly true if you are a practitioner of theatre. --Patrick Wang, Director of Diane Arnson Svarlien's Medea in its world premiere at the Stella Adler Studio, and of the feature film In the Family, nominated for a Best First Feature Independent Spirit Award.The excellent Introduction by Robin Mitchell-Boyask displays an admirable command of up-to-date scholarship and judiciously leaves controversial matters open to one's own interpretation. Arnson Svarlien's verse translation has both elegance and power--it reads well, not just to the eye, but (happily for the director and actors) also to the ear. --Ian Storey, Department of Classics, Trent UniversityMitchell-Boyask's Introduction gives the reader a lively and accessible overview of Euripides' life, the circumstances of the original performances, and critical debate on the three plays. Footnotes to the translations provide students with useful background without over-burdening the text. The translations themselves are lively, vigorous, colorful, and direct, while remaining very close to the Greek; I laughed out loud more than once when I realized that, yes, this was exactly what Euripides had said. Arnson Svarlien has also taken care with the meter. Iambic trimeter, the 'spoken' meter of Greek, has been represented with iambic pentameter in English; but even in the lyric passages, whose meters do not translate into English, responsion within odes has been preserved. Yet all of this attention to such details of meter and accuracy sacrifices nothing in clarity or pace. Arnson Svarlien's translations are an ideal introduction to Euripides for students with no Greek and little knowledge of the ancient world. They remind me of why I love Euripides. --Laurel Bowman, Department of Classics, University of VictoriaTable of ContentsIntroduction; Translator's Preface; Maps; Alcestis; Medea; Hippolytus.
£12.34
Andrews McMeel Publishing Born to Love Cursed to Feel
Book SynopsisFor fans of r.h. Sin comes a new voice, Samantha King’s raw, relatable poetry both celebrates love and mourns the human “curse to feel.” Her verse transports readers to the most private reaches of love and longing. Born to Love, Cursed to Feel is about love—the good, the bad, and the confusing. It touches on morals and how when emotions are involved it’s not as black and white. The poetry is frequently written in a narrative manner that evocatively pulls you in and makes you feel. This book is about falling in love, bad decisions, and ultimately growth. The essence of it all is to show that no matter how far one falls all the mistakes don’t have to be what defines them. * Samantha King has 83,000 Instagram followers * Samantha King is the girlfriend of R.H. Sin whose Twitter account has 635,000 followers, including Jim Gaffigan and Calvin Reid of PW; Her In
£11.39
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC A Raisin In The Sun
Book SynopsisLorraine Hansberry was born in 1930 in Southside, Chicago. Her first play, A Raisin in the Sun, opened in March 1959 and made history by being the first play written by a female Black author to be staged on Broadway and won the New York Critics' Circle Award. Her career was cut short by her death when she was only 34.Trade ReviewCome to A Raisin in the Sun as you would to any classic. It speaks to us today as it did almost half a century ago. * Bonnie Greer *A Raisin in the Sun was a revelation to me. It's still fresh. It is still relevant. Lorraine Hansberry was a visionary. * Spike Lee *
£10.99
Canongate Books Gold from the Stone: New and Selected Poems
Book SynopsisLemn Sissay was seventeen when he wrote his first poetry book, which he hand-sold to the miners and millworkers of Wigan. Since then his poems have become landmarks, sculpted in granite and built from concrete, recorded on era-defining albums and declaimed in over thirty countries. He has performed to thousands of football fans at the FA Cup Final, to hundreds of thousands as the poet of the London Olympics, and to millions across our TV screens and the airwaves of BBC Radio. He has become one of the nation's best-loved voices.Trade ReviewLemn Sissay is a passionate and powerful voice whose performances are humbling and exhilarating -- KAE TEMPESTHugely enjoyable, inventive, funny and touching * * Guardian * *One of the most original, challenging poets writing in Britain today, and his extraordinary, heart-breaking, courageous life story is the stuff of legend . . . The collection showcases his breadth, his passion, his anger and his humanity . . . Full of light and hope . . . A prodigious talent * * Daily Mail, Poetry of the Year * *A tremendous selection of his poetry . . . His gift as a writer - of plays, poetry, documentaries - is for turning life's base metal into gold * * Observer * *This volume of selected and new poems traces [Sissay's] path from gifted adolescent to accomplished poetic voice, railing with passion and prowess against the "quiet violence of the day-to-day" * * Financial Times * *A collection of the poet's best-loved works . . . The performative element to his poetry is evident but no vibrancy or emotion is lost on paper, where his honesty, charm and humour prevail . . . Gold from the Stone maps Sissay's development as a poet and writer but also his many personal triumphs, even when the odds were stacked against him **** * * The List * *A literary institution * * Big Issue * *A lyrical genius * * The Voice * *His name is magic, his poems are songs on the street * * Independent * *
£9.49
Graphic Arts Books Six Characters in Search of an Author
Book SynopsisSix Characters in Search of an Author (1921) is a metatheatrical drama by Luigi Pirandello. Viewed as an important work of absurdist literature, the play was a critical failure when it was first staged in Rome. Revised by its author and bolstered by successful performances in New York City, Six Characters in Search of an Author has been recognized as a pioneering examination of the nature of creativity, the relationship of the director and actors to the work of art, and the psychological stress associated with staging a theatrical production. While preparing to rehearse a new play by director Luigi Pirandello, a theatre company is interrupted with the arrival of six strangers on set. After a moment of frustration and confusion, the director is told that they are six unfinished characters whose story cannot be told without his intervention. The Father, Mother, Son, Stepdaughter, Boy, and Child refuse to leave, forcing the director to convince his actors to help them fulfill their wish. As the story begins to take shape, the characters exert more and more control over the set and the participation of the other actors, soon overtaking the director entirely. Strange and compelling, Six Characters in Search of an Author is a unique play which saw resistance from critics and theatergoers for one reason only: its methods forced them to question the nature of reality itself. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author is a classic work of Italian literature reimagined for modern readers.
£7.01
Zephyr Press So Many Things are Yours
Book SynopsisThe poet and Talmud scholar examines Jewish texts, sexuality, and human vulnerability in poems that brim with wonder, sadness, sensuality, and humor. Kosman’s second volume in English explores Jewish texts —Bible, Talmud, midrash — alongside bodies, physical desires, military experiences, even a refrigerator. Demons and fantasy enter these poems; so do politics, so does God. These are not religious poems in a conventionally liturgical, “inspirational” sense; yet they point to the big questions that religion asks: about love, hate, desire, violence, transgression, disappointment.Trade Review“ I’ve long admired the poetry of Admiel Kosman, one of the leading poets of Israel, yes, certainly, but truly of the world… The passions are real in his poetry, and send a current through his vision of history, ancient to now, as if the Bible itself could dream. In these expert translations by Lisa Katz, Kosman’s poems come alive in English, al dente, with a delicious firmness and urgency, a tart quickness full of pleasure.” — Joshua Weiner, Tikkun “ Admiel Kosman’s poems are surreal and real, playful and serious, simple and complex. Reading them recalls F. Scott Fitzgerald’s comment: ‘The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.’ In these poems, replace ‘function’ with ‘sing,’ and rejoice.” — Natasha Saje, author of Vivarium and Windows and Doors: A Poet Reads Literary Theory “ Kosman is called to teach: he is the poet rebbe who patiently, bravely, instructs his reader about the obstacles that must be overcome and the risks that must be taken if one is truly to encounter the Other, that person who is wholly apart from the self.” — Maeera Y. Schreiber, AJS Review
£11.39
Candlestick Press Wood in Winter
Book Synopsis
£8.22
Faber & Faber Motel Chronicles Hawk Moon
Book SynopsisHis words appear modest, but they have huge scope.'Wim WendersThis volume is the first collection of Sam Shepard's autobiographical fiction and poetry.It inspired the award-winning film, Paris, Texas.'Sam Shepard is the greatest U.S. playwright of his generation.
£10.44
Random House USA Inc Notes from the Field
Book Synopsis
£14.40
Andrews McMeel Publishing Playing with Matches
Book SynopsisPlaying with Matches is the ultimate collector’s edition by internationally best-selling poet, Michael Faudet. A beautiful hardcover gift book that has been personally curated by the author featuring a compilation of the best work from his five published books and thirty-five new pieces of poetry and prose for readers to discover. A wonderful addition to any bookshelf with a pretty ribbon marker and attractive cloth covered spine. To complement the exquisite and evocative poetry, prose, and short stories, this gorgeous book also gives readers a private glimpse into the author’s life. Comprising of black and white photographs taken by Michael Faudet that capture the inspiration behind the writing.Playing with Matches is a must-have for fans of Dirty Pretty Things, Bitter Sweet Love, Smoke & Mirrors, Winter of Summers, and Cult of Two. A poetry lover’s delight with an additional 35 new pieces never before published in any Michael Faudet collection. An intricate exploration of love, heartbreak, seduction, self-empowerment, and sex that will spark your imagination and ignite the flames of passion that burn inside all of us.
£13.49
Banipal Books The 100 Best Arabic Novels 63 Banipal Magazine of
Book SynopsisThis issue presents a new list of Arabic novels, chosen by critics, authors, academics and translators, in response to the greatly increased popularity of novels in the Arab world. Plus features on Egyptian poet and artist Ahmed Morsi, Iraqi academic Hayat Sharara and three further Egyptian writers Mekkawi Said, Azza Rashad and Girgis Shukry
£9.50
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Crucible
Book SynopsisBecause it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!In a small tight-knit community, gossip and rumour spread like wildfire, inflaming personal grievances until no-one is safe from accusation and vengeance. The Crucible is Arthur Miller''s classic dramatisation of the witch-hunt and trials that besieged the Puritan community of Salem in 1692. Seen as a chilling parallel to the McCarthyism and repressive culture of fear that gripped America in the 1950s, the play''s timeless relevance and appeal remains as strong as when the play opened on Broadway in 1953.This new edition includes an introduction by Soyica Diggs Colbert, that explores the play''s production history as well as the dramatic, thematic, and academic debates that surround it; a must-have resource for any student exploring <Trade Review[The book has] extensive but not daunting information under headings such as Historical and Social Context, Genres and Themes and Performance History, among other aspects. It’s clearly and accessibly written. * Ink Pellet: The Arts Magazine for Teachers *Table of ContentsChronology Introduction Historical, Social and Cultural Contexts Genre and Themes Play as Performance Production History Academic Debate Behind the scenes – Interview with Set Designer Soutra Gilmore on The Old Vic production of The Crucible, directed by Yaël Farber Further Study The Crucible Notes
£8.99
Carcanet Press Ltd Sky Burial: New and Selected Poems
Book SynopsisGathered from over thirty years of work, the poems in this generous selection strike a dynamic balance of honesty, emotion, intellectual depth and otherworldly resonance - in Gizzi's work, poetry itself becomes a primary ground of human experience. Haunted, vibrant and saturated with luminous detail, Gizzi enlists the American vernacular in a magical and complex music. Sky Burial is an immensely valuable introduction to his work.Trade Review'The marvelous concept of 'hopescape' is one of the many gifts of Peter Gizzi's Sky Burial, where life is a constant calling to art. Gizzi's songs float free of judgmentalism, in an unflinching appreciation of being. They seek, and they love. Gizzi uncouples poetic vision from the visual, provoking us ever further, into the luminous dark.' - Vahni Capildeo; 'Gizzi can move from the ghostly flickering edge of perceptibility to focused intensity at disorienting, Dickinsonian speed. His poetry is an example of how a poet's total tonal attention can disclose new orders of sensation and meaning. His beautiful lines are full of deft archival allusion; Gizzi is gathering from the air a live tradition.' - Ben Lerner
£13.49
Harvard University Press Appendix Ovidiana Latin Poems Ascribed to Ovid
Book SynopsisThe pseudonymous Appendix Ovidiana—which includes nature, erotic, and religious poetry—reflects different understandings of an admired Classical poet and expands his legacy through the Middle Ages. This is the first comprehensive collection and English translation of these medieval Latin verses ascribed to Ovid.Trade ReviewIn this excellent and well-crafted volume, Hexter, Pfuntner, and Haynes have performed a great service for all scholars interested in the later tradition of Ovid…This volume marks an important addition to the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. It makes accessible for the first time Latin poems circulating under Ovid’s name from antiquity to the late Middle Ages. It should be on every medievalist’s bookshelf. -- Frank Coulson * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *This volume is a welcome addition to the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library…The editors have crafted a very helpful introduction that contextualizes each of the poems and explains how medieval scribes related them to Ovid…Scholars of medieval Latin poetry will appreciate this collection of poems attributed to Ovid, which brings together in one place many otherwise obscure pieces of late antique and medieval Latin verse that share an association with the famed Roman poet. -- Scott G. Bruce * Mediaevistik *
£25.46
Nick Hern Books 2:22 – A Ghost Story
Book Synopsis'I'd get freaked out here, alone in the dark. Wondering what's lurking at the bottom of the bed, ready to grab your feet.' Jenny and Sam – and their baby Phoebe – have recently moved into their new home. But something feels frightening and wrong. Very wrong. Over the baby monitor, at 2:22 every night, Jenny hears footsteps around her daughter's cot. Could the house be haunted? When their friends Lauren and Ben come round for a housewarming dinner, they drink wine, relive their pasts, and argue about the existence of ghosts. They decide to stay up until 2:22, to discover the truth. Over one adrenaline-filled night – as the foxes scream outside – secrets will emerge and ghosts may appear… Spine-chilling, funny and scary, Danny Robins' play 2:22 was premiered at the Noël Coward Theatre in London's West End in August 2021, directed by Matthew Dunster, and starring Lily Allen, Julia Chan, Hadley Fraser and Jake Wood. It went on to win Best New Play at the 2022 WhatsOnStage Awards, and was nominated for Best New Play at the Olivier Awards. 2:22 provides rich opportunities for any drama group wanting to make things go bump in the night – and their audiences scream.Trade Review'A contemporary haunted-house chiller that smartly plays with all the old tropes and leaves the room electric with fear' * Guardian *'[A] clever, remorselessly effective supernatural thriller... I kicked myself that I didn't see the final twist coming, but it's brilliantly done. This is a superior, knowing piece of genre drama... A great, spine-tingling night out' * Evening Standard *'The mounting sense of dread is relentless... Robins – the creator of hit podcast The Battersea Poltergeist – is well-versed in what makes scary stories scary, and uses that to brilliant effect here' * Independent *'A cracking dinner party play, alive with wit and tension... the extremely cleverly worked supernatural angle keeps things fresh... a rare and precious example of a Good West End Ghost Play... [it] really does deliver' * Time Out *'A teasingly clever and deservedly lucrative spine-tingler' * Telegraph *'A gripping, clever modern ghost story that gets more intriguing as it goes along (and even after it is over)... witty as well as scary, and delivers a great punch in the final round' * Arts Desk *
£9.89
Nick Hern Books After Life
Book SynopsisIf you could spend eternity with just one precious memory, what would it be? A group of strangers grapple with this impossible question as they find themselves in a bureaucratic waiting room between life and death. Encouraged by enigmatic officials, they must sift through their past lives to choose their forever. Adapted from Hirokazu Kore-eda's award-winning film, After Life is a surreal and powerfully human look at the way we view our lives, and a haunting meditation on what it is to live – and to die. Written by Jack Thorne from a concept by Bunny Christie, Jeremy Herrin and Thorne, After Life was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in June 2021. It was directed by Herrin, in a co-production with Headlong, by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical.Trade Review'A compelling vision of eternity' * The Times *'A powerful show with subtlety and tenderness' * The i *'A great idea, charmingly done... Although After Life is based on a film, its best parts are pure theatre' * Guardian *'Miraculous... an absolutely superb play... I was incredibly moved by it... a properly transcendent piece of theatre' * Time Out *
£9.89
Banipal Books Banipal 71 Salutes Ihsan Abdel Kouddous
Book SynopsisBanipal 71 Salutes Ihsan Abdel Kouddous commemorates two great Arab authors and introduces new literature in translation, plus reviews and photo report. We say “Farewell” to the inimitable Iraqi poet Saadi Youssef, “the last communist”, who passed away on 13 June. In a special feature we salute the prolific Egyptian writer Ihsan Abdel Kouddous (1919–1990), whose stories and novels were adapted into dozens of films, but hardly translated into English. With articles and translations from three of his works, Hassouna Mosbahi writes: “It would be no exaggeration to equate Abdel Kouddous’ daring and braveness with that of great writers from the West who challenged all forms of censorship imposed on subjects related to love and sexuality”. Translations and reviews of two new novels: Cinderellas of Muscat by Huda Hamed (Oman), and Things I left Behind by Shada Mustafa (Palestine) Poems from Gaza poet Mosab Abu Toha, founder of the Edward Said Public Library in Gaza A travelling tale, The Calligrapher of Kufa, from Mohammed al-Sharekh
£9.50
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Barber Shop Chronicles
Book SynopsisNewsroom, political platform, local hot spot, confession box, preacher-pulpit and football stadium. For generations, African men have gathered in barber shops to discuss the world. These are places where the banter can be barbed and the truth is always telling.Barber Shop Chronicles, which was partly inspired by verbatim recordings, is a heart-warming, hilarious and insightful play that leaps from a barber shop in Peckham to Johannesburg, Harare, Kampala, Lagos and Accra over the course of a single day.It was first produced by the National Theatre, Fuel and Leeds Playhouse in 2017 and is here publishedas a Methuen Drama Student Edition with commentary and notes by Oladipo Agboluaje.Trade ReviewIsn’t this what all playwrights would wish for? To come across in their daily lives a dramatic arena. To find it both immediate and far-reaching. To put on stage lives that have not been seen there before ... [The] chronicles are set in Lagos, Johannesburg, Harare, Accra, Kampala – and south London. They include confessionals, politics, feuding, tales of men away from their homes, men cut off from fathers, men in search of companionship. Common threads – a plot about father and son, a joke about a fly in a drink, a big Barcelona-Chelsea match – weave these episodes together. But it is the stretch of the talk and material that is remarkable: anecdotal and argumentative. -- Susannah Clapp * Observer *Throbs with energy and heat. Full of sadness and great joy. * Daily Telegraph *Rich and exhilarating. A fascinating peek into the barber shop. * The Stage *Life-affirming * Independent *Table of ContentsCHRONOLOGY COMMENTARY PLAYWRIGHT CONTEXT Black British drama (including work of practitioners such as Roy Williams, debbie tucker green and Mojisola Adebayo) THEMES Masculinity (including sport and sexuality) and how it shapes characters and subverts universal and specifically black and African notions of masculinity GENRE Verbatim theatre (use of transcripts to create a work of fiction); comparing to other verbatim plays such as London Road and The Permanent Way SETTING Barbershop as a 'safe space' for black men Diasporic movements - how the play's transnational locations construct a 'black' identity PLAY TEXT FURTHER READING
£12.34
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Blink
Book SynopsisThis is the tale of Jonah, Sophie, and a fox called Scruffilitis. It''s a love story. A dysfunctional, voyeuristic and darkly funny love story, but a love story all the same. This new play by the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize winner Phil Porter, is an exciting collaboration between Soho Theatre - London''s most vibrant venue for new writing, comedy and cabaret - and internationally acclaimed Fringe First winners nabokov.Trade ReviewRecommended viewing for those who like their romance served with a twist. * What’s On Stage *A sad, funny and bitter-sweet delight. * The Herald *A clever love story… the mixture of feel good love story and something sadder and more disturbing is neatly handled. * Guardian *Brief, bright, exquisite. * The Scotsman *
£10.99
Andrews McMeel Publishing We Find Our Way
Book Synopsis“To describe this book, I wrote from the perspective of the black experience. My experience particularly. It’s a book about grief, death, rebirth, ancestors, and spirit. I talk about the matrix and wanting out of it.”—Reyna Biddy A collection of poetry focused on rebirth, ancestors, spirit, and so much more from the unique perspective and voice of a revered spoken-word poet, author, and self-love enthusiast.We Find Our Way, the latest and third collection of poetry from creator Reyna Biddy, explores themes of love and dependency, both within ourselves and with the people we hold close. Biddy’s propensity for making readers feel welcomed, healed, and hopeful is evident in every poem; every sentence; every word she pens. The variety of writing styles––from short, thought-provoking pieces to longer, more lyrical versification––perfectly cradle Biddy’s unique thoughts on intimate topics like motherhood, childbirth, and sacrifice, and many of the other complexities life contains. Biddy’s words are more influential and necessary now than ever.
£11.39
Andrews McMeel Publishing Eclipse
Book SynopsisExperience a cosmic love story like no other, told through a collection of stunning poetry and enchanting imagery.Eclipse, a collection of poetry and art from Wilder, illustrates a magical journey of love between the sun and moon. Readers will experience firsthand the dichotomy of night and day, light and dark, presence and absence, and how one doesn’t exist without the other. Separated into three parts—“Stars,” “Between,” and “You & Me,”—Eclipse dives into the abundant emotions someone experiences only when in the throes of passion.
£11.69
Granta Publications Ltd Heritage Aesthetics
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE RSL ONDAATJE PRIZE 2023 What does it mean to have 'heritage', and how do we perform or undo it? In these daring and sonorous poems, Anaxagorou conducts a researched unpacking of two countries whose dividing lines of a colonial past are still visible and felt. Uniquely engaged with the complexities of Cyprus and the diasporic experience, these poems map both an island's public history alongside a person's private reckoning. They offer a ferocious and uncompromising look towards the damaging historical structures that have led to now. Fearless, intensely honest and hopeful, Heritage Aesthetics merges Anthony's gift for performance and his brilliant experimentation with form to create a vivid insistence to communicate a self in the world.Trade ReviewOne of the most politically engaged poets of our time... Uncompromisingly inventive, Heritage Aesthetics taps into the discordant music of our time and stops us in our tracks -- Kit Fan, author of Diamond HillAn education in empathy and its limitations, the liminality and porousness of nations, histories, races and memory... This is poetry bordering on pure imagination, one that makes its own conditions for living in the now -- Sandeep Parmar
£10.44
Central Avenue Publishing Small Ghost
Book SynopsisSweet reassurance and validation for anyone feeling adrift—this collection of verse, illustrations, and photography is a poetic refuge far away from loneliness.A delicate blend of melancholy reflections and absurd hopefulness, Small Ghost explores the exhausting reality of struggling with mental health. Mateer’s conversational style, infused with vulnerability and thoughtfulness, transforms mundane experiences into wistful musings. Panic attacks at the grocery store and days spent wasting away in bed are met with humor and care. Lauren Zaknoun’s evocative photography and the poet’s own illustrations add a whimsical, irreverent touch to the collection. With Small Ghost, Trista Mateer holds out a hand and offers solace to those who may feel otherwise isolated in their peculiarities.
£14.39
Pan Macmillan WHAT
Book SynopsisJohn Cooper Clarke shot to prominence in the 1970s as the original people's poet'. Since then his career has spanned cultures, audiences, art forms and continents. Today, Cooper Clarke is as relevant and vibrant as ever, and his influence is just as visible on today's pop culture. His new poems were collected in The Luckiest Guy Alive, which was followed by a bestselling autobiography I Wanna Be Yours and poetry collection WHAT. Aside from his trademark look' continuing to resonate with fashionistas young and old, and his poetry included on the national curriculum syllabus, his effect on modern life is huge.
£11.69
Random House 80 at 80
Book SynopsisA new selection of Paul Durcan's finest poems, published in celebration of his 80th birthday'He has written immortal poems. I revere him' Michael LongleyFor fifty years the poet Paul Durcan has explored and questioned a world both real and imagined. Steeped in the goings-on of Ireland and preoccupied with its concerns, he has delighted, enriched and unsettled his readers. His prodigious output of more than twenty collections bursts with poems that are courageously personal and passionately spiritual a body of work that contains multitudes. The great enemy of art is the ego' says Durcan. It keeps getting in the way. One needs the ego to disappear so that I become you; I become the people walking up and down the street.'First published in 1967, Durcan remains the most of companionable of poets. His vivacity and ability to surprise has never been clearer than in this new selection of eighty of his finest poems, published in celebration of his 80th birthday. EDITED BY NIALL MACMONAGLEWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY COLM TOIBIN
£15.29
Andrews McMeel Publishing Bodys a Bad Monster
Book SynopsisBody’s a Bad Monster is a harrowing exploration of trauma and freedom told in captivating poetic prose from social media sensation Rowan Perez, also known as @rid.inkskinned.In Body’s a Bad Monster, our narrator shares—sometimes voluntarily, sometimes reluctantly—their voice with a dissociative state called “Mouse”; Mouse and the narrator take turns inhabiting the “body” to tell the story of three monumental relationships in the narrator’s life as they unravel over time. Readers are guided along as Mouse moves in and out of love, pain, heartbreak, and redemption. Author Rowan Perez, a prolific and innovative writer, expertly uses non-traditional poetic devices—like a lease agreement for her dissociative voice and erasure text to intentionally refuse to engage with male voices or violence—to explore themes of religious trauma, queerness, and body dysmorphia. Bod
£12.59
Workman Publishing The Universe in Verse
Book SynopsisIn this book of illustrated essays, Maria Popova, creator of The Marginalian, presents a celebration of the human search for truth and beauty through the lenses of science and poetry. Poetry and science, as Popova writes in her introduction, 'are instruments for knowing the world more intimately and loving it more deeply.' In 15 short essays on subjects ranging from the mystery of dark matter and the infinity of pi to the resilience of trees and the intelligence of octopuses, Popova tells the stories of scientific searching and discovery. These stories are interwoven with details from the very real and human lives of scientists—many of them women, many underrecognized—and poets inspired by the same questions and the beauty they reveal. Each essay is paired with a poem reflecting its subject by poets ranging from Emily Dickinson, W. H. Auden, and Edna St. Vincent Millay to Maya Angelou, Diane Ackerman, and Tracy K. Smith, and is stunningly illustrated by celebrated artist Ofra Amit. Together, they wake us to a 'reality aglow with wonder.'
£17.09
Wave Books Perennial Fashion Presence Falling
Book Synopsis“some ekphrastic evening, this’ll be both criticism and poetry and failing that fall somewhere that seems like in between.” So writes poet, critic, theorist, and MacArthur fellow Fred Moten in his latest poetry collection perennial fashion presence falling. Much like the poems found in The Feel Trio (Letter Machine 2014), which was a National Book Award finalist, and All That Beauty (Letter Machine, 2019), the poems here present Moten’s “shaped prose” on the page and the dizzying brilliance of both polyphonies and paronomasia. Within this collection, the poems hold an innate quantum curiosity about the infinitude of the present and the ways in which one could observe the history of the future. Poems beget poems, overflowing and flowering, urging deeper etymological investigations. In perennial fashion presence falling, Moten approaches the sublime, relishing that intermediary space of microtonal thought.Table of ContentsContentsthe red sheaves coveringcorduroy, no strings attachedthe interfacial layer is violence, not carethe intrafacial lairafro-alienation lining outtables and gemsthe faerie ornithologiesylphtet (a triologue of self and soulare you one of these motherfuckers?color fieldtiling, lining notestilling, limning notes surfacingthe abolition of art, the abolition of freedom, the abolition of you and meapproaching asécowrecked and led to trespassfingerprintingtaj subjductionsubductive laurenwith the band2why you leave ‘em with me?got ‘im!merda nostraknottingepistrophe and epistrophyor discovering graves say, grave says
£14.24
Penguin Books Ltd Poems 19682020
Book SynopsisA major new career-spanning selection from one of the world's foremost poets, an international treasure, from 1968 to the present day Nikki Giovanni''s poetry has dazzled and inspired readers for more than sixty years. When she first emerged from the Black Arts Movement in the late 1960s, she immediately became one of the most celebrated and controversial poets of the era. Now considered a living legend, this is the first new selection since the late 1990s and offers readers a chance to be introduced to and to celebrate her incredible lifetime''s work.Giovanni's poetry has always been a powerful expression of her ideas about love, race, politics and gender, but part of that power has also been the sensitive and intimate way Giovanni is able to bring to light the heart and soul of herself and her readers. Giovanni''s poetry speaks from and to the Black experience, with Black love, Black struggle and Black joy at the centre. Arranged chronologically and spanning the entirety of her career, this selection charts not only the development of a great poet but also of sixty years of American life, bringing together motherhood and revolution, political dreams and great loves, men, women, children and community, and shows Giovanni at her essential, profound best.
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Anna Ziegler Plays Two
Book SynopsisAnna Ziegler has written the plays Actually (produced at Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geffen Playhouse, Trafalgar Studios and others; L.A. Ovation Award winner for Playwriting for an Original Play), the widely produced Photograph 51 (directed on the West End by Michael Grandage and starring Nicole Kidman; WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play; named the number one play of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune and in other years selected as a Best of the Year play by The Washington Post and The Telegraph), Boy (Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award nominee), The Wanderers (The Old Globe; upcoming at The Roundabout Theatre Company; Craig Noel Award winner for Outstanding New Play), The Last Match (Roundabout Theatre Company; The Old Globe; upcoming: Writers' Theatre, Chicago), and A Delicate Ship (New York Times Critic's Pick; The Playwrights Realm; Cincinnati Playhouse). Recent notable: Photograph 51 at Melbourne TTrade Review“[Ziegler’s play is] thoughtful, compassionate, funny…The playwright deftly displays the barbed and tender sides of [the central characters’] relationship…But “The Wanderers” is about more than bittersweet relationships and coping with the past; it’s about the human tendency to be chronically dissatisfied. Confused and yearning, Esther wonders, “Who really understands whether or not they are happy?” * Washington Post on 'The Wanderers' *“The world premiere of “The Great Moment” at Seattle Rep is touching, clever, relatable, and enchanting.” * Seattle Pockets on 'The Great Moment' *Effortlessly gripping….funny and aching in all the right spots….it’s a good one, and splendidly played * Washington Post on Another Way Home *“…[A] taut, devastating play… a smart, profoundly painful exploration of [a] murky, treacherous sexual culture… Actually’s great strength, and its great heartbreak, is that it allows us to see both Amber and Tom so fully…Actually’s wit and its intelligence are part of what makes the complex darkness at its center hit so hard. There is brightness in this play, and in these people, and to see its sparks overwhelmed by such fearful and familiar shadows is shattering. In moments, it’s even revelatory.” * New York Magazine on 'Actually' *Table of ContentsIntroduction by the author The Wanderers The Great Moment Another Way Home Actually
£21.21
SPCK Publishing Wounded I Sing
Book Synopsis
£10.44
