Poetry Books

Book SynopsisFederico García Lorca was born in 1898, in Andalusia, Spain. A poet anddramatist, and also a gifted painter and pianist, his early popularballads earned him the title of 'poet of the gypsies'. In 1930 heturned his attention to theatre, visiting remote villages and playingclassic and new works for peasant audiences. In 1936, shortly after theoutbreak of Civil War, he was murdered by Nationalist partisans. Hisbody was never found.

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Book SynopsisBertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and writing have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera and, while exiled from Germany and living in the USA, such masterpieces as Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.Trade ReviewOne of the greatest poets and dramatists of our century Observer

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewPraise for S O S: Poems 1961-2013 A New York Times Editors' Choice "The most complete representation of over a half-century of revolutionary and breathtaking work." --Claudia Rankine, New York Times Book Review "S O S provides readers with rich, vital views of the African American experience and of Baraka's own evolution as a poet-activist... Baraka is as adept with spare, imagistic lines as with lyrical realism. Racist, provincial ideas earn his angry unmasking as he sings, shouts and shakes a fist at corruption and ignorance." --Washington Post "A big handsome book of Amiri Baraka's poetry [that gives] us word magic, wit, wild thoughts, discomfort, and pleasure." --William J. Harris, Boston Review "Amiri Baraka's S O S sparks a living flame. Bodacious and tenacious, he remains a realist rooted sometimes in the political, sometimes in the avant-garde. His voice is made in America; his poetry is an action. Baraka's poems live on and off the page and demand that we feel language as music and meaning. This poet and his work are always slipping the yoke, determined to be free--yes, aesthetic freedom lives within S O S. The collection wails out from recent history through a masterful signifier whose fierce certainty holds grace notes with a backbeat." --Yusef Komunyakaa "[S O S is] a signal of blunt urgency ... this is undeniably the work of the kind of poet we will not see again; Amiri Baraka was one of the last of the 20th century's literary lions. This momentous collection exhibits his abiding resistance to almost everything, but subversiveness." --Terrance Hayes, Publishers Weekly (boxed review) "One of those rarest of things: poetry that combines a rigorous intellect, high-voltage aesthetics, and a revolutionary's need to confront his subject... Those who believe, as Baraka did, that art could surpass simple beauty and act as a force for social change will cherish this remarkable volume... Highly recommended." --Library Journal (starred review) "In a climate of renewed outrage over injustice, the voice of the recently departed Amiri Baraka is more relevant than ever, his volatile lyric poems ringing as true today as they did fifty years ago. A career retrospective that captures not just a man, but a movement." --Barnes & Noble Review "What's best about Baraka's verse is that his historical sensibility and sense of historical dread bump elbows with anarchic comedy... S O S is the best overall selection we have thus far of Baraka's work." --Dwight Garner, New York Times "These poems cover the ebbs and flows of the modern African-American struggle for freedom and identity ... There may be no better time than now to experience the lyrical, funny, dynamic, and provocative poetry of Amiri Baraka ... S O S is the perfect place to hear the voice that influenced, if not defined, decades of black political struggle when few were listening--and even fewer were doing anything. Baraka did something. Man, he did plenty." --Shelf Awareness "Throughout his writing life, [Baraka] crafted some of the most potent, thoughtful, and even sublime lines of any poet of his generation and beyond." --Gawker

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Book SynopsisAnnotated translations of a selection of the Welsh fourteenth century poet''s work together with the original Welsh text and a general introduction explaining the literary and historical background. First published in 1982.

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Book SynopsisA stunning collection of poems from Grace Nichols, winner of the Queen''s Gold Medal for Poetry 2021Beautyis a fat black woman walking the fields pressing a breezed hibiscus to her cheekwhile the sun lights up her feetNichols gives us images that stare us straight in the eye, images of joy, challenge, accusation. Her ''fat black woman'' is brash; rejoices in herself; poses awkward questions to politicians, rulers, suitors, to a white world that still turns its back. Grace Nichols writes in a language that is wonderfully vivid yet economical of the pleasures and sadnesses of memory, of loving, of ''the power to be what I am, a woman, charting my own futures''.''Unquestionably one of our most important living poets'' i-D magazine ''Not only rich music, an easy lyricism, but also grit, Trade ReviewDeliciously inert and self contented, the fat black woman mocks oppression by the scandal of being herself... * INDEPENDENT on Sunday *Run naturally and economically off the tongue. Beneath the folk rhythms and the lyrical simplicities, Nichols's poems preach disquiet * OBSERVER *

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Book SynopsisThe first half of the book is devoted to the poetry of Yannis Ritsos and includes several of his longer poems in their entirety. In the second half are selections of mainly shorter by poems by the other five poets, although it includes Gatsos' long poem Amorgos.

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Book SynopsisLove, sex, boats and friendship. And yet Jo Bell's second poetry collection, Kith, is about so much more, as these bold and generous poems interweave bigger questions of place, identity and community and what these mean to us, here and now. Delighting in the belting, beautiful turn-of-phrase, Jo Bell's poems are lyrical and joyous, but always precise and clear as birdsong. They take us the long way home, plot histories along the route of backwaters, and are occasionally diverted for a roll in the hay; hearts are broken and boats are dry-docked. There will be tears, but there will also be love, safe harbours, and the company of wise and faithful kith. Jo Bell - archaeologist, boat dweller and erstwhile director of National Poetry Day - is a poetry pundit and deviser of online poetry community 52. Winner in 2014 of the Charles Causley prize and Manchester Cathedral prize, and placed in the Bridport, Wigtown, and Ballymaloe international competitions, she has had a fortunate year. She

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Book Synopsis''One way of describing Educating Rita would be to say that it was about the meaning of education ... Another would be to say that it was about the meaning of life. A third, that it is a cross between Pygmailion and Lucky Jim. A fourth, that it is simply a marvellous play, painfully funny and passionately serious; a hilarious social documentary; a fairy-tale with a quizzical, half-happy ending.'' Sunday TimesThis new student edition includes an introduction covering the play''s context; chronology; dramatic devices; critical reception; production history; and key themes such as class and identity, popular culture and education. Educating Rita portrays a working-class Liverpool woman''s hunger for education. It premiered at the RSC Warehouse, London, in 1980 and won the SWET award for Best Comedy of the Year. It was subsequently made into a highly successful film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters and won the 1983 BAFTA award for Best Film.<Trade ReviewRussell's deft two-hander has as much to say about education, art and power as it does about class. * Shona Craven, Herald, 16.2.09 *Willy Russell's intellectually insatiable hairdresser is one of those rare comic creations who have become lodged in the collective consciousness. * Guardian *Willy Russell's 1979 two-hander emerges evergreen: of its time, but relevant to an income-bracketed Britain where accents still speak volumes. * Sunday Times *Table of ContentsChronology Context: Liverpool in 1980s Willy Russell and the Everyman Themes: Being trapped and breaking free Class and identity Popular culture v high art Education and knowledge Dramatic Devices: Language and voice Structure Setting Production History: Casting Rita Film Critical Reception Academic Debate Comparative Literature Further Study EDUCATING RITA Notes References

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Book SynopsisDespite the legacy of his eponymous award, Alfred Fagon''s stage works have often been forgotten due to them not being available. This anthology of selected plays brings together his shorter works for the first time into one volume that expands his legacy and confirms his place as one of Britain''s key writing talents of the twentieth century. Originally an actor, Fagon's writing for the stage, film and television grew throughout the early 1970s, before his breakaway hit The Death of A Black Man was produced at the Hampstead Theatre in 1975. Now one of British theatre''s most well-known names, Fagon's legacy is secured due in no small part to the commemorative award in his honour that was established following his death in 1986, to recognise Black British playwrights from the Caribbean, resident in the United Kingdom. Brought together with a critical introduction from Dawn Walton OBE, this collection also includes a reflection and response from a former winner of the AlTrade ReviewThe collection comprises seven relatively short plays that demonstrate the skills and limitations of a writer whose career was sadly cut short in his prime. * British Theatre Guide *Table of ContentsForeword by Dawn Walton OBE A Day in the Bristol Air Raid Shelter Adventure Inside Thirteen Four Hundred Pounds No Soldiers in St. Paul's Shakespeare Country Small World Weekend Lovers Reflections by Alfred Fagon Award Winner - Juliet Gilkes Romero

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Book SynopsisShe can't stay awake.She sold drugs.She's good at interrogations.She drinks in the mornings.She ate a rabbit.She smashed up a shop.She stabbed a man.She used a hammer.She had a baby.She can't find her mother.She's covered in blood and doesn't know why.Alice Birch's heartbreaking new play reaches across society to explore the impact of the criminal justice system on women and their families.

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Book SynopsisEmily Wilson is a Professor of Classical Studies and Chair of the Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania, USA.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Series Preface Introduction, Emily Wilson (University of Pennsylvania, USA) 1. Forms and Media, Naomi Weiss (Harvard University, USA) 2. Sites of Performance and Circulation, Rosa D'Andújar (King's College London, UK) 3. Communities of Production and Consumption, Eirene Visvardi (Wesleyan University, USA) 4. Philosophy and Social Theory, Austin Busch (College at Brockport, USA) 5. Religion, Ritual and Myth, Isabelle Torrance (Aarhus University, Denmark) 6. Politics of City and Nation, Robert Cowan (University of Sydney, Australia) 7. Society and Family, Marcel Widzicz (Southern Virginia University, USA) 8. Gender and Sexuality, Kirk Ormand (Oberlin College, USA) Notes Bibliography Index

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

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Book SynopsisIf you could press a button and one hundred thousand vulnerable citizens died instantly but the rest of the population of the planet was guaranteed prosperity, would you press that button?Chris never wanted to end up here. She's a proud woman and hates asking for help but when her condition deteriorated she had no choice but to claim disability benefits. Ralph believes in the new system. He knows it works. He knows it can work for Chris. He's here today, in her home, to assess her. To prove to her that there has been no mistake she is fit and capable of working. Chris knows he is wrong. Knows her life will be over if his verdict stands. Can she persuade him to change his mind? And, if not, how far is she willing to go to save herself?Rob Drummond's Don't. Make. Tea. confronts the lengths disabled people must go to in order to preserve themselves in an unjust system.This edition was published to coincide with the Birds of Paradise Theatr

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Book SynopsisSon, that girl, she's a nice girl, but she don't study accounting. Her lips move when she read the horoscope that ain't the mark of a future accountant!Since his wife died, ex-cop Walter Pops' Washington has filled his palatial rent-controlled apartment in one of Manhattan's most desirable areas with an oddball extended family of petty criminals. So now he's besieged by the landlords, who want him out, the NYPD, who want him to settle his lawsuit against them, and the ladies from the local church, who want to save his soul But Pops, calm at the eye of the storm, is going to do precisely what Pops wants to doStephen Adly Guirgis' fast-moving Rabelaisian tragicomedy was a Broadway hit and won multiple awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This edition was published to coincide with the UK premiere at the Hampstead Theatre, London in May 2024.

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

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Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and attended school in the town. He married a local girl, Ann Hathaway and they had three children. Shakespeare eventually found his way to London where he established himself as part of a theatrical troupe, also writing plays for them to perform. His life and career spanned the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I (VI of Scotland) before his death in 1616.

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Book SynopsisA collection of poetry by the 19th-century American poet, Walt Whitman.

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Book SynopsisThis edition of Gibran's collection of 26 poetic essays on life features a bonded-leather binding and distinctive gilt edging. Gibran's poetry provides timeless spiritual wisdom on a range of subjects, including love and marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, crime and punishment, pain, friendship, time, pleasure, beauty, religion and death.

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Book SynopsisKae Tempest is one of the most exciting and innovative performers to have emerged in spoken-word poetry in many years; their 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 them legions of followers all over the UK. Tempest's 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 SynopsisThis elegantly designed chapbook collects several dozen poems by the world's greatest poets on nighttime, dreams, and rest.

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Book SynopsisDescribed by Brecht as ''a gangster play that would recall certain events familiar to us all'', The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is a witty and savage satire of the rise of Hitler recast by Brecht into a small-time Chicago gangster''s takeover of the city''s greengrocery trade. Using a wide range of parody and pastiche from Al Capone to Shakespeare''s Richard III and Goethe''s Faust Brecht''s compelling parable continues to have relevance wherever totalitarianism appears today.Written during the Second World War in 1941, the play was one of the Berliner Ensemble''s most outstanding box-office successes in 1959, and has continued to attract a succession of major actors, including Leonard Rossiter, Christopher Plummer, Antony Sher and Al Pacino.This version, originally translated by George Tabori, has been revised by leading Scottish playwright Alistair Beaton.Trade ReviewThe 1964 translation by George Tabori, souped up by Alistair Beaton, fizzes with verbal pep and clever couplets . . . there’s never a dull minute . . . We are wooed by relentless spectacle and our enjoyment is integral to the play’s chilling kick. * Daily Telegraph *Alistair Beaton’s revised version of the text is pleasingly sparky ... The West End is a better place for such challenging, intelligent fare. * Standard *Alistair Beaton's shrewd tweaking of George Tabori's translation . . . * Guardian *Hitler's rise to power is parodied in Brecht's allegorical satire with the Führer as scary as a tea cosy ... The American gangster movie meets Richard III * Gaurdian *... comedian Alistair Beaton's revision of the translation by George Tabori keeps the sprightly blank verse of the original, with multiple Shakespearean and other literary echoes. * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisTen of Shakespeare's greatest plays, retold for children by multi-award winning author Geraldine McCaughrean.From love, jealousy, greed and betrayal to mad kings, magic and murder, Geraldine McCaughrean retells some of Shakespeare's best-known stories, including Romeo and Juliet, Henry the Fifth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and The Tempest.With easy to follow prose punctuated with well-known quotations and featuring a cast list for each play, this accessible collection will delight and entertain readers of all ages.Trade ReviewThe contents are not only a pleasing translation, as it were, but written with the hallmarks of a craftsman: skilful simplicity and a well trained eye for the telling phrase. - Theatre Magazine

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Book SynopsisPoems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) is the first book of poetry published by an African American author. Written while Wheatley was a slave in Boston, the collection was published in England. Regarded for her mastery of classical poetic form, Phillis Wheatley earned praise from Voltaire and George Washington. Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral has long been the subject of scholarly work on the history of African American literature, with some critics arguing that Wheatley’s poems proved detrimental to the struggle of enslaved African Americans. Whether Wheatley made excuses for slavery or, as some have argued, included subtle critiques of the institution in her writing, her talent and importance to the history of African American literature remain undisputed. Despite her status as a slave, Phillis Wheatley seems to have viewed herself as a blessed individual, a woman for whom life itself was a sign of God’s grace, and in whom talent arose in the form of a foreign language. Many of her poems—elegies, odes, and monologues—are aimed at others. Whether in mourning, in praise, or in warning, Wheatley frequently offers her own voice to university students, royalty, God, the muses, and deceased infants. When she does offer glimpses of herself, for instance, in her poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” she provides a complex perspective on her status as a slave: “’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, / Taught my benighted soul to understand / That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too.” While her words may seem strange to our modern view of the American institution of slavery, they provide an important historical lens onto the adoption of Christianity by African American slaves, who developed a faith grounded in resistance, hope, and redemption. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Phillis Wheatley’s Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral is a classic of African American literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisFrom the multi-award-winning poet: a new collection of soaring lyricism and desire, exploring the act of care and the consequences of loving

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Book SynopsisFrom the T. S. Eliot and Polari Prize-winning author of C+NTO & Othered Poems comes an innovative collection exploring the scars, hopes and potentialities of dyke counterculture and the queer underground.With a vividly sketched cast of characters, award-winning poet Joelle Taylor uses the Maryville butch bar as a lens through which to consider the underground histories of queer London. The violence and pain of oppression and the beauty and intimacy of community are rendered in awe-inspiring high definition in a collection as filmic as it is familiar. A hybrid chronicle, magic trick, prayer and insurrection, Maryville conjures ghosts back to their bodies, a community to their feet.PRAISE FOR C+NTO & Othered Poems:Visionary and powerful. I loved it' HOLLIE MCNISH, author of LobsterUnlike anything I've ever read before ... Epic and intimate' BERNARDINE EVARISTO, author of Girl, Woman, Other Inventive, powerfully moving' TELEGRAPH

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Book SynopsisEmpowering life lessons from myths and monsters. Wonder at Medusa's potent venom, Circe's fierce sorcery and Athena rising up over Olympus, as Nikita Gill majestically explores the untold stories of the life bringers, warriors, creators, survivors and destroyers that shook the world - the great Greek Goddesses. Vividly re-imagined and beautifully illustrated, step into an ancient world transformed by modern feminist magic. 'I watch Girl become Goddessand the metamorphosis is moremagnificent than anythingI have ever known.' Trade ReviewFun, illuminating and will leave you exploring the original legends from a new perspective ... this book is the perfect gift for all the women in your life * Stylist *Nikita Gill's poetry excels in its exploration of womanhood * The Independent *Whether you’re completely clued up on Greek mythology or are a newcomer, Nikita Gill outlines the tales of Medusa, Circe, and Athena, to name a few, in stunningly beautiful prose. This will be one of the most entertaining history lessons you’ve ever had. * Bustle *Nikita’s words are as powerful as they are beautiful. Her poems mix ideas that are both ancient and timeless, and somehow she makes them urgent. Her voice is one of the most compelling, compassionate and creative in contemporary literature. She’s the writer we all need to read right now – she’s challenging a fearful era with real love. -- Daisy BuchananThis empowering collection sheds light on women who are often misunderstood and is a piece of “modern feminist magic.” * BOOKRIOT *

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Book Synopsis'Maybe the polluters will purify our streams. Purify our waterways? In your bloomin' dreams! All will be rewilded, all will be renewed, The country will look lovely, But we won't have any food. Our stocks will be sustainable, The French will be our friends, We shall live in harmony, until the bitter end.'Hidden beyond the bluebell woods and babbling brooks, there is great unrest in our countryside. In this lyrical satire, Pam Ayres highlights the undercurrents simmering beyond the patchwork of fields. We meet the angry fishermen who can't afford to live in their own villages, the indignant farmers who get the blame for everything and the old man grieving for the unspoilt village of his youth. The animals have their say too, from the persecuted grey squirrel who didn't want to leave America anyway, the barn owl mourning his now-converted ancient barn, and the humble maligned mole, all of whom come together and demand to know: Who Are You Calling Vermin?

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Book SynopsisIn this new poetry collection, Pulitzer Prize finalist Ron Padgett illuminates the wonders inside things that don’t even exist—and then they do.In Dot, Ron Padgett returns with more of the playfully profound work that has endeared him to generations of readers. Guided by curiosity and built on wit, generosity of spirit, and lucid observation, Dot shows how any experience, no matter how mundane, can lead to a poem that flares like gentle fireworks in the night sky of the reader’s mind.Trade Review“A breezy and nostalgic collection reflecting on the quotidian and the momentous. . . . Padgett remains charmingly whimsical, and the more heartfelt entries are a testament to his status as one of the great living American poets.” —Publishers Weekly“A refreshing read for its wisdom and levity, or perhaps for the wisdom in its levity. . . . Padgett’s loose associations feel both delightfully surprising and completely natural.” —Sarah Barch, The Arkansas International“​​Though the work is comforting, it’s an ode, not a lullaby—this read is a page turner. The real magic of the collection stems from its ability to fully immerse the reader in a fantastical yet familiar world. . . . A fulfilling and immersive experience from cover to cover and somehow still manages to leave readers wanting more.” —Aiden J. Bowers, The Harvard CrimsonPraise for Ron Padgett:“Wonderful, generous, funny poetry.” —John Ashbery“Reading Padgett one realizes that playfulness and lightness of touch are not at odds with seriousness. . . . As is often the case, leave it to the comic writer to best convey our tragic predicament.” —Charles Simic, The New York Review of Books“For decades now, Ron Padgett has built up a body of work that, like the tenderly deadpan ballads of Jonathan Richman, has at its heart a sort of wry, pickled innocence. . . . The charm of his lines—and their power, because his work has a way of disarming you and pulling you in again and again—often comes from his allergy to anything pretentious or even ‘poetic.’ He makes plain niceness look like the most radical stance of all.” —Jeff Gordiner, The New York Times“Padgett’s plainspoken, wry poems deliver their wisdom through a kind of connoisseurship of absurdity.” —The New Yorker“Deeply pleasing to read.” —The Paris Review“I can think of no other poet I’ve read over the past 40 years who embodies Williams’s spirit and his great heart’s aesthetic. . . . I’m willing to put money on Padgett, in two or three generations (it takes that long) to be counted among the best poets of his generation, to be counted among the best American poets, period.” —Thomas Lux, Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award“Forty-five years after Great Balls of Fire, Padgett’s poems still fuel our capacity for joyful incomprehensibility and subsequent mobility of thought.” —Poetry“Padgett’s poems are so playful, self-mocking and eager to please that it would be easy to overlook their craft, not to mention the depth and sincerity of the emotions they convey. What animates [his work] is the tension between the buoyancy of its language and the gravity of its subject.” —The Washington Post“Every page is a good time. . . . Sweet, hilarious, moving and mind-bogglingly imaginative. This book is for anyone who likes writing or who thinks it’s interesting to have a mind (or simply a forehead).” —Richard Hell, The Wall Street Journal“These poems mingle the nervy sophistication and cosmopolitan experimentalism of a thriving international avant-garde art tradition with a kind of hillbilly twang that’s unmistakably American.” —Tom Clark, San Francisco Chronicle“A twentieth-century Great who is still producing superlative verse today. . . . And that’s exactly what Padgett is: a virtuoso.” —Seth Abramson, Huffington Post“Padgett’s sense of romantic joy is undiminished, as is his thoughtfulness about language and the ways in which time changes meaning, and sense can morph into eloquent absurdity.” —Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly“The poet makes superlative use of the directive writing consciousness—often automatic pilot—to tap the unconscious for memory, vision, emotion, and the unexpected and indefinable. The poems speak backwards and forwards in time, to self, to family and friends, to poetic technique, to the birds caged in the chest. It is so lovely.” —Alice Notley“Ron Padgett makes the most quiet and sensible of feelings a provocatively persistent wonder.” —Robert Creeley“The Ron Padgett of yore is still with us—as charming, unpretentious, and surprising as ever—but there is a new Ron Padgett in this book as well: a poet of heartbreaking tenderness and ever-deepening wisdom.” —Paul Auster“Ron Padgett’s poems sing with absolutely true pitch . . . agile and lucid and glad to be alive.” —James Tate“Always discovering new pleasures and reviving old ones, full of what, in Frank O’Hara’s phrase, ‘still makes a poem a surprise,’ Ron Padgett’s poems, among those of our times, are in the small company of authentic works of art.” —Kenneth Koch“Ron Padgett has that ‘Lubitsch touch’—a whimsical grace that is full of wisdom and self-possession complete with mother-wit and, in his case, American invention.” —Peter Gizzi

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