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Book SynopsisA celebration of the journey that started it all.

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Book SynopsisPoetry and prose to encourage us to grow. Watering the Soul is a timeless reminder that everyone needs time, love, and forgiveness. In the deepest, most enchanting part of the forest, a creature hands you a seed. Within the seed is your soul, ready to be grown again. From internationally bestselling author Courtney Peppernell comes her new book of poetry and prose, Watering the Soul. In true Peppernell style, the book is divided into sections, this time following a step-by-step recipe, to heal your soul. Filled with themes that focus on forgiveness, gratitude, togetherness, and equality, Peppernell takes you on a journey to find a precious yet profound understanding; that a seed is not grown with haste and nor is becoming whole, that in each and every step, we find the meaning of watering the soul. This is the story of your soul and how it can be grown again.

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Book SynopsisCelebrate the incredible journey of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's outrageously funny, blazingly forthright Fleabag, from fringe theatre hit to international cultural phenomenon, in this special edition – featuring the original playscript, never-before-seen colour photos, and exclusive bonus content by Phoebe, director Vicky Jones and key members of the creative team. In 2013, Fleabag made its debut as a one-woman show in sixty-seater venue the Big Belly, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's Underbelly. It was an immediate hit, going on to enjoy two runs at London's Soho Theatre, national and international tours, whilst picking up prizes including Critics' Circle, The Stage, Fringe First and two Off West End Theatre Awards, plus an Olivier Award nomination. The 2016 TV adaptation propelled Fleabag and Phoebe to worldwide fame, earning critical acclaim and further accolades including Writers' Guild, Royal Television Society and BAFTA Television Awards. A second series followed in 2019, winning an amazing six Emmy Awards (including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series), along with a sold-out run of the original play in New York. This special edition of the play is released alongside Fleabag's first West End run at Wyndham's Theatre, London. It is introduced by Deborah Frances-White, stand-up comedian, writer and host of The Guilty Feminist podcast.Trade Review'Throbs with a concentrated, combustible vitality… Fleabag keeps all contradictory shards and shades of feeling in play at the same time. That's why it's so gloriously disruptive' * New York Times *'Never has being a modern woman seemed so painfully funny, brutal, and hopeless all at once' * The Atlantic *'Filthily funny… the character is a fascinatingly complex creation' * Guardian *'Sucker-punch funny... I've never seen a play quite like it' * Scotsman *'It has the pinpoint observational comedy of great standup, the fearless honesty and shamelessness of a raw confessional and the subtlety to draw you in… both gut-bustingly funny and gut-wrenchingly sad' * Hollywood Reporter *'Filthy, funny, snarky and touching' * Telegraph *'A legitimately hilarious show' * The New Yorker *'Frank and sometimes brutally funny... devastatingly good' * The Times *'Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show Fleabag is unbelievably rude, astoundingly filthy and she's almost certainly going to go to hell for it' * Time Out *'Penetrating, pitch-black and nastily brilliant' * Metro *'Funny, vibrant, and blunt as a hammerhead' * New York Magazine *

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Book SynopsisA new collection of classic stories and poems celebrating Halloween's unique legacy of weird and spooky storytelling. Featuring a new introduction by Johnny Mains charting the history of Halloween fiction and the traditions of Samhain through to All Souls' Night and beyond, includes the works of rare authors from the archives.

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Book SynopsisSelected by Rosemary Gray. Poignant, wry, chilling, challenging, amusing, thought-provoking and always intriguing, these accomplished tales from the pens of great writers are object-lessons in the art of creating a literary masterpiece on a small canvas. From the straightforwardly anecdotal to the more analytical of human behaviour, all are guaranteed to capture the imagination, stir the emotions, linger in the memory and whet the reader's appetite for more. In this book, Wordsworth Editions presents the modern reader with a rich variety of short stories by a host of towering literary figures ranging from Arnold Bennett to Virginia Woolf. This disparate and distinguished company of writers has rarely - if ever - met within the pages of one volume: the result is a positive feast.

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Book SynopsisA moving poetic debut from a talented artist, USA TODAY bestseller Words of a Goat Princess is everything you love about singer/songwriter Jessie Reyez—her rawness, her love affair with the ugly truths of humanity, and so much more.Words of a Goat Princess is the USA TODAY bestselling debut poetry collection about life’s struggle and triumphs from Grammy-nominated and JUNO-award winning songwriter Jessie Reyez. With the authenticity and heartbreaking relatability that her fans know and love her for, Reyez brings the breadth of her lived experience to the page as few recording artists can. At times ethereal and visceral, these 43 poems are carefully painted moments that expertly explore love, loss, and identity with an artistry that leaps off the page with every turn. Through this collection of poems and stories, Jessie Reyez shows that she is more than a pop performer, she is a true artist whose star knows no limits.

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Book SynopsisHarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics.Dear Prince, I must leave you, but I will never forget you, and next spring I will bring you back two beautiful jewels in place of those you have given away. The ruby shall be redder than a red rose, and the sapphire shall be as blue as the great sea.'In The Happy Prince' a statue jewelled and opulent keeps careful watch over the city and its inhabitants. Enlisting the help of a swallow, his selfless acts bring comfort to those most in need. The Nightingale and the Rose' is a tragic tale of personal sacrifice in the name of love, while in The Selfish Giant' the end of an eternal winter finally brings springtime and happiness.In this collection of enchanting tales from a master storyteller, Oscar Wilde has entranced readers both young and old since publication in the late nineteenth century.

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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 *

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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.' 

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Book SynopsisWith a foreword by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, author of Ace of SpadesSomething is rotten in the state of Denmark'The King of Denmark is dead. When Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, meets the King's ghost and discovers he was murdered, he swears vengeance against the killer: his father's brother, Claudius, who has married Hamlet's mother and taken the throne. Furious at this betrayal, Hamlet devises a complex plot to reveal the truth and enact his revenge. But Claudius has a devious plan of his own. Together, they will bring devastation to the entire court.Hamlet is Shakespeare's timeless story of grief and a revenge so unrelenting that by curtain's close, all the major players are dead.Discover STAGED, a limited collection of Shakespeare's unabridged plays that celebrates the genius of the Bard and the tropes that continue to delight YA readers to this day.Explore the rest of the STAGED collection:As You Like It With a foreword by Talia HibbertMacbeth With a foreword by Kat DelacorteA Midsummer Night's Dream With a foreword by Becky AlbertalliMuch Ado About Nothing With a foreword by Holly BourneRomeo and Juliet With a foreword by Jennifer Niven

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Book SynopsisA group of pilgrims entertain each other with stories on their way to Canterbury in a poem whose characters, from the Knight to the Wife of Bath, are as vivid as their tales. This new edition of David Wright's acclaimed translation includes a new critical introduction and invaluable notes by a leading Chaucer scholar.Trade ReviewDavid Wright is a fine poet, and he has translated the Tales with crisp brilliance and fidelity into classic verse...On every page he offers at least a few lines that make one smile with pleasure. This version ought to be on every school syllabus. The translation is certainly the best we have ever had. * Peter Levi, Sunday Telegraph *David Wright's new verse translation of The Canterbury Tales is done with great skill, literary tact, and polish....it is caring and resourceful. It both stands up well in its own right, and is likely to send the reader back to Chaucer. * British Book News *

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Book Synopsis''Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.''In Shakespeare''s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus, the Roman general Titus incurs the wrath of the Queen of the Goths when he enslaves her and kills one of her sons. The shocking violence of her revenge and his retaliation earn Titus its reputation as Shakespeare''s bloodiest play. This New Oxford Shakespeare edition offers a range of critical approaches to the play, considering its initial popularity in the theatre, the authors'' engagement with narrative sources and Roman history, and the ongoing problems scholars and theatremakers have had with the play''s presentation of violence, rape, and racial difference. Throughout, it incorporates up-to-date scholarship and close readings of a number of landmark productions to consider the play''s place in Shakespeare''s canon and to illustrate Titus Andronicus''s enduring value in interrogating some of wider culture''s darkest and most challenging concerns.The New Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative editions of Shakespeare''s works with introductory materials designed to encourage new interpretations of the plays and poems. Using the text from the landmark The New Oxford Shakespeare Complete Works: Modern Critical Edition, these volumes offer readers the latest thinking on the authentic texts (collated from all surviving original versions of Shakespeare''s work) alongside innovative introductions from leading scholars. The texts are accompanied by a comprehensive set of critical apparatus to give readers the best resources to help understand and enjoy Shakespeare''s work.ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Book SynopsisThis anniversary edition celebrates fifty years since the original publication of Crow (1970) the vital, shape-shifting collectionby Ted Hughes. Its context, including the integral role of the American artist Leonard Baskin and the significance of Hughes' own lived tragedies, is illuminated in a new foreword by Marina Warner, as is the influence of ancient forms, legends and beliefs. The result underscores the work's rough music and organic energy, as we encounter the enigmatic, unforgettable, hulking, metamorphic beast-bird' itself.''These scraps, spoken by a crow, took poetry to a new beginning. They are the bones of poems made of mere lines: rude, surreal, gleeful, desolate poems which for all their bleakness transmit a flash of hope. I would exchange much of English literature for their dark courage.'' Alice Oswald

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Book SynopsisFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER UNLEARN Refreshing' Gary John Bishop, author of Unfu*k Yourself The straight-talking best friend everyone needs' Lilly Singh, author of How to Be a Bawse

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Book SynopsisThis selection gives equal weight to the two aspects of Robert Burns's reputation, as a lyricist and as a much-loved Scottish poet. Placing works in probable order of composition, it includes lyrics to his most well known songs, such as the nostalgic Auld Lang Syne, the romantic A Red, Red Rose, and the patriotic Scots What Hae. As a poet, Burns wrote with deceptive simplicity and imaginative sympathy, and demonstrated enormous range—from comic dramatic monologues such as Holy Willie's Prayer, which mocks hypocrisy, to narratives including the celebrated Tam O' Shanter, about the ghostly visions of a drunk.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes bTable of ContentsSelected PoemsPrefaceTable of DatesFurther Reading and RecordingsO Once I Lov'd (Handsome Nell)Behind Yon Hills Where Lugar Flows (My Nanie, O)Mary MorisonIt Was Upon a Lammas Night (Corn Rigs)Song Composed in August (Now Westlin Winds)John Barleycorn. A BalladThe Death and Dying Words of Poor MailiePoor Mailie's ElegyMy Father Was a FarmerEpitaph on William Muir of Tarbolton MillGreen Grow the Rashes. A FragmentEpistle to Davie, a Brother PoetHoly Willie's PrayerDeath and Dr. Hornbook. A True StoryWhen First I Came to Stewart KyleEpistle to John Lapraik, an Old Scotch Bard. April 1st, 1785To the Same. April 21st, 1785To William Simson, Ochiltree. May - 1785The VisionA Poet's Welcome to His Love-Begotten DaughterThe Fornicator. A New SongThe Rantin Dog the Daddie O'tAddress to the Unco Guid, or the Rigidly RighteousMan Was Made to Mourn. A DirgeThe Holy FairTo the Rev. John McMathTo a MouseLove and Liberty. A CantataTo a LouseThe Author's Earnest Cry and PrayerThe Twa Dogs. A TaleThe Cotter's Saturday NightThe Auld Farmer's New-Year-Morning SalutationTo James SmithScotch DrinkAddress to the DeilExtempore to Gavin Hamilton. Stanzas on NaethingTo a Mountain DaisyEpistle to a Young Friend. May - 1786Lines Written on a Bank-NoteAddress of BeelzebubA DreamElegy on the Death of Robert RuisseauxA Bard's EpitaphTo a HaggisThere Was a LadLines Written Under the Portrait of Robert FergusonMy Harry Was a Gallant GayHere Stewarts Once in Triumph Reigned (Lines on Stirling Window)My Peggy's FaceAn Extemporaneous Effusion on Being Appointed to the ExciseTo Daunton MeO'er the Water to CharlieRattlin, Roarin WillieEpistle to Hugh ParkerI Love My Jean (Of a' the Airts)Tam GlenAuld Lang SyneLouise What I Reck by TheeElegy on the Year 1788Epistle to William StewartAfton Water (Flow Gently Sweet Afton)To Alexander FindlaterTo a Gentleman Who Had Sent Him a NewspaperTibbie DunbarThe Taylor Fell Thro' the BedAy Waukin, OLassie Lie Near MeMy Love She's But a Lassie YetJamie Come Try MeFarewell to the Highlands (My Heart's in the Highlands)John Anderson My JoThe Battle of Sherra-moorSandy and JockieTam o'Shanter. A TaleThe Banks o' DoonTo Robert Graham of Fintry, Esq.Ae Fond KissThe Bonie Wee ThingI Hae a Wife o' My AinO for Ane and Twenty Tam!Lady Mary AnnThe Gallant WeaverHey Ca' Thro'When Princes and Prelates (Why Shouldna Poor Folk Mowe)Logan WaterO, Whistle an' I'll Come to Yet, My LadScots Wha HaeA Red, Red RoseSae Flaxen Were Her Ringlets (She Says, She Loves Me Best of a')Ode to SpringIs There for Honest Poverty (A Man's a Man for a' That)Lines Written on Windows of the Globe Inn, DumfriesI Murder HateKirkcudbright GraceLast May a Braw WooerWantonnessCharlie He's My DarlingIt Was a' for Our Rightfu' KingOh Wert Thou in the Cauld BlastNotesChronological Sketch: Scottish History and Literature Before BurnsGlossary, with a Note on Burns and DialectIndex of TitlesIndex of First Lines

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Book SynopsisFrom early, rhyming works in Love Poems and Others (1913) to the ground-breaking exploration of free verse in Birds, Beasts and Flowers (1923) the poems of D. H. Lawrence challenged convention and inspired later poets.This volume includes extensive selections from these and other editions, and contains some his most famous poems, such as ''Piano'', a nostalgic reflection on lost youth and love for his mother; ''Snake'', exploring human fear of the natural world; the short, cutting comment on sexual politics of ''Can''t Be Borne''; and the quiet philosophical resignation of ''Basta!''. Using the revised poems, but in the order in which they appeared in their original collections, this selection offers a fresh perspective that reveals an innovative poet who gave voice to his most intense emotions.

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2015WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR POETRY 2015WINNER OF THE PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD 2015WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR POETRY 2015''Everywhere were flashes, a siren sounding and a stretched-out roar. Get on the ground. Get on the ground now. Then I just knew.''And you are not the guy and still you fit the description because there is only one guy who is always the guy fitting the description.''In this moving, critical and fiercely intelligent collection of prose poems, Claudia Rankine examines the experience of race and racism in Western society through sharp vignettes of everyday discrimination and prejudice, and longer meditations on the violence - whether linguistic or physical - which has impacted the lives of Serena Williams, Zinedine Zidane, Mark Duggan and others.Citizen weaves essays, images and poetry together to form a powerful testament to the individual and collective effects of racism in an ostensibly ''post-race'' society.Trade ReviewWonderfully capacious and innovative. In her riffs on the demotic, in her layering of incident, Rankine finds a new way of writing about race in America -- Nick Laird * New York Review of Books *Citizen feels raw ... this documentary-style look at America has catapulted Rankine into the spotlight ... She speaks to the vastly different ways racism and injustice are perpetuated across class lines in America today -- Smitha Khorana * Guardian *Rankine brilliantly pushes poetry's forms ... one is left with a mix of emotions that linger and wend themselves into the subconscious -- Holly Bass * The New York Times *What does it mean to be a black citizen in the US of the early twenty-first century? Claudia Rankine's brilliant, terse and parabolic prose poems have a shock value rarely found in poetry. These tales of everyday life - whether the narrator's or the lives of young black men like Trayvon Martin and James Craig Anderson - dwell on the most normal exteriors and the most ordinary of daily situations so as to expose what is really there: a racism so guarded and carefully masked as to make it all the more insidious ... Citizen is an unforgettable book -- Marjorie PerloffAn especially vital book for this moment in time ... The realization at the end of this book sits heavily upon the heart: "This is how you are a citizen," Rankine writes. "Come on. Let it go. Move on." As Rankine's brilliant, disabusing work, always aware of its ironies, reminds us, "moving on" is not synonymous with "leaving behind" -- Dan Chiasson * New Yorker *

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Book Synopsis'The patron saint of poetry' Carol Ann Duffy For sixty years, Roger McGough has thrilled and delighted generations of readers with his irreverent, intimate and ever-original poetry. The Collected Poems presents the definitive selection of his very best work, from the Mersey-soaked sound of his quintessential Sixties start, through to tender meditations on fatherhood and family, and on to political sendups, pandemic playfulness and brilliant new writing. Here, then, is an unmatched store of warmth, wisdom and feeling from Britain's most beloved poet. 'McGough has done for poetry what champagne does for weddings' Time Out

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Book SynopsisPresents the conflict between sexual and social position. This work belongs to the series of plays, notably The Father and Creditors, in which sex and marriage are treated with frank realism.Trade Review'August Strinberg's blistering 1888 drama.' Elisabeth Mahoney, Guardian, 19.06.10

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Book SynopsisThis fifth collection of Tom Stoppard''s plays brings together five classic plays by one of the most celebrated dramatists writing in the English language.The collection includes The Real Thing, Night & Day, Hapgood, Indian Ink and Arcadia, about which the reviewer for the Daily Telegraph said ''I have never left a new play more convinced that I''d just witnessed a masterpiece''.

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Book Synopsis''The Calder valley, west of Halifax, was the last ditch of Elmet, the last British Celtic kingdom to fall to the Angles. For centuries it was considered a more or less uninhabitable wilderness, a notorious refuge for criminals, a hide-out for refugees. Then in the early 1800s it became the cradle for the Industrial Revolution in textiles, and the upper Calder became the hardest-worked river in England. Throughout my lifetime, since 1930, I have watched the mills of the region and their attendant chapels die. Within the last fifteen years the end has come. They are now virtually dead, and the population of the valley and the hillsides, so rooted for so long, is changing rapidly.'' Ted Hughes, Preface to Remains of Elmet (1979)Ted Hughes''s remarkable ''pennine sequence'' celebrates the area where he spent his early childhood. It mixes social, political, religious and historical matter - a tapestry rich in the personal and poetic investment of a landscape that both cre

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Book SynopsisRevitalising conversations around environmentalism and ecopoetics, this new gathering of African, Asian and Caribbean diaspora voices is both urgent and inspirational.There has been a welcome surge of nature writing in recent years. Yet this has raised questions as to whose voices are privileged and heard in a space predominantly occupied by Western European traditions and authors. In Nature Matters, poets Mona Arshi and Karen McCarthy Woolf seek to redress this imbalance. Their genre-enriching anthology presents brand-new commissions alongside formative works from the past fifty years that invite us to reconsider nature poetry from global-majority perspectives. Image-rich and formally diverse, the poems explore fundamental and ecological themes including climate crisis and the Anthropocene; urban nature, solitude and alienation; protest and radical empathy; Indigenous wisdom and alternative histories.''A vigorous and timely hymn to the universality of nature. It''s amazing that Nature Matters hasn''t existed until now.'' Sathnam Sanghera''An exquisitely profound and groundbreaking testament to our natural world by many of the most powerful poetic voices of our times.'' Bernardine EvaristoThis anthology is a revelation.' Guardian Best Recent PoetryContributors:Victoria Adukwei Bulley, John Agard, Jason Allen-Paisant, Moniza Alvi, Anthony Anaxagorou, Raymond Antrobus, Mona Arshi, Andre Bagoo, Khairani Barokka, Dzifa Benson, Jay Bernard, Sujata Bhatt, Malika Booker, Kamau Brathwaite, Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Anthony Vahni Capildeo, Mary Jean Chan, Kayo Chingonyi, David Dabydeen, Fred D'Aguiar, Kwame Dawes, Imtiaz Dharker, Tishani Doshi, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Inua Ellams, Richard Georges, Lorna Goodison, Mina Gorji, Will Harris, Ranjit Hoskote, Sarah Howe, Ian Humphreys, Sharan Hunjan, Ishion Hutchinson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Anthony Joseph, Bhanu Kapil, Jackie Kay, Mimi Khalvati, Safiya Kamaria Kinshasa, Zaffar Kunial, Hannah Lowe, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Roy McFarlane, Nick Makoha, E. A. Markham, Momtaza Mehri, Kei Miller, Daljit Nagra, Karthika Naïr, Grace Nichols, Selina Nwulu, Gboyega Odubanjo, Oluwaseun Olayiwola, Nii Parkes, Sandeep Parmar, Pascale Petit, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Alycia Pirmohamed, Nina Mingya Powles, Taz Rahman, A. K. Ramanujan, Nisha Ramayya, Shivanee Ramlochan, Vidyan Ravinthiran, Roger Robinson, Denise Saul, Seni Seneviratne, Olive Senior, Warsan Shire, Jeet Thayil, Marvin Thompson, Derek Walcott, Kandace Siobhan Walker, Rushika Wick, Jennifer Wong and Benjamin Zephaniah.

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Book SynopsisA small but significant, inspiring anthology from Deborah Alma, the founder of the Poetry Pharmacy.

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Book SynopsisIt is the Jubilee! Queen Victoria''s Golden Jubilee, 1887. At Tilbury Docks, Rani and Abdul step ashore after the long voyage from India. One has to battle a society who deems her a second class citizen, the other forges an astonishing entanglement with the ageing Queen who finds herself enchanted by stories of an India she rules but has never seen.The Empress uncovers remarkable unknown stories of 19th century Britain, the growth of Indian nationalism and the romantic proclivities of one of our most surprising monarchs.

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Book SynopsisAn eye for an eye. It's very simple. You choose your homeland like a hyena picking and choosing where he steals his next meal from. Scavenger. Yes you grovel to the feet of Mengistu and when his people spit at you and kick you from the bowl you scuttle across the border. Scavenger.As a violent civil war rages back home, teenager Alem and his father are in a B&B in Berkshire. It''s his best holiday ever. The next morning his father is gone and has left a note explaining that he and his mother want to protect Alem from the war. This strange grey country of England is now his home. On his own, and in the hands of the social services and the Refugee Council, he lives from letter to letter, waiting to hear something from his father. Then Alem meets car-obsessed Mustapha, the lovely ''out of your league'' Ruth and dangerous Sweeney three unexpected allies who spur him on as Alem fights to be seen as more than just the Refugee Boy. Based on the novel by Benjamin Zephaniah, Refugee Trade ReviewThe playful, obstinate and courageously humorous tone of Zephaniah's writing shines through . . . Hilarious and later heartbreaking. -- Alfred Hickling * Guardian *Fine and humane play... Sissay weaves in poetry, laughter... moments of awe * The Times *Although tragic, this play is funny. The writers provide barrow-loads of sharp lines and exchanges. -- Ray Brown * British Theatre Guide *Lemn Sissay’s script reflects [Alem's] fears but also has its moments of pure poetry ... it’s also funny, not least in the cultural differences of teen-speak -- Will Ramsey * Stage *Sweet, funny, highly inventive * Yorkshire Post *Humour and innocence are both to the fore as is a sweetness of tone ... more street than poetic, and personal yet universal, Refugee Boy is well told by impassioned writer -- Charles Hutchinson * York Press *

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Book SynopsisHand in Hand with Love is a celebration of queer voices throughout the ages. Spanning from Sappho and the Ancient Greeks to Edna St. Vincent Millay and the modernists, this luminous anthology champions and redefines the spectrum of queer poetry.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, cloth-bound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited by Dr Simon Avery, a specialist in queer history and culture at the University of Westminster.Featuring visionary writers whose only space to express their intimate thoughts was on the page, pioneering poets who battled prejudice to be bold and forthright, and an electrifying range of famous authors such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Oscar Wilde, these dynamic voices paved the way for decades to come. Together, they offer a vivid archive of queer identity to be celebrated, discovered and treasured.

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Book SynopsisDiscover the joy of expressing what's inside you, with fill-in-the-blank poems that are sparking a creative movement.We all have stories inside us, whether or not we consider ourselves creative'. And with these 50 simple fill-in-the-blank poems, anyone can write poetry, whatever age or ability. By adding just a few words of your own, you create something beautiful and wholly new that comes from within.Discover the magic of putting your feelings into words and be inspired by sample poems submitted by people of all ages and walks of life. Exploring themes like friendship, love, grief, gratitude, and hope, these inclusive, accessible, and deceptively simple poems express powerful emotional truths, written by you.Discover the joy of expressing what's inside you, with fill-in-the-blank poems that are sparking a creative movement

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Book Synopsis*Winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize 2018**Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award 2018*'A brilliant debut - a tender, nostalgic and, at times, darkly hilarious exploration of black boyhood, masculinity and grief. A gorgeous and necessary collection from one of my favourite writers' Warsan ShireTranslating as 'initiation', kumukanda is the name given to the rites a young boy from the Luvale tribe must pass through before he is considered a man. The poems of Kayo Chingonyi's remarkable debut explore this passage: between two worlds, ancestral and contemporary; between the living and the dead; between the gulf of who he is and how he is perceived.Underpinned by a love of music, language and literature, here is a powerful exploration of race, identity and masculinity, celebrating what it means to be British and not British, all at once.*Shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Prize; Seamus Heaney Centre First Poetry Collection Prize; Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry; Roehampton Poetry Prize; Jhalak Prize 2018*Trade ReviewA brilliant debut – a tender, nostalgic and, at times, darkly hilarious exploration of black boyhood, masculinity and grief. A gorgeous and necessary collection from one of my favourite writers -- Warsan ShireA remarkable year for first collections. The best, for this reader, was Kayo Chingonyi’s Kumukanda… Whether recalling his parents’ deaths or celebrating the art of the mixtape, Chingonyi’s poise is astonishing -- Tristram Fane Saunders * Daily Telegraph *His poems are intelligent and moving and find the perfect balance between intricacy and directness -- Joe Dunthorne * The Observer *Chingonyi thrillingly integrates…rhythms and rhymes with more conventional poetic metrics…with a rare energy, intelligence and sophistication -- Nicholas Wroe * Guardian *[A] wonderful debut… A subtle and affecting, lyrical and powerful collection that explores boyhood, rites of passage, the ancient and the modern world -- Jackie Kay * Observer *The book emerges as being about memory and identity in the best and broadest sense… Chingonyi’s poetic voice and style are both highly entertaining and adaptable mixing form with free verse and jargon with slang… But for all its lyrical elegance and at times mannered diction, this is angry and defiant writing, determined to “master the language”, as “The Cricket Test” has it, of privileged white male canonical literature as if to prove a point… Chingonyi goes one better, using his lyric panache to honour pop references and cultural experiences of personal and communal significance while also turning the tables, casting a wry and intelligent eye on our wider attitudes… These terse, memorable poems are testament to the best of Chingonyi’s gifts. Impassioned, witty, socially and politically engaged…the poems turn irony to impressive effect in dissecting our dubious “post-race moment”… Kumukanda is an authentic and convincing book of poems in its many nuanced portrayals and unflinching reflections; rarely is it content to gloss or deceive… Kumukanda is an intricate and intense collection, heady with feeling but guided by thoughtful reflection -- Ben Wilkinson * Guardian *Navigating the experience of growing up with music, flair and a jaw-dropping formal range, this collection is a thing of beauty -- Maria Crawford * Financial Times *Full of nostalgia and gentleness as well as being sharply observant * Stylist *Chingonyi’s poems are full of questions that need asking. His gift is for pushing poems further than you expected them to go. [A] striking quest of a debut -- Poetry Book of the Month, Kate Kellaway * Observer *Powerful… These poems are essential and urgent and shine a light on British culture in an unique and spellbinding way * Elle, ‘10 'Woke' Works Of Literature You Need To Add To Your Reading List This Year’ *Kumakanda is an essential collection from one of the UK's most exciting poets. Kayo's poetry is beautiful, thoughtful, musical and nostalgic -- Nikesh ShuklaA wonderful debut: music, race, deracination, love and death are all woven into a compelling portrait of a young man growing up, rendered in poems that are elegant yet conversational, fluent yet profoundly skillful, touched with heart-stopping lyricism. For the reader, an initiation not to be missed -- Henry ShukmanWhen James Baldwin described the writer's goal as stringing together sentences that were as clean as a bone, he wasn't to know that poet Kayo Chingonyi's debut collection Kumukanda would achieve exactly that -- Rianna Jade Parker * Vice UK *The title poem Kumukanda is elegant, eloquent and moving... For all the particularity of his subject matters and his openness in exploring them, it’s the fine and sophisticated writing that makes me return to these poems -- Jane Routh * Magma Poetry *Exceedingly powerful; by turns furious, tender and bittersweet, taking as it does the overall theme of in-betweens. Ancestry versus contemporary rites of passage. The ambiguous versus the undeniable. Who you are, and who you choose to be seen as, versus who others perceive you to be -- Clare Mulley * Skinny *

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Book SynopsisIn this exquisite, thoughtful and thought-provoking collection, Jenny Hamlett takes us into an interior world that is too often invisible and misunderstood. Deeply grounded in the natural world, communicated with linguistic dexterity and in images that are fresh and precise, Sorry, I forgot to pack my ears moves across registers, moving between moments of justified anger, bewilderment and humour, to create lasting impact. A mature, brave and insightful collection.

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Book SynopsisA collection of accessible poetry that reflects the everyday in all its extraordinariness. Lines from an Ordinary Life will make you laugh, cry and think in equal measure.

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Book SynopsisHaiku seventeen-syllable poems that evoke worlds despite their brevity have captivated Japanese readers since the seventeenth century. Today the form is practiced worldwide and has become established as part of our common global heritage. This beautiful traditionally hand-bound volume presents new English translations of classic poems by the four great masters of Japanese haiku Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, Kobayashi Issa, and Masaoka Shiki accompanied by both the original Japanese and a phonetic transcription. With a timeless design, Haiku is an expert introduction and celebration of one of the most beautiful and accessible forms of poetry in the world.

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Book SynopsisA bitingly comic, strikingly timely satire for the stage, which asks if we can ever break free from the people we used to be.

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Book SynopsisThe undisputed pioneer of the horror, detective and science-fiction genres, Edgar Allan Poe was an accomplished poet as well as a celebrated writer of short stories. The present edition contains all of his works in verse, from the major poems of his maturity – such as his famous ballads ‘The Raven’ and ‘Lenore’ – to those he published in his youth and those that were collected immediately after his premature death in 1849. Also included in this volume is a selection of Poe’s essays on poetical composition and prosody, revealing that poetry was at the core of the American master’s vision of literature – something also demonstrated by the significant and enduring body of work he left behind in this field.

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