Poetry Books

Book SynopsisTrade Review“Ali Blythe’s Two­ism will lull and sur­prise with musi­cal­ity and insight, and is a delight to read that will fill those seem­ingly empty moments after read­ing with echo­ing thoughts of what was, what is and what might have been.” -- Jason Christie * Arc Poetry Magazine *"Ali Blythe has created Twoism out of muscle and mirrors, shadow and light, throwing words as though they are knives in a circus act; risky, but with steady aim, each word lands sharp and close to the skin. Blythe drops us into new sites at midnight, into new paradigms, into spare, perfect poems of love and plain want, of watching skies and old clocks, unbalancing the reader while righting the meaning of two." -- Arleen Paré"Right from the first poem, Blythe pulls you down the rabbit hole of desire. Exquisitely crafted, hauntingly wry, Twoism is a heart-wrenching koan. It's a find!" -- Betsy Warland"Sometimes there is no better way to say you are sad than to say you are sad. The emotional weather in Ali Blythe's Twoism is unmistakably contemporary — the medicated ache, the raining cheer, the cool humour where once there was hope. Yet Blythe is as disarming as dangerous. A poet who makes us feel as if we have known them a long time, as if we have been waiting to hear from them, waiting for this book, while telling us the things we have suspected and feared about our condition. In every poem, there is the chance you will be caught unprepared." -- Ian Williams

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Book SynopsisDavid A. Campbell is Emeritus Professor of Greek and Roman Studies at the University of Victoria, Canada.Table of ContentsPreface Introduction Abbreviations Archilochus Cal linus Tyrtaeus Semonides Alcman Mimnermus Solon Stesichorus Sappho Alcaeus Ibycus Anacreon Xenophanes Phocylides Demodocus Theognis Hipponax Simon ides Pratinas Timocreon Corinna Bacchylides Praxilla Carmina popularia Scolia Appendix on Metre Index

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Book SynopsisThis court epic describes events leading up to the birth of Kumára, the war god who will defeat the demon Táraka. The gods try to use Kama, the Indian Cupid, to make the ascetic god Shiva fall in love with the daughter of the Himalaya mountain. Kama fails, and is burnt to ashes by the angry Shiva. Then Parvati, the daughter of the mountain, herself turns to asceticism to win the husband she longs for. She is successful, and the climax of the poem is the marriage and lovemaking of Shiva and Parvati, parents of the universe.The greatest long poem in classical Sanskrit, by the greatest poet of the language, Kalidasa''s The Birth of Kumára is not exactly a love story but a paradigm of inevitable union between male and female, played out on the immense scale of supreme divinity. In this court-epic, the events are described leading up to but not including the birth of Kumára, the war god destined to defeat the demon Táraka.Co-published by New York University Press and tTrade Review"The books line up on my shelf like bright Bodhisattvas ready to take tough questions or keep quiet company. They stake out a vast territory, with works from two millennia in multiple genres: aphorism, lyric, epic, theater, and romance" -- Willis G. Regier * The Chronicle Review *"Published in the geek-chic format." * BookForum *"The Clay Sanskrit Library represents one of the most admirable publishing projects now afoot. . . . Anyone who loves the look and feel and heft of books will delight in these elegant little volumes." * New Criterion *"No effort has been spared to make these little volumes as attractive as possible to readers: the paper is of high quality, the typesetting immaculate. The founders of the series are John and Jennifer Clay, and Sanskritists can only thank them for an initiative intended to make the classics of an ancient Indian language accessible to a modern international audience." * The Times Higher Education Supplement *"Very few collections of Sanskrit deep enough for research are housed anywhere in North America. Now, twenty-five hundred years after the death of Shakyamuni Buddha, the ambitious Clay Sanskrit Library may remedy this state of affairs." * Tricycle *

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Book SynopsisCarol Shields received both the Pulitzer Prize and the Governor General’s Award for Fiction for her novel The Stone Diaries. Yet she also wrote hundreds of poems over the span of her career. This collection includes three previously published collections and over eighty unpublished poems, ranging from the early 1970s to Shields’s death in 2003.Trade Review"The Collected Poetry of Carol Shields will send Shields's followers back to her novels with a new understanding of their metaphoric and imagistic richness. Scholars and those familiar with her work will be grateful that the book has awakened them to another side of a writer of such renown." Lorna Crozier, University of Victoria and author of Through the Garden: A Love Story (with Cats)"The poems in this book are witty, sparked by Shields's signature interests in gender, class, and the frames of subjectivity; they are smartly formal and, like her novels, often subversively feminist. It is intriguing to see the kind of breadth that Shields brought to multiple projects throughout her poetic practice and this book has the ring of a well-kept secret." Tanis MacDonald, Wilfrid Laurier University and author of Mobile“Nearly twenty years after [Sheilds’] death, we have the welcome edition of her Collected Poetry. With the annotated addition of unpublished poems, Stovel’s volume reveals the intricate web of Shields’s humane creative intelligence.” British Journal of Canadian Studies

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Book SynopsisA diverse and cacophonous poetry collection tackling subjects from identity to current events. At once comic and cantankerous, tender and discomfiting, piercing and irreverent, Genghis Chan on Drums is a shape-shifting book of percussive poems dealing with aging, identity, PC culture, and stereotypes about being Chinese. Employing various forms, John Yau’s poems traverse a range of subjects, including the 1930s Hollywood actress Carole Lombard, the Latin poet Catullus, the fantastical Renaissance painter Piero di Cosimo’s imaginary sister, and a nameless gumshoe. Yau moves effortlessly from using the rhyme scheme of a sixteenth-century Edmund Spenser sonnet to riffing on a well-known poem-rant by the English poet Sean Bonney, and to immersing himself in the words of condolence sent by a former president to the survivors of a school massacre. Yau’s poems are conduits through which many different, conflicting, and unsavory voices strive to be heard. Trade Review"Yau’s latest brilliant (after Bijou in the Dark) brims with social critique and the linguistic play for which the poet is known, while also being suggestive of a writer and artist eager to situate his multifaceted work in the context of a collapsing society. . . . Self-aware yet self-effacing, these necessary poems testify to the power of language to transform reality." -- Starred review * Publishers Weekly *"Yau considers history, poets of the past, aging, personal and political identity, mass shootings, and stereotypes of Chinese citizens in poems that address various crises of the times." -- Top 10 Poetry Books for Fall 2021 * Publishers Weekly *"Even knowing that John Yau is a prolific and adventurous poet, one can’t begin to anticipate the work in Genghis Chan on Drums... This poet-scholar... has gifted us with a lot to ponder." * On the Seawall *“Once again Yau delivers a spectacularly tantalizing book of poems, recent and relevant to exigencies and booby traps of the times: PC culture, identity politics. A poet’s aging body as he’s turning 69, and other twilight musings, razor sharp curmudgeonry, meditations on Gumshoes, Piero di Cosimo’s Sister, Carole Lombard, the language of Philosophers. All masterfully pulled off with sleight of hand, deft language, gleeful irreverence. As devil’s advocate, Yau mercilessly torques all the cliches about being Chinese, in the ‘O Pin Yin’ series. . . . Each section of this generous book has a particular intensity of shape-shifting personae. Surreal prose poems sit comfortably with ‘A Painters’ Thought,’ an especially winning section from a poet who has written expertly, profusely on art. Two pieces movingly invoke artist Tom Nozkowski, close friend who passed in 2019. . . . Genghis Chan on Drums arrives on time with a drumming shout-out for the human comedy, a perfect antidote for the enormity of our world’s woes. Yet Yau also has the heart of a humble Taoist philosopher as when ‘we become our own destiny: military sardines side-by-side sliding together in the dark.’” -- Anne Waldman, author of Sanctuary: (Addenda)“By turns gorgeous, hilarious, and enraged, this astonishing collection takes the reader on a mineshaft-deep descent past the nuanced multiform measures of racism I am humiliated to admit I had never before fathomed. Then, in short poems suggesting the richness of dreamt novels, Yau discloses his enormous inner life in a virtuosic redeployment of language that blooms on each passing page, in wave upon wave of buoyant wonders, in mischievous self-cancelling miracles of speech, until we reach the depths of English I never thought possible. This is a beautiful book in which I finally found my feeble self. It understands me and I want to stay here forever!” -- Guy Maddin“It’s hard to overstate the profound influence that Yau’s poetry has on my work, and on so many other poets and artists across generations. I’ve followed his sometime OG alter-ego Genghis Chan across many decades, many books, and it’s glorious to see him finally slouch into the spotlight for this long-awaited extended solo—a mashup of speed metal plus free improv plus paigu with the occasional brassy rimshot. But in this latest book, the propulsive beat of war-drums underlies even the vaudeville, the exquisite, the slyly cantankerous. Yau’s shots have real targets, real firepower, even when his targets hold his own consciousness hostage. From a collage of other people’s stereotypes, myths, and dissimulations, these poems emerge with breathtaking clarity and gut-wrenching force. Perhaps Yau’s most powerful book to date, this is essential reading.” -- Monica Youn, author of Blackacre: Poems

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Book SynopsisA comparison of Jim Morrison and the rebel poet Rimbaud.Trade Review"I have little doubt Jim Morrison would be both flattered by and proud of Wallace Fowlie’s analytic literary analysis of his poetry and lyrics. It was a 19-year-old Jim Morrison who wrote Mr. Fowlie to thank him for translating his hero Arthur Rimbaud into English from French and it would be a grateful Jim Morrison who would thank Wallace Fowlie today for tracing and linking his work with such a distinguished poetic heritage."—Danny Sugerman, author of Wonderland Avenue and co-author of No One Here Gets Out Alive.Table of ContentsI. My Journal on the Two Rebel Artists 1 II. Rimbaud 35 III. Jim Morrison 73 IV. Conclusions: Masks of the Modern Antihero—Rimbaud and Jim Morrison 119 Bibliography 127 Index 129

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Book SynopsisAimed at students and readers of poetry at all levels, The Cambridge Guide to Reading Poetry takes a tour through a galaxy of examples, demonstrating how to come to terms with poetry's verbal, formal, emotional, and conceptual power. It shows how reading poems enhances our enjoyment and understanding of life.Trade Review'One of the advantages this book will have over competitors in the field is that its tone and approach are grounded in practical experience of introducing challenging texts to readers who are relatively inexperienced with (and not a little afraid of) poetry. Andrew Hodgson's guide manages to make reading poetry continuously exciting without sacrificing difficulty. Consistently literary, it makes the literary available rather than austerely or arcanely remote. Above, all students will listen because the advice is presented without condescension as if from a writer addressing fellow-practitioners. I will certainly be recommending this book to my first-year close readers and I am sincerely heartened by the fact that, published by Cambridge University Press, it is set to become a standard text.' Josie Billington, University of Liverpool'Any student of poetry, not just beginners, should find this book helpful and encouraging. Its tone is amiable but not condescending, its range of themes and examples is generous, and its insights are sensible, interesting and smart.' Michael Ferber, University of New HampshireDeeply thoughtful and superbly eloquent, this is the most inspiring guide to the study of poetry that I've ever encountered. It's an introduction and a masterclass at once. Like the literature it illuminates, this book has riches to offer readers of every kind. Refusing bullet points and jargon, refusing to flatten or over-simplify, Hodgson takes us seriously. Opening up conversation at every turn, he encourages us to embrace poetry in all its exhilarating complexity and to feel it changing our minds. He looks carefully under the microscope at rhyme and metre, form and voice, and – inseparably – he makes a powerfully sustained argument for the transformative presence of literature in our lives. … In sum it's as idiosyncratic, argumentative, stylish, loving and generally human as literature is and textbooks aren't.' Alexandra Harris, University of Birmingham'Hodgson's guide is lucid, learned, and just plain useful. He patiently and precisely describes the pleasures and value of reading and writing about verse. Filled with a wide selection of well-wrought exempla and some well-culled insights from poets themselves, the book beautifully describes why poetry matters and how it works. Like the best poets, Hodgson thinks and feels deeply about words.' Stephen Dobranski, Distinguished University Professor, Georgia State University'This is an incredibly useful, accessible guide for anyone interested in sharpening their appreciation of poetry. Andrew Hodgson's book manages to be engaging and friendly, even when introducing potentially intimidating topics like metre and scansion, without ever patronising the reader or reducing the complexity of the ideas raised. He also never loses sight of the fact that students need to discover their own reasons for engaging with poetry, beyond the mundane demands of university assessment. Through its series of wide-ranging and lucidly explored examples, his book inspires a further plunge into poetic history, by reminding us that poetry is a vital record of the diversity of human experience, rather than a rarefied separation from it.' Dr Sarah Parker, Loughborough University'… the book's language is accessible, lucid, and direct, rarely dipping into undefined poetic jargon. As such, The Cambridge Guide to Reading Poetry would be useful for technical communicators looking to reintroduce themselves to the act of reading poetry critically, or even those looking for a way to write a guide for difficult and diffuse subjects with clarity.' Dylan Schrader, Technical CommunicationTable of ContentsIntroduction: Reading Poetry; 1. Reading a Poem; 2. Studying a Poet; 3. Writing about Poetry; Epilogue: What Should You Read?; Glossary of Common Forms and Genres; Further Reading.

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Book SynopsisPoetry Book Society Wild Card Winner of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets'It’s thrilling to discover such a staggeringly self-assured debut, to feel in the unmistakable presence of The Real Thing' Kaveh AkbarThe Yemeni American poet Threa Almontaser’s incendiary debut asks how mistranslation can be a form of self-knowledge and survival. A love letter to the country and people of Yemen, a portrait of young Muslim womanhood in New York after 9/11, and an extraordinarily composed examination of what it means to carry in the body the echoes of what came before, Almontaser sneaks artifacts to and from worlds, repurposing language and adapting to the space between cultures. Speakers move with the force of what cannot be contained by the limits of the American imagination; instead, they invest in troublemaking and trickery, navigate imperial violence across multiple accents and anthems, and apply gang signs in henna, utilizing any means necessary to form a semblance of home. Fearlessly riding the tension between carnality and tenderness in the unruly human spirit, The Wild Fox of Yemen is one of the most original and bold debuts in recent years.

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Book SynopsisIncludes: Time of My Life; Neighbourhood Watch; Arrivals and Departures; Hero's Welcome; A Brief History of Women

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Book SynopsisDanielle Boodoo-Fortuné’s poems inhabit a world of permeable barriers and transformations between men and women, humans and animals, the hunters and the hunted and the living and the dead. Her collection creates for us vivid images of the rural Trinidadian world, where she grew up and still lives in. This is a world where the real and the mythical rub shoulders, where people know about the magical properties of plants, where anything can happen, where “everything that breathes will howl”. What emerges from her vivid word pictures are images of the complexity of family ties, of motherhood that is both tender and fearsome, of an intimacy with the natural world which is torn between fears for its fragility and hopes for its resilience. In the words of Shivanee Ramlochan, “Boodoo-Fortuné’s lines are primed for simplicity and brutality alike… of the promises stirring within buried bones… and all manner of unknowable, mysterious selves.”As the recent winner of the Holick-Arvon and Wasafiri poetry prizes, Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné is a powerful new voice in poetry.

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Book SynopsisThe Defeat of Youth and Other Poems (1918) is a collection of poems by English author Aldous Huxley. Although Huxley is known foremost as a novelist, his poetry exhibits a mastery of language and an uncommon sense of the music inherent to words. The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems is his third poetry collection. “The Defeat of Youth” is a moving sonnet sequence on the passage of innocence to experience, on familiar transformation of love into lust. Capturing the experience of youthful attraction, Huxley imagines the moment in which the beloved “leans, and there is laughter in the face / She turns toward him; and it seems a door / Suddenly opened on some desolate place / With a burst of light and music.” As the young man awakens to the life of another, his vision turns tragically pure, molding an image of “immanence divine,” a face “in a flash of laughter” and a “young body with an inward flame.” As the poem unfolds, however, he feels only shame to have touched “things deadly to be desired.” Throughout this collection, Huxley explores the poet’s tendency to sing and to praise the world’s fleeting beauty while “[o]ther young men have been battling with the days / And others have been kissing the beautiful women.” The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems is the work of a poet uncertain of his visionary gift, doubtful of his art’s worth or purpose, yet sure of the power of language. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Aldous Huxley’s The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted for the Saskatchewan Book Award (Poetry Book) 2023. Shortlisted for the Saskatchewan Book Award (City of Saskatoon) 2023. Shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry 2022. Shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award 2022. Field Requiem bears witness to the violence inherent in the shift to industrialised farming in prairie Canada. Sheri Benning's poems chart the ways in which a way of life collapses, the world of the family farm, even as the speaker suffers, too. The first poem in the collection, 'Winter Sleep', is a fever dream: the borders between past and present, between the unconscious and the real, break down. The poem reckons with the devastating social and environmental impacts of the agribusiness industry. The long elegy, 'Let Them Rest', takes its cue from the Dies Irae and the Latin liturgy of the Requiem mass to mourn Saskatchewan's many ruined farmsteads and razed communities. Throughout, the poems trace the still luminous contours of love - for family, for the land - in rendering the horrors of loss. The incantatory voice rises from dream into dark vision. The book also includes lyric poems that give voice to the affective consequences of loss brought on by climate change and factory farming and renew a sense of locality in the teeth of corporate farming practices. Benning has worked with her sister Heather Benning, who constructs large-scale, site specific installations which explore and extend these themes.Trade Review'As a poet, Benning communicates feeling through words - and... she does so piercingly.' - The Toronto Star

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Book SynopsisSamantha King Holmes brings forth a raw, original perspective. A collection of poetry that breathes hope into the idea of love while mourning the human condition of seeking out connections, sometimes with the wrong people. Her verse takes the readers on an introspective journey of love, longing, and self-evolution.Born to Love, Cursed to Feel Revised Edition brings to life an answer to the many difficult questions involving self-love and the feelings we have for others. The book explores the need to connect and the way emotions can complicate our decision making. Ultimately this book is a poetic documentation of heartbreak, anguish, and redemption. A story told in hopes of reminding others that their mistakes do not define them and that the end is usually the beginning of something more. In this revised edition, new, never-before-seen poems are sprinkled throughout among beloved and refreshed pieces from the first edition.

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Book SynopsisA lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s "nimble gallop" and brings an ancient epic to new life.Trade Review"The first version of Homer's groundbreaking work by a woman will change our understanding of it for ever... Emily Wilson’s crisp and musical version is a cultural landmark. Armed with a sharp, scholarly rigour, she has produced a translation that exposes centuries of masculinist readings of the poem." -- Charlotte Higgins, Poetry Book of the Day - The Guardian"... Emily Wilson proves an appropriately beguiling female translator... This is certainly an Odyssey for our moment … [a] swift, unornamented text." -- The Spectator"Wilson’s Odyssey feels like a restoration of an old, familiar building that had over the years been encrusted with too much gilt. Wilson translates as though translation is a moral choice — you owe fidelity not to the author, nor to the protagonist, but to the truth behind the words and the times. She scrapes away at old encrusted layers, until she exposes what lies beneath." -- Financial Times"It is immensely satisfying to see The Odyssey in the hands of such a careful and creative scholar who can pore over the semantic nuances of Homer's Greek as well as those of her own English. Considerations of gender aside, perhaps Wilson's greatest achievement is to disprove the increasingly held view that versions of ancient texts require an established poet to be parachuted in, like a literary James Bond, to rescue their English lines from the prosaic. For a translation of The Odyssey that knows what it is talking about and sings as it speaks, this is the one to read." -- New Statesman"Wilson’s approach has been to translate the text in a way that resonates with today’s politics. Her translation, spare and provocative, will engage a new generation of students." -- Times Literary Supplement"The real reason why Emily Wilson’s version of this nearly three-millennia-old poem is so important is that it combines intellectual authority with addictive readability." -- Edith Hall - The Sunday Telegraph"... Emily Wilson’s brilliant introduction to her new translation of The Odyssey shows the classical world as capable of feminist inflections." -- The Observer"... a perceptive reading of The Odyssey... Readers who want to get a feeling for the poem will find Wilson’s translation full of insights..." -- London Review of Books"Wilson’s translation is a superb achievement and a striking departure from the tradition of Homeric translation into English... [She] has produced a wonderfully distinctive—and modern—version of the poem." -- London Evening Standard"All the artistic choices work. I must admit when I heard we were reviewing The Odyssey, I thought ‘Oh no, it’s going to be wordy and dull’ […] but it wasn’t, it really felt fresh and alive and exciting." -- Sophie Hannah - BBC Radio 4, Saturday Review"... Emily Wilson's terrific new translation..." -- The i Paper"Emily Wilson wipes the dust of ages from Homer’s prose in her new translation of The Odyssey. Accessible and entertaining, she provides an elegant rendering of the classic." -- Peter Campbell, Favourite reads of 2017 - as chosen by scientists - The Guardian"Now we have an excellent new translation of the epic by the British classicist Emily Wilson. Norton trumpets it as “the first English translation of the ‘Odyssey’ by a woman.”... But Wilson’s rendering is remarkable in other ways as well." -- The International New York Times"... a monumental piece of work on her part..." -- Stig Abell - BBC Radio 4 Front Row"Emily Wilson... is the first woman to translate Homer's entire epic into English, and she has produced something extraordinary. In her hands, a work believed to have been written at around the end of the eighth century BC is transformed into something that might have been written yesterday: vivid, exciting and utterly immersive... her accessible and fascinating introduction explains the poem's origins and reception, and such crucial concepts as 'guest-friendship' (xenia)." -- The Lady"Emily Wilson, […] whose translation of The Odyssey – the first translation by a woman, might I add – is currently destroying me, so it’s good. You can just tell from the way she writes and from her very ballsy interpretive translation that she’s got a wicked, daring mind, and a deeply poetic one." -- Hannah Epperson - Female First"I thought this was just moving, it was musical, it was direct, it was straightforward […] anyone could read it and really, really enjoy it." -- Rosie Goldsmith - BBC Radio 4, Saturday Review"A masterpiece of translation—fluent, elegant, vigorous." -- Rowan Williams, University of Cambridge"As the first English translation of this ancient tale by a woman, this lively, fast-paced retelling of Homer’s epic is long overdue. Much as Homer did in his time, Wilson whisks the audience into a realm both familiar and fantastical. The world of Odysseus and his adventures take shape before the reader’s eyes, luminescent once more, in this engaging new translation." -- Justine McConnell, King's College London"This will surely be the Odyssey of choice for a generation." -- Lorna Hardwick, The Open University"I am not quite sure why, but this instantly hot-wired me into tears." -- Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent"I think this is a really significant literary moment." -- Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"Friends, believe the hype. This translation is a marvel!... The sheer energy of the iambic pentameter is revelatory. Her word choices! The rhythm and the politics so delicious, so alive. And the man is devious and quick and fit to bursting with arrogance and cunning. He's perfect. It's sublime." -- Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers"The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson. One of the great narratives of all time. You think you know it ? Not until you read this one. Stunning translation/interpretation." -- Susan Hill"Poetry that reads like a thriller." -- R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps series"The new Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey is brilliant and sharp and swift and funny and will repay the reader a thousand times over." -- Katherine Rundell"... this new version of The Odyssey... is a fresh and worthwhile addition to the many existing translations, both for newcomers and veteran readers... Wilson offers a neat, accurate and lively verse translation..." -- Minerva"There are many other [other than being the first female translation] stunning things about Wilson’s translation, from the five-beat lines to the straightforward speech, free from the elegant clunkiness that we usually see when scholars try to carry words over from one language to another. But one of them is certainly an awareness of her own daring." -- Eidolon"The real reason why Wilson’s version of this nearly three-millennia-old poem is so important is that, in delicate, five-foot iambics, it combines intellectual authority with truly addictive readability." -- The Telegraph"Utterly readable and gripping." -- Mail on Sunday"I’m inordinately excited to read the first translation of a Homeric epic ever published by a woman." -- Imogen Russell Williams, Summer Books 2018 - Times Literary Supplement"This – the first English translation of Homer’s epic poem by a woman – is vivid, fresh and a genuine page-turner." -- Event’s 100 sizzling summer reads - Mail on Sunday"Emily Wilson is the first woman to translate The Odyssey into English, and her fine, plain language makes this ancient and compelling story hum with new life... Wilson is a brilliant companion on the decade-long journey to Ithaka's shores." -- Erica Wagner - Boat International"A gorgeous take on an age old classic makes its mark." -- Book of the Month - The Bookseller"... last year’s translation by Emily Wilson – the first complete English version by a woman – offers a fascinatingly fresh perspective on the poem, importing this ancient adventure to a whippy modern idiom while keeping a beady eye on centuries of inherited power dynamics in translation. “Tell me about a complicated man,” her translation begins, with the air of someone about to scrub the grime off an old painting. It’s fabulous stuff." -- Tim Martin, The Best Books About the Greek Islands - The Economist, 1843 Magazine"I just reread The Odyssey — the recent brilliant translation by Emily Wilson — while on Ithaca. I read it sitting on the very white pebbled shore on which Odysseus must have landed. Wonderful when both author and story are on the mysterious cusp of fact and fancy. " -- Michael Morpurgo - Mail Online"The real reason this version of a nearly three-millennia-old poem is so important is that it has intellectual authority as well as truly addictive readability." -- Paperbacks to Read this Week - The Telegraph"... a fabulous new translation of which Emily Wilson has provided. An accessible and authoritative reading of the first great story of the western canon, it not only matches the number of lines of the original, but also its drama, musicality and pace." -- Philippa Joseph, Best History Books 2018 - History Today" Scholarly and readable, this is an up-to-the-minute translation that sets some records straight. " -- William Wall, Irish Writers' Best of 2018 - The Independent"Emily Wilson’s 2017 translation of The Odyssey (WW Norton) is quite extraordinary... It is powerful and immensely readable... The translation of Homer for our times..." -- Mark Mazower, Books of the Year 2019

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Book SynopsisWhile each play in the Berenger cycle is unique, they are all prime examples of Ionesco's conception of the theatre of the absurd, and touch on themes that preoccupied Ionesco throughout his career, such as mortality, alienation, freedom and the evils of Fascism.Trade ReviewIf life is absurd for Eugène Ionesco, it is also alluring. His capacity for delight in the details of human existence struggles with his conviction of its futility; it lends depth and verve to his despair. * The New York Times *

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Book Synopsis 'What happens when the man of your dreams turns out to be a nightmare with sharp teeth and claws?' Winner of the 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Poetry, amanda lovelace presents her new illustrated duology, “things that h(a)unt.” In this first installment, to make monsters out of girls, lovelace explores the memory of being in an abusive relationship. She poses the eternal question: Can you heal once you’ve been marked by a monster, or will the sun always sting?Trade Review“With this hauntingly poignant and provocative collection, amanda lovelace has once again cemented her place as one of the top poets of our time. Shaking off old memories of heartbreak and love gone wrong, lovelace is showing young women how to arm themselves against the pain of past relationships. Never have I felt a more unshakable sense of warmth and empowerment than while reading this book. monsters has burrowed under my skin and made its home deep within my soul. This is a collection that will not be forgotten.” (summer webb @buttermybooks)“to make monsters out of girls by amanda lovelace is an emotional triumph. this inspiring collection winds through the roots of an abusive relationship and then leads the reader from the shadows, all the way back out into the sun.” (Trista Mateer, author of The Dogs I Have Kissed and Honeybee)"Uncompromising and unforgettable. To Make Monsters Out of Girls is a bold, poignant, and sensitively crafted collection exploring the consequences of past trauma. Amanda Lovelace's balance of a sharp, hard reality paired with her fearless optimism and unwavering belief in the resilience and strength of herself and all women has me returning to her work again and again and again. Her poems are a powerful testament to self-recovery." (Courtney Summers, author of Sadie)“A triumphed survivor, Amanda Lovelace takes us through her journey of heartache and once again saving herself in to make monsters out of girls. Lovelace weaved her words gently while impacting my very being with her power. Showing us that yes, we can recognize the toxins and still move forward with all our strength. You will not regret picking up this collection." (Gretchen Gomez, author of love, and you)

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Book SynopsisIn a townhouse in Copenhagen works Hans Christian Andersen, a teller of exquisite and fantastic children's tales beloved by millions. But the true source of his stories dwells in his attic upstairs, her existence a dark secret kept from the outside world.Dangerous, twisted and funny, Martin McDonagh's new play travels deep into the abysses of the imagination. A Very Very Dark Matter premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London, in October 2018.

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Book SynopsisFrom poetry slam champion Porsha O, a debut collection exploring black womanhood.

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Book SynopsisAlexander Pushkin’s epic magic-realist tale is brought vividly to life in this superb translation by D. M. Thomas. Drawing on the Russian folklore of Pushkin’s childhood, the poem recounts the abduction of Princess Ludmila by the evil wizard Chernomor and the attempt by the brave knight Ruslan to rescue his bride. Ruslan must embark on a perilous quest, encountering an intriguing cast of characters – including a hermit, a witch and a pugnacious floating head – before he can be reunited with his love.Ruslan and Ludmila is a vibrantly colourful blend of traditional chivalry, outrageous humour and exciting escapades: a gorgeous display of the poet's astonishing imagination.

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Book Synopsis`It would still be me... they make it like me, look like me, smell like me, talks like me, feels like me... me. And you... most importantly... you get me...' Welcome to a world where your partner can arrive by special delivery, you can replace your ex with a replica, or supplement your waning love life with regular updates. It could be the answer to all our problems... but what might we lose along the way? Nessah Muthy's fearless examination of the future of sex offers a fascinating vision of where humanity could be heading next. It won the King's Head Theatre's Adrian Pagan Award and the Live Theatre Newcastle Elevator Lab Bursary, and premiered at the King's Head Theatre, LondonTrade Review'A fascinating show which leaves lots of questions open and gives a chilling glimpse into a future that is, rather scarily, not that far away' * LondonTheatre1 *'Creepy and inventive... a thoughtful and well-judged meditation on future sexual possibilities' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisOkot wants nothing more than to get to the UK. Beth wants nothing more than to help him.Join the hopeful, resilient residents of The Jungle', the refugees and volunteers from around the globe who gather at the Afghan Café. They're just across the Channel, right on our doorstep.Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson's The Jungle premiered as a coproduction between Young Vic and the National Theatre with Good Chance Theatre, commissioned by the National Theatre, opening at the Young Vic, London, in December 2017. It transferred to the Playhouse Theatre, London, in June 2018.The play made its North American premiere at St. Ann''s Warehouse in New York in 2018 and enjoyed a subsequent engagement at The Curran in San Francisco in 2019. In 2023, The Jungle returned to the US, running at St. Ann''s Warehouse and Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisHigh King Agamemnon faces the most crushing dilemma of his life. Kill his beloved eldest daughter? Or forfeit victory in the Trojan War? A father’s secret plot clashes with a girl’s romantic dreams in this chilling classic play from Ancient Greece.The most powerful dramatic script by EURIPIDES springs to life anew in a fresh adaptation by writer EDWARD EINHORN (Paradox in Oz, Fractions in Disguise, The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein) with AGE OF BRONZE art by Eisner Award-winning ERIC SHANOWER (AGE OF BRONZE, Oz Graphic Novels, Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland).

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsPrefaceIntroductionList of AbbreviationsThe TheogonyTheogonyNotesThe Works and DaysWorks and DaysNotesThe ShieldShieldNotesSelect BibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, Ryann Stevenson’s Human Resources is a sobering and perceptive portrait of technology’s impact on connection and power.Human Resources follows a woman working in the male-dominated world of AI, designing women that don’t exist. In discerning verse, she workshops the facial characteristics of a floating head named “Nia,” who her boss calls “his type”; she loses hours researching “June,” an oddly sexualized artificially intelligent oven; and she spends a whole day “trying to break” a female self-improvement bot. The speaker of Stevenson’s poems grapples with uneasiness and isolation, even as she endeavors to solve for these problems in her daily work. She attempts to harness control by eating clean, doing yoga, and searching for age-defying skin care, though she dreams “about the department / that women get reassigned to after they file / harassment complaints.” With sharp, lyrical intelligence, she imagines alternative realities where women exist not for the whims of men but for their own—where they become literal skyscrapers, towering over a world that never appreciated them.Chilling and lucid, Human Resources challenges the minds programming our present and future to consider what serves the collective good. Something perhaps more thoughtful and human, Stevenson writes: “I want to say better.”Trade ReviewPraise for Human Resources“Ryann Stevenson’s debut collection Human Resources captures the eerie, ‘Black Mirror’ feeling that we’ve already crossed some A.I. event horizon . . . Stevenson has a deadpan human to counteract the surreality: ‘Last night was a first: I screamed out loud / when trying to scream in a dream.’ . . . We get the dialogue backward, as in Martin Amis’s novel ‘Time’s Arrow,’ in which a Nazi lives his life again from death to birth. Both a nightmare and a fantasy, this undoing. ‘I want to go back and change my answer,’ Stevenson writes—too late for that! Or, to paraphrase Kafka: Plenty of hope, but not for us.”—Elisa Gabbert, New York Times“In Human Resources, the speaker is often isolated, even as she’s building technology that’s supposed to help connect people. Much of this isolation, the poet conveys, came from [Stevenson] being a woman in a male-dominated industry . . . By thinking about connecting with an unknown being on the other side of a screen or speaker, Stevenson addresses a kind of detachment that is a result of modern technology. And yet, by thinking of the woman’s role in a male-dominated space, she joins a sisterhood of poets who bravely capture the feeling of female isolation.”—NPR’s Morning Edition"Here is the past without robot screens, and here is the future that we cannot but try to anticipate through them. It is memorable then, while anticipating, that the person who designs AI throughout Human Resources does not always look at her own screens but, more often, through other windows, with the 'neighbor’s TV / flashing silently, / as if he were still awake.’”—Ploughshares“Stevenson’s darkly comic and unsettling poems reveal the sexism and isolation of Big Tech. But Human Resources explores how our humanity asserts itself – even as we attempt to mimic it in a more perfect replica.”—NPR, “Books We Love”"The lyric explorations in Stevenson's beautifully discriminating book—of self and soul, femininity and society, the peculiarities and intricacies of 'design' within nature and culture—are stunned, fine-minded testimonies. In a time of cold virtual ecosystems and lightweight psychological theories and remedies, Human Resources speaks for mystery and vulnerability."—Sandra Lim“The controlled anxiety of the present is captured brilliantly by this wary, lucid book. We live in an era when our humanness is worn down—by virtual beings, bots, synced devices, battery life, data, radiation, sulfates, and lead—so we must practice mindfulness to keep from losing track of who we are. This brave, tough book suggests that flowering maples, yoga, orcas, and the hands of our mothers might help us preserve our innocence. Human Resources is a lyric transcript of what it is to be a citizen at a punishing time.”—Henri ColeTable of ContentsCONTENTSI. INTERIOR LIFE BEAUTY MASK WORK FROM HOME GROCERY SHOPPING LISTENING MODE CLEANING THE POOL FLOWER DECISION TREE YOGA REVOLUTION II.THE NEW MIDWEST EXPOSURE THERAPY MOBILE TROUBLE AREAS HOST VACATION DINNER ATTRACTION ANTICIPATORY DESIGN DEAR ABDUCTOR REPLICA SHEEP III.DEEP LEARNING HUMAN RESOURCES WELLNESS BIOLOGICAL CLOCK INTELLIGENT OVEN THE VALLEY FATIGUE HOUSE CALL LISTENING MODE HERE NOTES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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Book Synopsis Smoke & Mirrors is the third book from internationally bestselling poet Michael Faudet, author of Bitter Sweet Love and Dirty Pretty Things - a finalist in the 2015 Goodreads Readers Choice Awards. Michael Faudet’s latest book takes the reader on an emotionally charged journey, exploring the joys of falling madly in love and the melancholy world of the brokenhearted. Beautifully captured in poetry, prose, and short stories, Faudet's whimsical and sometimes erotic writing has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of readers from around the world.

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Book SynopsisBiblical and Pastoral Poetry was written by Alcimus Avitus, bishop of Vienne, in the late fifth or early sixth century. This volume presents new English translations alongside the Latin texts of the Spiritual History, his most famous work which narrates biblical stories, and verses addressed to his sister, In Consolatory Praise of Chastity.

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Book SynopsisNo one captures the graces and idiosyncrasies of cats quite like the painters, printmakers, and haiku masters of Japan. From the Edo to the Showa period, many artists turned their gaze toward an unlikely subject: their small feline companions. Closely observed portraits in words and ink elevate the everyday adventures of cats: taking a nap on a Buddha statue's lap, daintily eating a rice ball, courting the neighbor's cat. This curated collection of poems, prints, and paintings will leave you inspired to cultivate the serenity and wonder embodied by these creators - and by the cats themselves. Presented as a sweet, jacketed paperback with thoughtful design touches, this volume includes each poem in both English and Japanese.

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Book SynopsisA drama of ambition, murder, remorse and retribution, Boris Godunov charts the decline of a Russian statesman, whose dynastic aims were foiled by a guilty past and an audacious upstart. Based on history and inspired by Shakespeare, Alexander Pushkin’s daring masterwork is presented here in its rarely published uncensored version of 1825. Set in Vienna, Flanders, Madrid and London, Pushkin’s celebrated Little Tragedies – Mozart and Salieri, The Mean-Spirited Knight, The Stone Guest and A Feast during the Plague – each focus on a protagonist’s driving obsession – with status, money, sex or risk-taking – and its devastating consequences.Table of ContentsThis edition features an appendix containing extra historical material, notes on the play's staging and versions of the text, as well as an extract from John Wilson's The City of the Plague.

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Book SynopsisOne bitter Christmas Eve, a cold-hearted miser is visited by four ghosts. Transported to worlds past, present and future, Ebenezer Scrooge witnesses what a lifetime of fear and selfishness has led to, and sees with fresh eyes the lonely life he has built for himself. Can Ebenezer be saved before it's too late? Jack Thorne's joyous adaptation of Charles Dickens's timeless classic premiered at The Old Vic, London, in 2017, in a production directed by Matthew Warchus, and starring Rhys Ifans as Ebenezer Scrooge. It was revived at the Old Vic in 2018, 2019 and 2021.Trade Review'Dickens' tale of personal conscience and moral responsibility might be more relevant that ever... Thorne doesn't shirk the anger at social attitudes towards poverty, but also delivers a rousing festive feast that will leave even the most miserly curmudgeon filled with redemptive joy' * Radio Times *'Dickensian and modern, clever and heartfelt, gripping and touching and tuneable and serious and sometimes funny... its marvellously heartfelt Christmas quality would delight the original author' * TheatreCat *'Magical... Thorne's adaptation is traditional but with a modern twist that delights' * The Times *'Jack Thorne's new version of Dickens' story stands high on my list of favourites... combines the social anger with a genuine sense of festivity... this is Dickens done with love and affection. The fable's warning about the danger of treating poverty as if it were a moral vice could also hardly be more timely' * Guardian *'Provides everything you might want from a theatrical adaptation of Dickens's timeless (and never more timely) morality tale urging social responsibility and compassion... the new adaptation by Jack Thorne fuses fun with the macabre and a fine degree of psychological depth... both witty and deeply affecting' * Independent *'There is a contemporary resonance to it… a love song to Christmas and the redeeming power of theatre' * Observer *'Incredibly atmospheric... Jack Thorne's relatively faithful adaptation lets Dickens' words do their work, but then opens things up in a second half that is emotionally rich and, on occasion, truly moving' * The Stage *

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Book SynopsisA sister volume to the poetry collection She is Fierce this is a stunning gift book featuring 130 poems written by women. With poems from classic, well loved poets as well as innovative and bold modern voices, She Will Soar is a stunning collection and an essential addition to any bookshelf.From the ancient world right up to the present day, it includes poems on wanderlust, travel, daydreams, flights of fancy, escaping into books, tranquillity, courage, hope and resilience. From frustrated housewives to passionate activists, from servants and suffragettes to some of today’s most gifted writers, here is a bold choir of voices demanding independence and celebrating their hard-won power.Compiled by Ana Sampson, immerse yourself in poems by Carol Ann Duffy, Christina Rossetti, Stevie Smith, Sarah Crossan, Emily Dickinson, Salena Godden, Mary Jean Chan, Charly Cox, Nikita Gill, Fiona Benson, Hollie McNish and Grace Nichols to name but a few.Trade ReviewThis glorious, exhilarating anthology makes the perfect choice for any woman you know, of any age * Daily Mail *A wonderfully wide range of poems by female poets . . . the perfect gift for a thoughtful teen who loves words. * Irish Independent *It's no surprise that She Will Soar featured in the YA selection of Great New Recommended Reads for National Poetry Day this year. * ReadingZone *This is a collection to stir the blood and resonate in the bones. * Guardian, on She is Fierce *

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Book Synopsis “Few poets of the last thirty years have approached his diversity of formal innovations; few have communicated so intensively via performances and recordings, as often as not with integral musical settings; and few have proved so effective politically… a living modern classic for real.” —London Magazine “You can just hear the reggae drumbeat as his verse vacillates among fire, anger, fear, profound loss, and victory.” —Savoy Magazine, January 2007 “The man writes some of the most moving poetry to be found in popular music.—David Bowie in Vanity Fair “His observations are the rich fruits of both a lyrical childhood on a Jamaican farm, and his bottled anger on the streets of London. During his teenage years in Brixton, Johnson witnessed serial episodes of racial abuse and joined the Black Panthers movement in protest. There, he learned his history and culture, but found his own outlet.”—Caroline Frost, BBC Four Linton Kwesi Johnson is the most influential black poet in Britain. The author of five previous collections of poetry and numerous record albums, he is known worldwide for his fusion of lyrical verse and reggae. Much of his work is written in the street Creole of the Caribbean communities in which he grew up in England. Mi Revalueshanary Fren includes all of his best-known poems, which concern racism and politics, personal experience, philosophy, and the art of music, among other things. Contains a full-length CD of Johnson reading.

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Book SynopsisThe Odyssey tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus' epic ten year journey home after the end of the Trojan War of the Iliad. Its epic sweep has gripped generations of readers.Trade ReviewVerity offers an excellent, clear, traditionally literal but avowedly non-poetic [translation]. * Colin Burrow, London Review of Books *Undoubtedly a leader in its genre... It is a distinguished addition to the Oxford 'World's Classics' series. * Roger Barnes, Classics for All *Table of ContentsIntroduction Note on the Text Note on the Translation Select Bibliography Map THE ODYSSEY Explanatory Notes Index of Personal Names

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