Description
Book SynopsisIn recognition of the town’s long history and rich heritage, the poems gathered in this anthology celebrate Reading’s connections with poetry, both past and present. Written by poets who live or have lived in the area, many of the poems are set in Reading and the Thames Valley and make reference to poems and writers associated with the town over the years: Coleridge in flight from his university debts, Rimbaud’s association with a language school in King’s Road, Oscar Wilde’s ‘Ballad of Reading Gaol’, Jane Austen’s only formal schooling, and Dickens’s many visits to the town. The anthology is also an essential introduction to reading poetry. Each poet has provided his or her own account of their relation to the anthology’s theme, their inspiration, their muse. The poets represented are Paul Bavister, Adrian Blamires, David Cooke, Jane Draycott, Claire Dyer, John Froy, A.F. Harrold, Ian House, Wendy Klein, Gill Learner, Allison McVety, Kate Noakes, Victoria Pugh, Peter Robinson, Lesley Saunders, Susan Utting, and Jean Watkins. Specially commissioned illustrations from Sally Castle round off this refreshingly approachable collection.
Trade Review‘one of the most thoroughly enjoyable books of poetry I have read of late … I was moved by their calm, lyrical approach … This collection reminds us of what is great about English poetry … its continuity, its depth of field, and its constant surprising relationship to wherever it happens to find itself … a glimpse into what living in a less-than-metropolitan city over here is like, and how poets get on with words day to day … get this exemplary beautifully-made collection’ — Todd Swift, Eyewear
