Search results for ""flapjack press""

Nigel Planer has been writing poetry for over fifty years. Now he has corralled many of his poems into one volume, Making Other Plans - as in 'poetry is what happens when you're busy making other plans.' This collection forms a poetic memoir, richly articulating humorous and serious observations on life, love, ageing, society and the human condition, recounted with emotional tenderness and warranted vexation.

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A philosophical and meditative consideration of the complexities of ageing, memory, and the drain of urban life, through the pursuit of wellbeing and the restorative powers of nature.

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A collection of poems and paintings. It's no coincidence that Pete Ramskill is also a stone carver, he brings the same tools to his poetry - a hammer and chisel... On his poetry: "There are many things I love about this work. Pete's stanley-knife sense of humour, his intelligence, invention, precision, quality control and his radar for those lies, injustices and petty sins that he cannot bring himself to see swept under the carpet. I love his use of language, his original images, his exposure of those everyday social earthquakes and especially those bits people think they've got past him but he reveals they haven't." - Henry Normal "Why are you so angry?" - Audience member at BBC recording, Edinburgh On his paintings: "Strong images whose resonating bands of colour reveal and mask each other - much like our emotions." - Richard Sharland, Terre Verte Gallery "Pete's paintings are a vibrant celebration of energy and form. His extraordinary use of colour fills each picture with life, creating unique immersive worlds that pull you in."- Richard Barrett, Artist

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"She combs her hair long, a black sheet to cover the new mouth at the back of her neck, where angry stories leak out..." Behind the scenes in the life and mind of the award-winning poet, novelist, groundbreaking performance artist and singer with The March Violets, Rosie Garland (as in Judy). "You spend all that time trying to understand the world, its family relationships, friendships, social systems through a serial adventure of episodes mundane and or memorable. You spend all that time trying to fit into the human. Then, you are propelled into realisation through a life-threatening disease. Travelling not outward into the world but inward to the beating heart of the matter, you dive deep into the DNA. You are the resplendent there. You are the clicking queen of the insects. When you dress again in flesh and skin, you go amongst the sleeping humans and new and glittering worlds are left in your wake. Welcome to Rosie Garland!" - John Hyatt "One of the reasons I love Rosie's work so much is because she provides food for thought. She addresses issues that need addressing, and imagines the inner and outer landscapes we all inhabit with eloquence and grace. Shine your light, Rosie." - David Hoyle AKA The Divine David Adult poetry / LGBT+

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A young troll must defend the town from a gang of destructive, deadly dinosaurs! Recruiting allies - a goblin wizard and a snotty, sneezing dragon - does this troll have what it takes to save the day and calm these dangerous dinos' raging reign? Dommy B's latest adventure for children over 5 is adapted from his high energy, 4-star Edinburgh Fringe show, and also includes puzzles and over 40 b&w illustrations. It is the fourth exciting story in his Dragon series.

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In April 2013 Jackie Hagan was commissioned to write a solo show. The following month she was unexpectedly admitted to hospital with a very painful foot. Four months later she left hospital with one less leg and loads more maturity. Along the way she also fell in love, found her Dad and made friends with an old woman who looked like a threadbare tennis ball (with eyes). This book is the script of the show, a poetic comedy with daftness and depth. Winner of Saboteur Awards' Best Spoken Word Show 2015 & Creative Future Literary Award 2015. "A powerful story told with wit... without a trace of self-pity." - Manchester Theatre Awards

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Transported from the Garden of England to the gay clubs of Manchester's Canal Street, Rod Tame soon finds himself exploring the confounding values of British society. But when encountering murderous denizens of Middle England, fallen saints in Spanish bars, event horizons and perilous next-gen cyborgs, will the nurturing wisdom of Doctor Who, Star Trek and The Avengers (or even Most Haunted) prove enough to win the day? Inlcudes a Foreword by Regie Cabico. Adult poetry / LGBTQ+

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The Department of Lost Wishes contains over a hundred poems personally selected by the author from his early works. "Distinctly funny" - Time Out "Dovetails bittersweet poetry with a sublimely observant wit" - The Guardian "Witty and uncannily accurate with his observations" - The Stage "The nerd triumphant" - Manchester Evening News "The Alan Bennett of poetry" - The Scotsman

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The Fire Hills was written between December 2021 and November 2022. Reflecting the first year of the author's move to Fairlight in East Sussex, this collection explores new landscapes armed only with a pen and unwarranted optimism.

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Raining Upwards is Henry Normal's first all-new poetry collection in over twenty years. These poems explore relationships with science, nature, humanity, and other vital matters we are usually too busy to think about. Includes a Foreword by Tim Firth. "In amongst his work lie some of the most tender, compassionate and moving pieces I have read from a modern poet" - Artful Reporter "Dovetails bittersweet poetry with a sublimely observant wit" - The Guardian "The Alan Bennett of poetry" - The Scotsman

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Dominic Berry presents his favourite pieces for performance from his four adult collections with Flapjack Press - Tomorrow, I Will Go Dancing, Wizard, No Tigers and Yes Life - along with new poetry designed to engage and inspire.

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Everyone’s a winner when your child joins the authors of I Can Draw My Alphabet, where memorable rhymes and hilarious pictures make learning as easy as ABC! Little ones take great delight in the silly sausage dog and the giant ice cream, but they love it even more when creating their very own masterpiece. I Can Draw My Alphabet features a page format which encourages them to copy the illustrations or to create their own, proudly adding their name as a co-author to the front of the book. A family favourite to share and treasure. Early learning / ABC / Children’s Poetry / Picture & Drawing book. Suitable for ages 3+. "A winning combination. Throughout the book both the illustrations and verse are vivid and full of life. It will keep your children happily occupied for hours." - Carole Baldock, Northern Soul

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"Whichever way I take I meet myself returning." A poetic journey from the mills and moors of the industrial north to the meals and mosques of the Byzantine middle-east and back again. I Meet Myself Returning is about finding your feet in our convoluted world and letting them take you to a place to call your own. And occasionally stopping off for a pint. "John Darwin's poems are when one pint with an old friend turns into six. When you spend five minutes walking around a city that you've never visited before, but somehow feel at home. His words are visceral, delicate, vulnerable and utterly engrossing." - Matt Abbott, poet, educator & activist "For those of us who struggle with the concept of permanence, who gulp when we're asked where we're from and shiver when we're asked who we are, this is a collection that is sorely needed. It's the antidote to the straight-edge, consumer-driven Grand Designs poison of 21st Century life and it should be prescribed to everybody." - Geneviève L. Walsh, spoken word artist

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“Some people say that the term ‘fighting cancer’ is too aggressive. But I did not go looking for this fight. Cancer started it. If I was fighting cancer, then it was only because cancer picked a fight with me. I plead self-defence.” Poet, author and activist Janine Booth was part of the ranting poetry movement in the ‘80s, performing as ‘The Big J’. In late 2016, she discovered a strange indentation in her right breast and was subsequently diagnosed with breast cancer. In this collection of candid journal extracts, poetry, meticulous research and substantive politics, Janine details her journey from detection and diagnosis, through surgery, to ‘getting over it’. Includes a Foreword by poet and activist Kate Smurthwaite. “This book is a must for all health care workers – doctors, nurses, students, caterers, cleaners, porters – the team needed by patients facing The Big C.” – Dr Coral Jones, GP & Chair Hackney South and Shoreditch Labour Party “A veritable paean to our (still free) NHS. Together with the added bonus of some fascinating political background and an insider’s guide to terms. With poetry!” – Rhoda Dakar, songwriter, musician & activist “Janine’s openness, humour and honesty, combined with her poetic sensibility, leads us by the hand through her experience with cancer … to leave us breathless on her behalf and on behalf of all women facing such a challenge.” – Henry Normal, poet, writer, TV & film producer “Full of clarity, worry, humour, explanations about how capitalism hampers medical practice and love, praise and commitment to the NHS. It demystifies and humanises the cancer experience and inspires and entertains the reader.” – Morning Star

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Filled with acerbic humour and cynical, lyrical, well-crafted verse, Read 'em and Weep is a poetic diatribe, issuing challenges to political governance, corporate greed, unwarranted entitlement and the North/South divide.

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The Beauty Within Shadow was written between August 2019 and June 2020. These poems are concerned with the balancing of darkness and light in our everyday lives, the search for an understanding of pain and sorrow, and the processing of other thoughts we'd usually avoid by filling our days with mindless distractions.

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Written daily throughout the UK's restrictions to combat coronavirus, Nail on the Head takes us from the anniversary of the first lockdown, through the easing of regulations, and up to our grand reopening on so-called 'Freedom Day'. Humorous, compassionate, and with a principled, political edge (and more than a passing interest in the European Football Championships, as you'd expect from the National Football Museum's poet-in-residence), this is Paul's fourth and concluding documentation of a nation's resolve and wellbeing. Illustrated by Chris Riddell OBE (Children's Laureate / Observer), Korky Paul (Winnie and Wilbur / Sir Scallywag) and Martin Chatterton (Winter of the White Bear / Bluenoses). “A fresh collection of Cookson’s verse. If it’s laughter you’re after you could do worse.” - Dr John Cooper Clarke, poet / “Pithy blinders, heartfelt and moving, marvellously inventive and original … quite brilliant. When looking at the national landscape, its wounds and doughty perseverance generated by its grief besieged citizens, Paul Cookson is their sparse voice, their collective bewilderment and courage.” - Stewart Henderson, poet / “Paul Cookson is a special poet. He is a human being. Rare in this game.” - Mike Garry, poet

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Celebrating twenty years of productions, acclaimed playwright Cathy Crabb has selected eleven of her works for staging. Filled with humour and emotional resonance, these texts explore themes of family, trauma, neurodivergence, class and locality, and their experiential effect on the ordinariness of life and repercussions. Includes the productions Beckett for Children, The Bubbler, Moving Pictures, Twirlies and Girlies, Paperboys, The Magi, Beautiful House, The Roots of Love, The Demon Dog of Waterhead, Breastfeeding, and Five Women: Rambling. Selected Plays also includes character and background notes by the author and a Foreword by Producer & Writer Lindsay Williams.

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"How can I be now?" This is a book charting one journey from challenging times to friendship and joy. To euphoric excitement and blissful rest, from old He-Man toys, choose-your-own-adventure books, moving music in grin-packed pubs and fantastic festivals, sublime seaside solitude, and many different ways for a person to play. "Love is who we are." Adult poetry / LGBTQ+

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From the provincial peccadilloes of Prestwich in Manchester to coffee houses and bars by the Bosporus in Istanbul, John Darwin explores life's three stages of arriving, staying for a bit, and then leaving. A poetic reflection on the ennui of the everyday, intermittent pleasures, and the quest to understand love and belonging.

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Part poetry. Part comic book. Part screenplay. A rhythmic ride through right now.

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Composed throughout the initial phase of the UK's coronavirus lockdown, 'National Reading Hero' Paul Cookson's poetry diary covers the period of 23rd March to 3rd July 2020. Compassionate, societal, political and principled, and laced with the author's renowned humour, here is an extraordinary collection for extraordinary times and a reflective discourse on the mood of a nation. "Paul Cookson is a poet for all seasons and all occasions. He's never going to let a worldwide pandemic curb his creativity. COVID-19 will give up before he does. This book takes you on a Corolla-Coaster of emotions, but don't worry - with Paul you are in safe and well washed hands." - Henry Normal; "Paul somehow manages to season his cogent observations of COVID-19 with a dash of humour that makes you want to dip in again and again. He has you wishing you could drop in and join him for his daily cup of tea." - Valerie Bloom; "Witty and wise, astute and acerbic, Paul Cookson and Chris Riddell are a dream team for these nightmarish times." - Tony Walsh

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A collection of poetry and lyrics spanning three decades of Cherry B's performance work. Political, societal and inclusive, this is uncompromising and passionate punk 'n' roll poetics firing from the belly of social conscience. Illustrated by Fe Duncan.

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Rope Ladder Fiction: First Rung brings you the opportunity to experience the beautiful minds of fifteen storytellers, each of whom are taking their first step into the realm of creative writing.

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Geneviève L. Walsh's debut solo collection covers her first five years of performing her punk-song-length poetry about love, hatred, aggressive platitudes, sexual politics, alienation and inebriation. Includes a Foreword by Henry Normal. "A collection full of passion and subversion ... keen and urgent with an untamed beauty - like a puma caught under a streetlight. She chooses her language and targets with precision and infuses humour and fight in every verse." - Henry Normal, poet "Rejecting the beige and embracing the dark, this collection is a lyrical and defiant hymn to vodka nights and concrete days. Shot through with nostalgia and the fear of losing fellow dancers to normality." - Kate Fox, Stand-up Poet "A unique and passionately inclusive voice guides us with incredible skill and dexterity through everything that unites us: love, loss, and drunk conversations. This book is a brutally affectionate hug and a call to arms for all the losers, freaks, and feral lost souls of the world." - Steve Nash, Saboteur Awards Performer of the Year "Sharp, dark, insightful, inciteful, Geneviève switches it up; lyrically rich imagery / word lust / street voice. From the Femme Banal to the Double Windsor noose, for hardcore losers everywhere. Buy it and "make yourself fucking lovely"." - Louise Fazackerley, Performance Poet "A stunning collection from a unique voice. Poetic without ever being pretentious. Dive in and embrace your inner weirdo." - Kieren King, Cantankerous Word Git "Her poems are like Geneviève herself... strong yet sensitive, clever yet accessible, dark yet resplendent with colour. A collection penned with acute observation and affection. A poetic celebration of 'otherness'." - Joy France, Afflecks Creative in Residence

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"What goes on in these four walls is none of their concern, shut your mouth and keep it shut is what you need to learn..." MUMB: a personal exploration of the dark side of motherhood and what it means to be a woman. "To read MUMB is to sit at a rickety northern kitchen table with an old mate, as she shares the intimacies and heartaches of being a woman of a certain age, doing her best and sometimes failing; of striving, coping, suffering and surviving. While you scoff cinnamon buns and try to ignore the smell of the unemptied cat litter. It is a book full of love and honesty." - Julie Hesmondhalgh "Cathy Crabb cuts through the Gordian knot and makes it get over itself with salty chips and a hug. Satisfyingly forthright, authentically working class and funny, you'll recognise chunks of human nature you didn't know you knew." - Jackie Hagan "This wonderful collection of poetry is a generous and honest plateful of love. Cathy Crabb writes beautifully, feels deeply and is not afraid to share the darker sides of being a mother." - Janice Connolly AKA Mrs Barbara Nice "Like its title this collection is intriguing - it's initially simple but says a lot! There's variety, plays on words, haiku, it's personal and universal, simple but deep. It's full of love - celebratory - and full of truth - disturbingly. "There's frost in every cardboard fold." There's warmth in every page turn. Although this collection is centred around motherhood, it is a must read for anyone who was ever a child! I own many poetry collections on my shelves. This one will be staying well within arms reach!" - Joy France

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Challenging oppression with objectivity and prejudice with passion, feminist activist and poet Steph Pike confronts the politics of social, economic and gender inequality with a viscerally charged and indisputable truth. Includes a Foreword by Rosie Garland. Adult poetry / LGBTQ+ "Seawater floods the city streets, petrol and sweat scent the air. This is salty back-pocket semaphore, full of fury and love, for all those in need of hope." - Michelle Green, author of Jebel Marra [Comma Press] "Steph Pike's poems are like that one person at the party you know you can have a real conversation with." - Helen Mort, Derbyshire Poet Laureate "An invitation to the voiceless to know they, too, can speak." - Rebecca Bilkau, Beautiful Dragons Press "Steph Pike is indeed a pétroleuse of furious, exquisite, necessary language: setting fires of declamation for those stripped of their voice and unmasking patriarchy's creeping dystopian gaze by poking it eloquently in the eye." - Lucy Lepchani, poet, writer & educator

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With eloquent conviction, Kaleidoscope champions equality and challenges authority, exposing the hypocrisy, iniquity and 'politricks' of the powers that be. A fiery and astute collection, crafted with passion, tenderness and humour, from one of the UK's most incisive performers. Includes a Foreword by Attila the Stockbroker. "Riveting, inspiring, dead hard and incredibly soft at the same time. This is one of the best books of poetry I have ever read." - Attila the Stockbroker "Kaleidoscope is a wake-up call to the self and the nation, and the reader is left feeling energised and more alive than before." - Cathy Thomas-Bryant, poet & co-editor of Best of Manchester Poets "In a politically supine era, Laura unflinchingly shows us how to stand up and be counted." - Julian Jordon, Director, Write Out Loud "If there is strength in unity, then art saves lives. Bang a drum, pluck a string, sing a song, have a dance, write a verse, paint a picture and enjoy. And when you find something that stokes your soul and makes you smile - keep doing it." - Laura Taylor

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"This furry beast excels at casting magic spells!" Spark's magic can transform anything. He'll turn the bogeys up his nose into some pink ribbons and bows. He'll make a gorgeous high heeled shoe out of a pile of donkey poo... But terrible things have started to happen in his forest - wasps, werewolves, spells going disastrously wrong - calamities maybe not even Spark can stop... Full of jammy burps and poems, mild goblin peril and plenty of pictures, The Story of Spark, the Goblin Wizard concludes with a chapter of puzzles and games. Suitable for ages 5+

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Working Verse Collective are three lads on a mission and their mission statement is this: Eloquence is fine. But "eloquence is irrelevant when nobody in the room knows what you meant..." Join Dave, Kieren and Benny-jo as they expertly weave humour, insight and the unexpected throughout their quest to discover if they have "The Right Stuff" - and what that actually is and if they want it anyway. It may well be one small step for man, but it's One Giant Leap for Ladkind. Adult poetry and theatre show script. Includes a Foreword by Dominic Berry.

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Dominic's debut collection of fiery fruit-splattered verse contains many of his slam winning poems. His work is political, passionate, carefully crafted, sincere, kinky sexy, and always immensely enjoyable. Includes an Entrée by Gerry Potter. Adult poetry / LGBTQ+

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"Give me heat. I want to singe my fingers. I want them sticky, messy down and dirty, I want life and all it costs..." Powerfully articulating diverse themes including childhood, relationships, gender and serial-killers, Rosie's first collection since beating throat cancer showcases her thought-provoking and passionate award-winning poetry.

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An all-new poetry collection from the creator, writer and performer of the award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, A Normal… Written between August 2017 and January 2019, these poems are concerned with the search for meaning, identity and truth, and other foolhardy adventures. “Distinctly funny.” - Time Out “The Alan Bennett of poetry.” - The Scotsman “Witty and uncannily accurate with his observations.” - The Stage “Dovetails bittersweet poetry with a sublimely observant wit.” - The Guardian “A gentle giant of stand-up poetry.” - The List

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