Publisher: The Poetry Business
A lightness of touch combined with wit and insight distinguishes A Dress with Deep Pockets. The collection addresses themes of loss and change through memories of people and place and above all friendship. Here are poems that celebrate, offer solace and resonate far beyond the page. – Jane Clarke
Improvised Explosive Device is a startlingly innovative exploration of extremism, hate crime and violence by poet Arji Manuelpillai. In this powerful and unsettling first collection, Manuelpillai presents a vision of the contemporary haunted by Melville's image of the whale – the terror beneath the surface of the sea. His uncompromising focus on violence is laced with gallows humour and the surreal, framed against the mundane detritus of modern life: two boys playing Mortal Kombat; a field of old trainers; the lonely glare of laptop light; a suspicious looking package in the back seat of a van. The poems in Improvised Explosive Device emerged through research and interviews with academics, sociologists, and former members of extremist groups and their families – from the English Defence League and the National Front to ISIS and the Tamil Tigers. These complex, unnerving texts ask a series of important questions. What drives a person to commit a radical act of violence? How is that violence mediated through screens and social media? And how does the British government police marginalised groups? Improvised Explosive Device is a brave, surprising and risk-taking book; it will change the way you look at the world. "Refusing glib analysis and easy answers, Improvised Explosive Device is a work of radical empathy, fuelled by honesty and compassion, both for those stirred to violence against minorities, and those who suffer from it." Rishi Dastidar "The project of Arji Manuelpillai's Improvised Explosive Device leans into the mighty disciplines of poetry, sociology, and reportage to formulate an arresting debut which contests the ways we're conditioned to internalise notions of terrorism, nationalism and belonging...a bold and startling new work." Anthony AnaxagorouShow book
Twin girls. One grows up, has a full life packed with incident, only a few regrets. The other dies twenty minutes after being born. Both of them are here. James Fritz's short play twins was first performed at the Arcola Theatre, London, in November 2015 as part of the Miniaturists' 10th Birthday Bash. 'Completely enthralling… a superb piece of writing that conveys the beauty and cruelty of life in a wonderful and completely non-sentimental way. A fabulous example of a short play at its best' - LondonTheatre1Show book
A collection lovely gothic poems and songs by Rachel Lawson and Suno AIShow book
When celebrated actress Irina Arkádina arrives at her family's country estate for the summer, she finds herself caught in a perfect storm of conflicting desires. Her playwright son, Konstantin, is struggling to step out of her shadow to pursue his own artistic ambitions. Her lover Trigorin, a famous novelist, has entranced the aspiring young actress Nina, with whom Konstantin is in love. And complicating everything is Arkádina's own need to take centre stage, in her personal life as well as her work. As their lives entwine and they each grapple with their desires, ambitions and disappointments, Anton Chekhov's timeless play unfolds in a gripping tale of vanity, power and sacrifices made in the name of art. This refreshing, revitalised adaptation of The Seagull by Duncan Macmillan and Thomas Ostermeier was first performed at the Barbican Theatre, London, in 2025, directed by Ostermeier. The ensemble cast included Cate Blanchett, Tom Burke, Emma Corrin and Kodi Smit-McPhee.Show book
In this electrifying debut poetry collection—written with the ferocity of Rita Dove’s groundbreaking Thomas and Beulah—a critically acclaimed award-winning talent explores a wide range of emotions, from anxiety to ecstasy reflecting the moon's phases, from Waning Gibbous to Full. Both intimate and intricately structured Tramaine Suubi’s remarkable work is inspired by the moon—its phases’ effects on water, the Earth, and our bodies. Phases relishes in the beauty of change, even that caused by heartbreak. Suubi’s refreshing, vulnerable verse begs to be underlined, memorized, and shared; each of her poems operate as love letters to the cyclical healing that occurs in nature, in our bodies, and in the bodies that have come before us.Show book
'Fereydoun Farrokhzad is invisible to everyone apart from, mostly, Iranians, because nobody apart from them ever has to think about him.' It's the 1970s, and Fereydoun Farrokhzad's star is blazing bright – he's a sex symbol and chart-topping pop singer. Imagine an Iranian Tom Jones. A decade on and he's living in political exile in Germany, though still selling out the Royal Albert Hall. Then, on 7 August 1992, he's found brutally murdered. The neighbours said his dogs had been barking for two nights. The case has never been solved. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World is an investigation into the nature of investigation; part free-wheeling lecture, part podcast and part play. It is a thrilling ride down the rabbit hole of Wikipedia and true-crime podcasts, sorting through the tangle of information available online to reveal the limits of the search engines in solving a decades-old cold case. Originally produced by The Javaad Alipoor Company in 2022, this witty, fast-paced and cutting-edge play, by Javaad Alipoor with Chris Thorpe, was co-commissioned by HOME and the National Theatre of Parramatta. It has toured worldwide, including a run at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, during the 2023 Festival Fringe.Show book
