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  Symphonies - The first Southern...

  John Gould Fletcher

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  John Gould Fletcher was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on the 3rd of January 1886 to a socially prominent family.  
   
  He was educated at Phillips Academy, Andover before advancing to Harvard University, which he attended from 1903 to 1907, before dropping out after his father's death. 
   
  As a young man Fletcher spent many years in England where he became part of the influential Imagist group of poets together with Amy Lowell and Ezra Pound.   
   
  His first marriage came from a resumed relationship with the now married Florence Emily ‘Daisy’ Arbuthnot.  Her adultery with Fletcher was the grounds for her divorce.  They married on 5th July 1916 but later divorced.  
   
  Fletcher first published in 1912, with ‘The Dominant City’ to much praise and admiration and followed this with other well-regarded volumes such as ‘Irradiations: Sand and Spray’, and ‘Goblins and Pagodas’. 
   
  In the late 1920s and 1930s Fletcher became increasingly active with a group of Southern writers and poets known as the Southern Agrarians. They published the classic ‘I'll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition’. 
   
  Although he was highly regarded as a poet, he was not very prolific.  However, such was the undoubted quality that in 1939 he received the Pulitzer Prize for his work ‘Selected Poems’.  He was the first poet from the south to receive such an accolade.  Fletcher’s other passion and pursuit was as an authority on modern painting, a subject on which he also published. 
   
  A second marriage followed in 1936 to the children’s author, Charlie May Simon.  They built ‘Johnswood’, a residence on the bluffs of the Arkansas River and travelled frequently to New York for shots of modern culture and intellectual stimulation as well as to the American West and South for the climate after Fletcher developed chronic arthritis. 
   
  In 1937 he wrote his autobiography, ‘Life is My Song’. 
   
  His developing passion for his roots and background resulted in the writing of a history of his State and published in 1947; ‘Arkansas’. 
   
  By now Fletcher was suffering from bouts of depression and on 10th May 1950, he committed suicide by drowning himself in a pond near his home in Little Rock, Arkansas.  He was 64.

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  Chris Bush Plays: One

  Chris Bush

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  Since her play Steel opened in her native Sheffield in 2018, Chris Bush has rapidly become one of the UK's most successful and widely staged playwrights, with her plays on stage at the National Theatre, in the West End, and across Europe. Celebrated for her spirited dissections of power, female agency and northern identity, her work is infused with wit, empathy, and a powerful sense of place and belonging.
  Included here are five of her plays, all first performed between 2018 and 2021, together with a revealing introduction in which she reflects on the tumultuous period from which they emerged.
  Steel (Sheffield Theatres, 2018) is a political epic constructed from minimal resources, a two-hander spanning three decades of women in politics. 'Sharp, witty and uncannily topical' The Stage
  Faustus: That Damned Woman (Headlong, 2020) is a radical reimagining of the classic tale, asking what women must sacrifice to achieve greatness. 'Original, ambitious and fantastically revisionist' Guardian
  Nine Lessons and Carols(Almeida Theatre, 2020) is a play, with songs by Maimuna Memon, about connection and isolation, forged during the Covid pandemic, exploring what we hold on to in troubled times. 'A reminder of the power of theatre and our need for it' Telegraph
  Hungry (Paines Plough, 2021) is a pithy two-hander about food, love, class and grief in a world where there's little left to savour. 'Reconfirms Chris Bush as one of our greatest, most relevant contemporary playwrights' Broadway World
   Not  the End of the World (Schaubühne, Berlin, 2021) is a daringly theatrical investigation of the climate crisis through the perspectives of class, patriarchy and colonialism. 'Staggering… Bush's remarkable text melds a ruthless structural concept with exquisite lyricism' Guardian
  'One of our most prolific and arresting writers'Evening Standard
  'A writer of great wit and empathy'The Times

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  The Poetry of Sarojini Naidu -...

  Sarojini Naidu

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  Sarojini Chattopadhyay was born into a Bengali family in Hyderabad, India on 13th February 1879, the eldest of the eight siblings. The family was well-respected in Hyderabad and were established artists. 
   
  Naidu passed her matriculation examination at the University of Madras and took a four-year break from her studies.  
   
  In 1895, H.E.H. the Nizam's Charitable Trust founded by the 6th Nizam, Mahbub Ali Khan, gave her the chance to study in England, first at King's College, London and later at Girton College, Cambridge.  
   
  Even in these early times she was a social activist.  It was whilst in England that she worked as a suffragist and was first drawn to the Indian National Congress' Hindu movement for India's independence from British Colonial rule.  
   
  She began writing at the age of twelve. Her play, ‘Maher Muneer’, written in Persian, impressed the Nawab of Hyderabad. It was an auspicious start. 
   
  Sarojini met Paidipati Govindarajulu Naidu, a physician, and after finishing her studies at age 19 married him. The couple would have five children.  Interestingly their families approved their marriage even though they were from different castes and society was not as tolerant as it might be today.  Additionally, Sarojini was from Bengal and Naidu from Andhra Pradesh and marriages between those from the north and south were frowned upon.  Happily, they overcame these problems and both marriage and careers thrived. 
   
  In 1905, her first collection of poems, ‘The Golden Threshold’ was published. 
   
  Naidu became a part of the Indian nationalist movement and was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and his idea of swaraj (this was an India without its colonial administration systems).  Despite her growing political career she still found time to write and published several further volumes of poetry. Such was her eloquence that she became known as the ‘Nightingale of India’. 
  Sarojini was appointed the President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 and was a major influence and figure in the Independence movement.  
   
  Along with several other Congress leaders including Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru she was arrested for taking part in the 1930 Salt March.  Indeed Sarojini faced frequent arrest by the British Authorities and spent, in total, many months in prison. 
   
  Following India's independence from British rule in 1947, Sarojini was appointed as the governor of the present-day Uttar Pradesh in so doing she became India's first female governor. 
   
  Returning from work in New Delhi on 15th February, 1949 she was advised to rest by her doctors, and her official engagements were cancelled.  Her health deteriorated rapidly and on 1st March bloodletting was performed after she complained of severe headache.  
   
  Sarojini Naidu died of a cardiac arrest on 2nd March 1949.  She was 70.

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  Macbeth - (Donmar Warehouse...

  William Shakespeare

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  'O, full of scorpions is my mind.'
  The spellbinding story of love and murder, power and paranoia, and the internal struggles of a married couple as they try to control their destiny, and one another…
  This official tie-in edition to the Donmar Warehouse's acclaimed 2023 revival of Shakespeare's extraordinary psychological drama features rich and revealing behind-the-scenes material exploring how the production was conceived and developed.
  Starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, and directed by Donmar Associate Director Max Webster, this bracingly fresh version used binaural sound technology to place the audience inside the minds of the Macbeths, asking us: are we are ever really responsible for our actions?
  It was first staged at the Donmar Warehouse, London, in December 2023, and transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End in October 2024.
  In addition to the version of Shakespeare's text performed, this volume also includes a fascinating rehearsal diary, colour photos, and interviews with its leading cast and creative team: Tennant, Jumbo and Webster, plus designer Rosanna Vize, sound designer Gareth Fry and composer and musical director Alasdair Macrae.

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  Perfumes And Blood - A crime and...

  Ahmed Ewis

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  The novel "Perfumes and Blood" follows the story of Dr. Khaled, a doctor who encounters his childhood friend Fadel, an expert in herbal and perfume experiments. Intrigued, Khaled decides to experiment with these herbs and perfumes, only to discover that they expand his consciousness and lead to hallucinations. As a result, Khaled finds himself transported to different realms, constantly grappling with the blurred lines between reality and imagination. However, these hallucinations reveal astonishing truths and embroil him in a major case that he must solve. Throughout his journey, Khaled uses his exceptional abilities to uncover secrets and confront various challenges. The novel combines elements of mystery and fantasy, exploring the concepts of truth and reality in a captivating and thrilling manner. Notably, the audiobook version of the novel features a renowned cast of Arab stars and artists.

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  The Divine Comedy

  Dante Alighieri

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  "Midway upon the journey of our life, I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost."
  
  Embark on the ultimate pilgrimage of the human soul. Written while in exile, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy is a towering achievement of world literature, a three-part journey that explores the totality of human experience, sin, and redemption. Guided by the Roman poet Virgil and the idealized Beatrice, Dante travels through the three realms of the afterlife in a quest to understand the justice and love of the divine.
  
  The Architecture of Justice: In Inferno, witness the meticulous "contrapasso"—the symbolic retribution where the punishment fits the crime. From the lustful swept by eternal storms to the treacherous encased in ice, Dante's vision of Hell is as terrifying as it is intellectually profound.
  
  The Path to Enlightenment: Ascend through Purgatorio, a realm of hope and effort, where the weight of worldly sin is slowly washed away. Finally, soar into Paradiso, where Dante transcends the physical world to explore the celestial spheres of heaven. Here, the poem transforms into a breathtaking work of light, geometry, and philosophical wonder, culminating in a vision of the "Love that moves the sun and the other stars."
  
  A Universal Masterpiece: The Divine Comedy is more than a religious text; it is a political satire, a romantic tribute, and a scientific encyclopedia of medieval thought. It remains the definitive map of the human conscience and one of the most beautiful poems ever composed.
  
  Walk the path of the soul. Purchase "The Divine Comedy" today and experience the height of the Western imagination.

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