Other books that might interest you

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  Wonder Boy

  Ross Willis

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  'What use is a boy who can't say his own name?'
  Sonny is twelve. He stammers and is finding his way in a world ruled by vicious vowels, confusing consonants, and the biggest beast of all – small talk. His only escape is with a comic-book hero of his own creation, who helps Sonny soar above his reality.
  But when he's cast by the headteacher in the school production of Hamlet, he soon discovers that language is power – and the real heroes are closer than he thinks.
  Ross Willis's play Wonder Boy is a 'boundingly imaginative' (The Times) drama about the power of finding your own voice. It was first directed by Sally Cookson, performed at Bristol Old Vic in 2022, named Best Play at the 2023 Writers' Guild Awards, and revived for a UK tour in 2024.

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  Within Her Thoughts: Book One

  K. Vincent

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  Within Her Thoughts is a raw collection of K. Vincent's deepest, darkest, and heartfelt thoughts and feelings. She uses symbolism to help portray everything that is trapped inside of her. K. Vincent hopes that with this collection, that they can touch others all around the world and know that they aren't alone. She hopes that Within Her Thoughts can encourage others who are going through difficult times, to find courage and the will power to continue to move forward and to find an outlet like she has through her writings.

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  Octaves - Poem from a Pulitzer...

  Edward Arlington Robinson

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  Edwin Arlington Robinson was born on the 22nd December 1869 in Tide in Lincoln County, Maine.  
  His childhood was described by him as ‘stark and unhappy’.  His name was drawn out of a hat from a fellow vacationer from Arlington Massachusetts when fellow holiday makers decided that his parents had waited long enough at 6 months to name him.  It was a name he despised and reflects the station to which his parents had placed him; their great hope at his birth were that he was a girl to complement their two sons. 
  His pessimistic mood carried him to adulthood and a doomed encounter with Emma Loehen Shepherd who constantly encouraged his poetry.  Edwin was thought too young to be her companion and so his elder, middle brother, Herman was assigned to her.  It was a great blow to Edwin and during their marriage on February 12th, 1890, he stayed home and wrote ‘Cortege’ 
  In the fall of 1891 Edwin entered Harvard, taking classes in English, French and Shakespeare.  He felt at ease with the Ivy League and made great efforts to be published in one of the Harvard literary journals.  Indeed, the Harvard Advocate published ‘Ballade of a Ship’ but then his career appeared to stall.  His father died and although he returned to Harvard for a second year it was to be his last but also the start of some life-long friendships. 
  In 1893 he returned to Gardiner Maine as the man of the household.  Herman by this time had become an alcoholic, having suffered business failures, and was now to become estranged from Emma. 
  Edwin began farming whilst he wrote and quickly developed a close relationship with Emma who had now moved back to Gardiner after Herman’s death with her children. 
  Although he proposed twice, he was rejected and in consequence moved to New York to start afresh. 
  But it was a salutary experience. Although surrounded by artists he had little money and life was difficult. 
  In 1896 he published his own book, ‘The Torrent and the Night Before’, paying 100 dollars for 500 copies.  Edwin wanted it to be a surprise for his Mother, but days before its arrival she died of diphtheria. 
  His second volume, ‘The Children of the Night’, had a wider circulation.  At the behest of President Roosevelt, whose son was an avid admirer, he was given a job in 1905 at the New York Customs Office although it appears his real job was “to help American letters”. 
  Either way his success began to widen and his influence proper.  During the 1920s he won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three separate occasions. In 1922 for ‘Collected Poems’ again in 1925 for ‘The Man Who Died Twice’ and finally in 1928 for ‘Tristram’. 
  During the last twenty years of his life he became a regular summer resident at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, where he became the object of fascination by several women.  But he never married. 
  Edwin Arlington Robinson died of cancer on the 6th April 1935 in the New York Hospital in New York. He was 65.

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  The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

  John Boyne

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  Bruno has a friend called Shmuel. Like Bruno, Shmuel is nine years old. Their birthdays are on the same day. But Shmuel lives on the other side of a fence, and he's always wearing striped pyjamas...
  Based on the best-selling novel by John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a heart-wrenching tale of an unlikely friendship between two innocent boys. Angus Jackson's deeply affecting adaptation was produced by The Children's Touring Partnership and Chichester Festival Theatre on a UK tour in 2015.

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  Bellringers

  Daisy Hall

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  'What do you want me to say? That the world's ending? Would that be helpful?'
  The storms are getting worse, with rains so hard that fish are falling from the sky. But the age-old belief prevails: that the pealing of bells can dissipate the thunder and lightning.
  It's a perilous task – one that now falls to two young friends, Clement and Aspinall. And as the weather worsens, they begin to question whether they'll make it through the night. With their faith in tradition faltering, they find the only thing they still believe in is each other…
  Daisy Hall's play Bellringers is a comic and deeply moving drama about being young at the end of the world. It was first performed at the Roundabout during the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, before transferring to Hampstead Theatre, London, co-produced by Atticist, Ellie Keel Productions and Hampstead Theatre, and directed by Jessica Lazar.
  Bellringers was a finalist for the Women's Prize for Playwriting 2023.

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  Liberation Squares

  Sonali Bhattacharyya

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  'You've all heard a hundred different versions of what happened. We're here to tell you how it really went down.'
  Teenage best friends Sabi and Ruqaya spend their time choreographing dance routines, beat-boxing and hiding from bullies.
  But when charismatic social media activist Xara challenges them to speak up about injustice, they find themselves under state surveillance, targeted by the anti-terrorist 'Prevent' programme. What you say, and even what you think, can be viewed very differently, depending on who you are...
  Sonali Bhattacharyya's play Liberation Squares is a riotous comedy about sisterhood, freedom of speech, and dissent in the face of institutionalised Islamophobia. It was commissioned and developed by Fifth Word, and first produced in 2024 by Fifth Word and Nottingham Playhouse in association with Brixton House, and directed by Milli Bhatia.

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