Other books that might interest you

• 

  Christmas Short Works Collection...

  Various

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This year's Christmas feast of short stories, essays and poetry is mostly English cuisine, with a little dash of French and Middle English seasoning. Here you will find many old favourites, and some festive treats which may be new to you.

  Show book

• 

  The Graveyard Poets

  Thomas Gray, Thomas Dermody,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  At first thought this seems an unlikely area to find fine poetry. The "Graveyard Poets", also known as “Churchyard Poets or "the Boneyard Boys” began in pre-romantic days with a leaning towards gloom, melancholy and the general decay of churchyards. It should be remembered that in the 18th Century City graveyards were a teeming mass of overcrowding and disease, their country brethren better but hardly idylls of worship. 
  What would eventually lead to the Gothic literary genre began, in the main, with reflections by Christian clergymen upon God, mortality and the assumed after-life. 
  And in their musings are classics from such talented poets as Thomas Gray, Thomas Parnell, James Thomson and Edward Young together with many others who elevate words from a perhaps murky underworld to examples of poetic beauty which few can rival. 
   This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing.  Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

  Show book

• 

  The God of Loneliness - Selected...

  Philip Schultz

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Philip Schultz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, has been celebrated for his singular vision of the American immigrant experience and Jewish identity, his alternately fierce and tender portrayal of family life, and his rich and riotous evocation of city streets. His poems have found enthusiastic audiences among readers of Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac, Slate, The New Yorker, and other publications. His willingness to face down the demons of failure and loss, in his previous book particularly, make him a poet for our times, a poet who can write “If I have to believe in something / I believe in despair.” Yet he remains oddly undaunted: “sometimes, late at night / we, my happiness and I, reminisce / lifelong antagonists / enjoying each other’s company.”The God of Loneliness, a major collection of Schultz’s work, includes poems from his five books (Like Wings, Deep Within the Ravine, The Holy Worm of Praise, Living in the Past, Failure) and fourteen new poems. It is a volume to cherish, from “one of the least affected of American poets, and one of the fiercest” (Tony Hoagland), and it will be an essential addition to the history of American poetry.

  Show book

• 

  Contemporary Plays by Black...

  Natasha Gordo, Arinzé Kene,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This anthology brings together six plays, all written or performed since 2017, by six brilliant Black British writers – Travis Alabanza, Firdos Ali, Natasha Gordon, debbie tucker green, Arinzé Kene and Chinonyerem Odimba.
  The plays demonstrate a rich range of settings, forms, styles, locations, scales, contents and concerns – and explore themes including politics and protest, grief and colonisation, relationships and gender.
  They have been seen on stages including the National Theatre, the Royal Court, the Bush and Bristol Old Vic, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in the West End, and on tour of the UK.
  Selected and introduced by leading theatre director Natalie Ibu, Contemporary Plays by Black British Writers celebrates a multiplicity of stories authored by Black playwrights in the UK over the last decade.
  Included in this volume:
  Misty by Arinzé Kene (Bush Theatre, London, 2018) - 'A powerful meditation on how we tell stories and a raw, beautiful Odyssey through the heart of London' The Arts Desk
  Nine Night by Natasha Gordon (National Theatre, London, 2018) - 'An undeniably important piece that both celebrates and gives a voice to the Windrush generation and its descendants living in Britain today' Broadway World
  Princess & The Hustler by Chinonyerem Odimba (Eclipse Theatre, Bristol Old Vic & Hull Truck, 2019) - 'A crucial slice of black British history... a beautifully crafted play that kaleidoscopes multiple issues with warmth, integrity and humour' Observer
  Burgerz by Travis Alabanza (Hackney Showroom, 2018) - 'An angry and intelligent script, underscored with the real pain of exclusion, of being boxed in, of being trapped in a world where sexual and racial violence is prevalent and, too often, tolerated' Guardian
  40 Days by Firdos Ali (unperformed) - 'Explores the impact of state violence on Black and brown children, and the consequence of bringing that news into the home on young lives' Natalie Ibu, from her Introduction
  a profoundly affectionate, passionate devotion to someone (-noun) by debbie tucker green (Royal Court Theatre, London, 2017) - 'Beautifully dark and recognisable... an insightful observation of how we dissect our relationships, how we talk about talking, and what 'silence' means between lovers' Independent

  Show book

• 

  The Poetry Of Hell

  William Blake, John Milton,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  The Poetry Of Hell - An Introduction. It is often said that two things are unavoidable; Death and Taxes. Certainly the latter is a common thorn in adult life but as to the former it seems that for many people it is merely a hiccup in Life’s eternal journey. A journey they wish, if being of good deed and character, to share at the eternity of Heaven’s largesse, a reward for Faith and the obligations of Religion. Of course for those not so fortunate an altogether different experience was prepared for them; Hell. Its nightmare visions so terrifying conjured up by Dante, Milton, Blake, Baudelaire and many others.   If Faith is your companion it is a very realistic world to avoid.  As though gathered here will testify in their rich verse. Among our readers are Richard Mitchley and Ghizela Rowe.

  Show book

• 

  Flights & Sink: Two Plays (NHB...

  John O'Donovan

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Two plays about contemporary life in Ireland, from award-winning writer John O'Donovan.
  On the outskirts of Ennis, on a dark and stormy night, three men gather for the anniversary of a childhood friend, killed in a road accident when they were seventeen. Expecting a crowd and tearing into the cans, the three slowly realise they're the only ones coming. As they drink to their uncertain futures – and their receding youth – they're forced to face up to the ghost that has held them together.
  Flights is a haunting and funny play about bereavement, brotherhood and breaking away from your past. It premiered in 2020 at glór in Ennis before transferring to Dublin and London, directed by Thomas Martin.
  Sink is a play of two voices for one actor, about memory, catastrophe and sacrifice. Bríd's coming home to convalesce after drying out in rehab. Ciara's headed west too, investigating a potential archaeological site on a parched area of bogland. But as the countryside swelters in a heatwave, the pair find peace elusive. How will Bríd cope in her old haunts? How will Ciara confront a past she thought forgotten? And will they unearth the hidden truth that binds them together?
  Sink premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival in 2019, directed by Thomas Martin.
  'O'Donovan is a gifted writer, the lines curl about each other with elegance and depth' - Irish Independent on Sink

  Show book