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Africa - Dispatches From A
Fragile Continent

A remarkable and
controversial book about
the reality of modern
Africa by distinguished
American reporter,
Blaine Harden. This
remarkable book is the
first to get behind the
picture post-card
presentation of modern
Africa. harden reveals
the true and often
unsightly picture of this
vast continent. The
issues he addresses - the
incompetent intervention
of Western governments
and the battle between
the tribal way of life
and modernity - are
presented through lucid
and gripping stories
about individual people
and incidents Harden has
known. He himself was
once thrown out of Kenya
for the strength and
accuracy of his
reporting; this book will
cause and equal stir in
the debate about where
Africa is going and what
itis becoming.

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Foreigners - Three English
Lives

Francis Barber, 'given'
to the great
eighteenth-century writer
Samuel Johnson, afforded
an unusual depth of
freedom, which, after
Johnson's death, would
help hasten his wretched
demise...Randolph Turpin,
Britain's first black
world champion boxer,
who made history in 1951
by defeating Sugar Ray
Robinson, and who ended
his life in debt and
despair...David Oluwale,
a Nigerian stowaway who
arrived in Leeds in 1949,
the events of whose life
called into question the
reality of English
justice, and whose death
at the hands of police in
1969 served as a wake-up
call for the entire
nation.Each of these
men's stories is told in
a different, perfectly
realized voice. Each
illuminates the
complexity and drama that
lie behind the simple
notions of haplessness
that have been used to
explain the tragedy of
their lives. And each
explores, in entirely
new ways, the themes -
at once timeless and
urgent - that have been
at the heart of all of
Caryl Phillips' work:
belonging, identity,
and race. "Foreigners" is
among his most powerful,
empathic, and profoundly
affecting books.

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Complete Poems And Songs Of
Robert Burns

The Complete Poems and
Songs of Robert Burns is
a collection of poetical
works, the scope of
which is as varied as it
is entertaining. Burns,
the "ploughman poet,
could write as easily
about politics, history,
Scottish nationalism,
hatred for pomposity and
social disadvantage, and
the excitement of having
illicit love affairs (of
which he had many) as he
could about nature and an
admiration of beauty.
This book contains the
complete poems and songs
of this remarkable man,
with an introduction to
and chronology of his
life, a glossary of Scots
words and indexes of
title and first lines.

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Instead Of A Book - Letters To
A Friend

Written in an even more
vivid and direct style
than her celebrated
memoirs, Diana Athill's
letters to the American
poet Edward Field reveal
a sharply intelligent
woman with a brilliant
sense of humour, a keen
eye for the absurd, a
fierce loyalty and a
passionate zest for life.
This intimate
correspondence spanning
thirty years covers her
final years as an editor
at Andre Deutsch, her
retirement and immersion
in her own writing, her
growing fame and
encroaching old age, and
gives a fascinating
insight into a life fully
lived. Edited, selected
and introduced by Diana
Athill, and annotated
with her own delightful
notes, this funny,
revealing and immensely
readable collection will
bring enormous pleasure
to her many thousands of
readers.

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Once More With Feeling - A
Book Of Classic Hymns

You don't have to go to
choral practice or watch
"Songs of Praise" to
relish the great treasury
of English hymns.
Embedded deep in our
national consciousness,
hymns remain a source of
comfort and joy at every
occasion of note in our
lives: weddings,
funerals, prize-giving,
even the FA cup final.
This collection has the
words of all your
favourite hymns and
carols, alongside brief
introductions and vocal
lines for the traditional
tunes. It is a book which
will be irresistible to
those with fond memories
of school assembly, or a
lingering affection for
hard pews, stained-glass
windows, and the
resonant majesty of the
"King James Bible" - a
book for everyone, be
they screeching soprano,
booming contralto,
growling baritone or
thunderous bass - in or
out of tune - who enjoys
the opportunity to lift
up their hearts and sing.

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Jonathan Swift - Poems
Selected By Derek Mahon

In this series, a
contemporary poet selects
and introduces a poet of
the past. By their choice
of poems and by the
personal and critical
reactions they express in
their prefaces, the
editors offer insights
into their own work as
well as providing an
accessible and passionate
introduction to the most
important poets in our
literature. Jonathan
Swift (1667-1745) was
born in Dublin, of
English parents, and
educated at Trinity
College Dublin.
London-based for many
years, and a noted
satirist during the reign
of Queen Anne, he
returned to Dublin in
1713 as Dean of St.
Patrick's Cathedral.
Gulliver's Travels
appeared in 1726. Derek
Mahon was born in Belfast
in 1941, studied at
Trinity College, Dublin,
and has held
journalistic and academic
appointments in London
and New York. He has
received numerous awards
including a Lannan Award
and the Scot Moncrieff
Translation Prize. His
Collected Poems was
published in 1999.

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A Childs Garden Of Verses

The sixty-four poems in A
Child's Garden of Verses
are a masterly evocation
of childhood from the
author of Treasure Island
and Kidnapped. They are
full of delightful irony,
wit and the fantasy
worlds of childhood
imagination, and
introduce for the first
time the Land of Nod. But
they are also touched
with a genuine and gentle
pathos at times as they
recall a world which
seems so far away from us
now. This edition, which
includes Charles
Robinson's charming
illustrations and
vignettes, is described
as the definitive edition
by The Oxford Companion
to Children's Literature.

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Granta 119 - Britain

In 2012, Britain is a
nation in flux, managing
difficult socioeconomic
realities, contending
with new political
alliances and negotiating
shifting demographics.
Yet it is a country that
is still perceived as
being bound by tradition
and class structures.
With new fiction,
memoir, poetry,
photography and art,
Granta's Britain explores
landscape, identities
and stories of the
British Isles. In 'Silt',
Robert Macfarlane writes
of the beauty and danger
of a stretch of coastline
in Essex. Nobel laureate
Mario Vargas Llosa tells
the story of Irish
revolutionary nationalist
Roger Casement, executed
at Pentonville Prison in
1916. Memoirs by Gary
Younge, Andrea Stuart
and Nikolai Khalezin and
Natalia Kaliada focus on
the upheavals and
migrations that brought
them and their families
to (and from) Britain.
Rachel Seiffert, Ross
Raisin, Cynan Jones and
Jim Crace provide
extracts of their new
novels: Seiffert
describes Glasgow and
Northern Ireland in the
1990s; Raisin paints a
portrait of a young
footballer struggling
with his identity; Jones
follows a boy on a
strange, dangerous
outing with his father;
Crace shows how the lives
of English farmers
changed during the
Enclosures in the late
1700s and early 1800s.
The issue includes
original short fiction by
Adam Foulds, Mark
Haddon, Tania James and
Jon McGregor as well as
poems by Simon Armitage,
Jamie McKendrick, Don
Paterson and Robin
Robertson. It also
introduces a new voice,
Sam Byers, with an
extract from his darkly
comic debut novel,
Idiopathy.

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Rhyming Weavers - And Other
Country Poets Of Antrim And
Down

During the nineteenth
century there was a
remarkable flowering of
peasant verse in the
Ulster counties of Antrim
and Down. Witty,
irreverent and deeply
egalitarian, these poems
were written by working
people - handloom
weavers, small farmers
and country
school-masters - for
people much like
themselves. The poets
wrote in the 'lively
tongue' of the
Ulster-Scots vernacular
and drew their themes
from the landscape and
life of the community at
a time when the making of
flax into linen played a
basic part in the
economic and social
pattern. John Hewitt's
Rhyming Weavers is both a
study and a celebration
of the lives and work of
these country poets. His
extended introduction
provides an accessible
account of the context in
which the poets wrote and
is complemented by a
select anthology that
includes poems by
well-known local bards
such as David Herbison,
James Orr and Samuel
Thomson. First published
in 1974, Hewitt's
anthology was an act of
recovery, an excavation
of a vibrant aspect of
Ulster's literary
history. Reissued now,
thirty years later, with
a new foreword by Tom
Paulin, Rhyming Weavers
remains a seminal work,
making an important
contribution to
Ulster-Scots writing and
to debates about language
and identity in these
islands.

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Summoned By Balls

Bestselling wit
Christopher Matthew looks
at the meaning of life
through golf and golfers
- whether super-rich,
globe-trotting
professionals or weekend
amateurs hacking round in
100 or more. As everyone
knows who ever strode a
fairway with club in hand
and hope in heart, there
is more to golf than
knocking a little ball
round the countryside.
All human life can be
found between the first
hole and the nineteenth,
and every emotion -
ecstasy, despair, love,
hatred, reconciliation,
revenge. Especially
revenge. These verses -
based on poems by the
likes of Kipling,
Betjeman, Tennyson and
Browning - cover the
subject from golf bores,
bossy lady captains,
golfing on the moon and
club grub to golf widows,
golfing dogs, and
feeble excuses. They may
not improve your swing,
but they'll make you a
better person in the
rough, or in the bar.

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Just A Saying

This collection of poems
draws on many themes that
will be familiar to the
readers of Catherine
Cookson's novels: love,
work, class and the
beauty of nature. She
also shares more personal
thoughts, reflections on
her own writing,
marriage to her beloved
Tom and life in the north
of England. From the
earliest poem included
here, written in 1925
when Catherine Cookson
was nineteen years old,
to poems written just
before her death in 1998,
this anthology spans the
gamut of her life and
work. The poems are
characterized by her
down-to-earth common
sense and the hard-won
philosophy she developed
for herself. In 'Brushed
Nylon' she tackles the
subject of a failed
relationship while 'The
Daily Round' takes a look
at working life. In more
personal moments poems
such as 'Slow Me Down'
talk of her feelings
about growing old and
'The Joy of the Country'
recalls a holiday in
Wales. Catherine Cookson
remains one of the
nation's favourite
storytellers. She
completed an astonishing
104 works in her
lifetime, books which
continue to bring
pleasure to millions of
readers. Just A Saying is
her final work to be
published and shows
Catherine Cookson at her
most intimate and
inspirational.

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God Rest You Merry The Story
Of Christmas In Words

This is a facsimile
reissue of the original
1970s BBC LP, featuring
the story of Christmas in
words and music. With
readings by the actor
Andrew Cruickshank and
carols and songs by the
Saint Martin Singers,
this interweaving of
prose, poetry and music
is a delightful
accompaniment to
Christmas. This
first-time-on-CD Vintage
Beeb edition features the
original 1976 sleeve
notes and artwork, plus
a vinyl-look CD.

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I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

A collection of favourite
half-remembered lines and
phrases from school days
The Times Featuring poets
from Chaucer to
Shakespeare, Auden to
Plath, the book includes
all the 'greatest hits'
Guardian.co.uk Once you
dip in and start you
won't be able to stop...a
wonderful anthology
Tribune Sampson's
enlightening collection
offers a wide variety of
poems, each enhanced by
background material that
lends useful context.
From Shakespeare to
Shelley, Blake to
Brooke, anyone who loves
poetry or appreciates the
inherent richness of the
English language will
find much to relish The
Good Book Guide This is
an excellent collection
of all those poems that
you perhaps only half
remember. Not only are
there some of the most
important poems in the
language, but also
potted biographies and an
index of famous lines for
those post-prandial
'guess the poem' quizzes.
The perfect stocking
filler Choice Magazine If
you have a favourite poem
you'll probably find it
in I Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud, which contains
some of the nation's
best-loved offerings. The
book also contains lots
of interesting facts
about poets and there's
an index to help you
search by a poem's most
famous line Co-Operative
Magazine Poetry fans will
love I Wandered Lonely As
A Cloud... dip into this
treasure-trove of the
nation's best loved poems
and read about the
writers behind them Bon
Marche

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Exploring English - Poetry We
Did For Our Inter Cert - 3

The Exploring English
series of textbooks has
resonated with countless
thousands of Irish
students. For many these
anthologies provided a
gateway to a lifetime of
reading and enjoyment of
literature. They are
still a cherished
possession in many
households, taken out
occasionally and
nostalgically to read a
story, poem or essay,
and perhaps even to read
the accompanying notes -
so enlightening for some
yet so challenging for
others. First published
in 1967, the poetry
anthology appears again
in an exact facsimile of
the original edition. So
here are all those
classics of your
schooldays, from such
giants of English
literature as William
Wordsworth, Walter
Scott, Robert Frost,
T.S. Eliot, and their
Irish counterparts, W.B.
Yeats, James Stephens,
Austin Clarke and Thomas
Kinsella. Whether it's
the deceptive simplicity
of 'Stopping by Woods on
a Snowy Evening' that you
remember, the tenderness
of 'In Memory of My
Mother' or the immortal
words from 'Easter 1916',
'A terrible beauty is
born' - this is the book
precisely as you will
have remembered it. Read
once more and enjoy!

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Robert Burns Selected Poems

Robert Burns (1759-96)
was the eldest son of a
tenant farmer in
Aryshire. He endured
hardships and frustration
before emerging as a poet
and songwriter in his
native dialect as well as
in English. His poems
were published in 1787,
and he received part of
the money that the new
edition earned for him,
he made a number of
tours, to the boarders
and the Highlands. Later,
he lived in
Dumfriesshire and become
an Excise Officer. Burn's
literary work in the
remaining years of his
life consists of many
outstanding songs, and
the poem 'Tam o'Shanter'.

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Dancing With Kitty Stobling -
Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award
Winners 1971-2003

Dancing with Kitty
Stobling is a poetic
celebration of the
centenary of Patrick
Kavanaghs birth
showcasing winners of the
Patrick Kavanagh Poetry
Award. This annual prize
for a first collection of
unpublished poems was
inaugurated in 1971 and
is still flourishing.

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Faulks On Fiction

The publication of
'Robinson Crusoe' in
London in 1719 marked the
arrival of a
revolutionary art form:
the novel. British
writers were prominent in
shaping the new type of
storytelling - one which
reflected the experiences
of ordinary people, with
characters in whom
readers could find not
only an escape, but a
deeper understanding of
their own lives. But the
novel was more than just
a reflection of British
life. As Sebastian Faulks
explains in this engaging
literary and social
history, it also helped
invent the British. By
focussing not on writers
but on the people they
gave us, Faulks not only
celebrates the recently
neglected act of
novelistic creation but
shows how the most
enduring fictional
characters over the
centuries have helped map
the British psyche -
through heroes from Tom
Jones to Sherlock Holmes,
lovers from Mr Darcy to
Lady Chatterley,
villains from Fagin to
Barbara Covett and snobs
from Emma Woodhouse to
James Bond. Accompanying
a major BBC series,
'Faulks on Fiction' is a
compelling and personal
take on the story of how
the dazzling creations of
novelists helped shape
the world we live in.
James Wilby reads
Sebastian Faulks'
fascinating literary and
social history of the
British novel.

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Rudyard Kipling The Complete
Verse

A fully revised and
meticulously researched
edition of 'Kipling's
Complete Work' with an
authoritative
introduction from M.M.
Kaye. When Kipling died
in 1936 he was considered
second to none as a poet.
Years before, Tennyson
had described 'young
Kipling' as the 'only one
with divine fire'; but in
fact Kipling died in
relative anonymity, his
death overshadowed by
that of George V and his
reputation dented by a
Britain that saw him as
outdated and imperialist.
On 23rd January, King
George was brought to lie
in state in Westminster
Hall, the same day as
Kipling's ashes were
quietly consigned to
Poets' Corner. Kipling's
poetry throughout the 756
pages of this edition
captivates the reader,
as varied as it is
beautiful, bringing us
characters such as Gunga
Din, Judy O'Grady and
the Colonel's Lady who
have become enshrined in
literature. Very often
the most powerful and
evocative poems are the
most personal and humane;
together they form a
compelling and deeply
moving portrait of this
poet.

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John Donne Selected Poems

John Donne (1572-1631)
was born into a Catholic
family and studied law
before sailing with the
Earl of Essex to attack
Cadiz in 1596. He was
appointed secretary to
Sir Thomas Egerton, the
Lord Keeper in 1598, but
forfeited his wordly
prospects when he
secretly married Ann
More, Lady Egerton's
niece in 1601; he was
dismissed by Egerton and
briefly imprisoned. The
next twelve years or so
passed in poverty,
without regular
employment. He entered
the Church and in 1621
was made Dean of St
Paul's, where he become
a renowned preacher. His
first collection of poems
was published was
published posthumously in
1633.

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The Letters Of Noel Coward

"A uniquely charming
and enticing journey
through a remarkable
life. Coward's own record
is made all the more
delightful by the wise
and helpful
interpolations of Barry
Day, the soundest
authority on the Master
that there is."
Stephen Fry "A far
more complex figure than
the one we thought we
knew. Here you get the
truly private Noel"
Sheridan Morley With
virtually all the letters
in this volume previously
unpublished - this is a
revealing new insight
into the private life of
a legendary figure.
Coward's multi-faceted
talent as an actor,
writer, composer,
producer and even as a
war-time spy(!), brought
him into close contact
with the great, the good
and the merely ambitious
in film, literature and
politics.With letters to
and from the likes of:
George Bernard Shaw,
Virginia Woolf, Winston
Churchill, Greta Garbo
(she wrote asking him to
marry her), Marlene
Dietriech, Ian Fleming,
Graham Greene, Evelyn
Waugh, Fred Astaire,
Charlie Chaplin, FD
Roosevelt, the Queen
Mother and many more,
the picture that emerges
is a series of vivid
sketches of Noel Coward's
private relationships,
and a re-examination of
the man himself.
Deliciously insightful,
witty, perfectly bitchy,
wise, loving and often
surprisingly moving,
this extraordinary
collection gives us
Coward at his crackling
best. A sublime portrait
of a unique artist who
made an indelible mark on
the 20th century, from
the Blitz to the Ritz and
beyond.

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Great Nature Poems

This is an anthology of
over 40 classic nature
poems, read by some of
our finest actors. The
majesty of nature has
always inspired poets,
and this collection
contains a selection of
the very best verses
praising the natural
world. There are poems
celebrating the seasons
(Robert Browning's "Home
Thoughts from Abroad",
Shakespeare's "Blow",
Blow Thou Winter Wind"
and Gerald Manley
Hopkins' "Spring"), the
sweetness of birdsong
(Keats' "Ode to a
Nightingale", Thomas
Hardy's "The Darkling
Thrush" and Shelley's "To
a Skylark"), the simple
beauty of plants and
flowers (Wordsworth's "I
Wandered Lonely as a
Cloud", A. E. Housman's
"Loveliest of Trees", The
Cherry Now and Andrew
Marvell's "The Garden"),
and the melancholy and
wild mystery of nature
(Rudyard Kipling's "The
Way Through the Woods",
Yeats' "The Lake Isle of
Innisfree") Evocatively
read by Anthony Howell,
Claire Rushbrook, David
Schofield and Michael
Maloney, these poems are
sure to induce a sense of
wonder.

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Shakespeares Plays

This compact and portable
volume will quickly
enlighten readers and
enhance their enjoyment
of both the written word
and the plays in
performance. For each of
Shakespeare's 39 plays
there is a synopsis of
the plot, a list of
characters and notes on
the chief figures, and a
resume of the performance
history. The book also
includes a critique on
the poems and sonnets, a
history of the
Shakespearean theatre and
the early players, a
background to the
Apocrypha of plays
attributed to
Shakespeare, and a
selected glossary of
Elizabethan English. The
book is readily
consultable on the spot
and will enhance the
enjoyment of any
Shakespearean production.

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Dear Me - A Letter To My
Sixteen-Year-Old Self

If you were to write a
letter to your
16-year-old self, what
would it say? In Dear Me,
some of the world's best
loved personalities have
written just such a
letter. Dear Me includes
letters from three
knights, a handful of
Oscar winners, a bevy of
Baftas, an intrepid
explorer, a few teenage
pop stars, an avid
horticulturalist, pages
and pages of bestselling
authors, a dishy doctor,
a full credit of film
directors, a lovey of
top actors, a giggle of
comedians and an
Archbishop! The letters
range from the
compassionate to the
shocking via hilarity and
heartbreak, but they all
have one thing in common:
they offer a unique
insight into the teenager
who would grow up to
be...Stephen Fry, Annie
Lennox, Paul O'Grady,
Jackie Collins, Fay
Weldon, Alan Carr,
Peter Kay, Debbie Harry,
Brenda Blethyn,
Jonathan Ross, Liz
Smith, Will Young,
Alison Moyet, Rosanne
Cash, Sir Ranulph
Fiennes, Yoko Ono, Emma
Thompson...to name but a
few. It is the PERFECT
GIFT for your mum and
dad, sister or brother,
gran or granddad or
someone who is a
teenager, even turning
16

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