'The Mersey Sound is an attempt to introduce contemporary poetry to the general reader by publishing representative work by each of three modern poets in a single volume, in each case the selection has been made to illustrate the poet's characteristics in style and form'. With this modest brief, The Mersey Sound was conceived and first published in 1967. An anthology which features Roger McGough's work, alongside that of Brian Patten and Adrian Henri (The Liverpool Poets)...

Brian Patten is renowned as an accessible and popular poet. Now his love poems, old and new, are collected together in his single volume.Widely acknowledged as one of Europe’s foremost writers, Brian Patten’s love poems earned him recognition far and wide. Truthful and tender, profoundly aware of the possibility of magic and the miraculous, these poems are beautiful, informed and, even at their darkest moments, filled with courage and hope.Alongside old favourites, this edi...

Roger McGough and Brian Patten have selected the very best of their animal poems in order to help two loveable monsters from outer space who visit Earth in search of a pet and need a bit of guidance...Split into sections, the monsters are introduced to animals that fly, swim, crawl and purr by two of our greatest childrens poets. Illustrated in Guy Parker-Rees' lively and intimitable style.

A magical story which weaves together fifty world tales – of immense appeal to both adults and children.‘One day a story fell from heaven and landed on a giant’s tongue… ’The Story Giant is a master illusionist and the ur-storyteller. In his memory exists every tale ever told in the world – except for one, which has eluded him for millennia.In a last desperate attempt to track down this lost tale, he draws four children from the different corners of the globe into h...

Through the fads and fashions of the last thirty years Brian Patten has remained true to his own personal vision of poetry. Whether composing lamentations to the terrible beauty of human love, or writing his outstanding popular verse for children, he has continued to articulate and illuminate the joys and sorrows of the everyday world.His reputation has been enhanced progressively by each of his collections, and now with translations into numerous languages including Italian, Spani...

A great new collection of poetry, wide-ranging in both form and subject matter. Full of Brian Patten's wonderful wit and moments of beauty as in GERANIUMS IN THE SNOW: Like children snuggling down under a white duvet Slowly the red geraniums Vanish under the snow. Brilliantly complemented by Chris Riddell's illustrations.

A selection of Brian Patten's best work over the last forty-five years, chosen by the poet himself. The earliest of these poems, 'Sleep Now', was written when Patten was fifteen, the latest when he was sixty. Presented in rough chronological order, the selection includes a dozen new poems.

It all started with a scarecrow coming into the house out of the snow, bringing with him the mouse that lived up his sleeve. But it wasn't only these two who were looking for a warm place to snuggle up!

Thom Gunn's The Man With Night Sweats shows him writing at the height of his powers, equally in command of classical forms and of looser, more colloquial measures, and ready to address a wide range of themes, both intimate and social. The book ends with a set of poems about the deaths of friends from AIDS. With their unflinching directness, compassion and grace, they are among the most moving statements yet to have been provoked by the disease.

Combining poems of historical depth, human fascination, and personal sensitivity with a willingness to explore the possibilities of poetic form and technique, this compilation produces diverse formal arrangements from Arabic, English, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, and Welsh poetry. As it aims to assimilate aspects of these traditions with the poet's own voice, this collection pays homage to the lives and works of Primo Levi, Paul Celan, Keith Douglas, Alun Lewis, and Edward Thomas. Intimate a...

Set in the future, this savagely funny poetic drama deals with a city couple who relocate to a remote rural wilderness to escape the rat race and the rising anarchy of city life. But will a desolate house by the sea provide them with The Answer?Lie of the Land premiered at the Pleasance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2008.

Just after ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ author Hilary Mantel won the Man Booker for ‘Wolf Hall’, she fell gravely ill. This is her remarkable hospital diary.Originally published in the London Review of Books, this diary by the acclaimed author Hilary Mantel explores in forensic detail her loss of dignity, her determination, the concentration of the senses into an animalistic struggle to get through, and the attendant hallucinations she was plagued by during her stay in hospital.Wi...