"Nonsense", wrote Mervyn Peake, "can take you by the hand and lead you nowhere. It's magic". Peake (1911-1968) is one of the great English nonsense poets, in the tradition of Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. His verses lead the reader into places where...

"Emporium", Ian Pindar's first collection, is stocked with curiosities, jokes and horrors. Step through the door and discover Big Bumperton on his bicycle, Mrs Beltinska in her bath, Monsieur P. on holiday, a transfixed girl in blue jeans, a wasp, tw...

Not for sale in Estonia! The eternal mystique of Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) stems largely from his practice of writing under "heteronyms". More than just nom de plumes, Pessoa's heteronyms came with distinct biographies, careers,...

A delightful selection from one of the richest traditions of folk literature in Europe. The universal qualities of these poems, stories, riddles and proverbs will appeal to a wide range of readers, including children. Since Yugoslav folklore is so mu...

Poetry doesn't matter to most people, observes Jay Parini at the opening of this book. Undeterred, he commences a deeply felt meditation on poetry, its language and meaning, and its power to open minds and transform lives. By the end of the book, Par...

Teasing, funny and celebratory – "Rays" is a wry and tender lover's gift. Continuing Richard Price's virtuosic playfulness of form, it improvises on the formal shape of sonnet and canzone, charging them with the energy of blues and rock, glimpsing na...

Peter Pindar (1738-1819), the pen name of John Wolcot, dared to ridicule the foibles, corruptions and misdemeanours of King George III and those in power in his kingdom. His satire was merciless, but Wolcot survived accusations of treason, protected...

It is forty years since the death of Mervyn Peake (1911-1968), the author of the much-loved "Gormenghast novels". To mark the anniversary this first comprehensive edition of Peake's poetry is published. It includes every black-and-white illustration...

Greenfields shows how it was, to grow up in a quiet corner of Scotland, fixing the last decades of the twentieth century in its snapshots. The book reclaims suburbia as a place of unexpected poetry and conjures the bittersweet of such hybrid places....

Po Chu-i lived from AD 772-846, rising from humble beginnings to high government office. Although some of his most famous poems are those of social and moral protest, many of his finest are private and meditative; he was a recluse at heart and spent...