Essential poems from the Staying Alive trilogy

New
Paperback
2012
$13.90

Staying Alive , Being Alive and Being Human have introduced many thousands of new readers to contemporary poetry, and have helped poetry lovers to discover the little known riches of world poetry. Each anthology in the Staying Alive trilogy has 500 poems to touch the heart, stir the mind and fire the spirit. These books have been enormously popular with readers, especially as gift books and bedside companions. The poems - by writers from many parts of the world - have emotional power, intellectual edge and playful wit. This new pocketbook selection of 100 essential poems from the trilogy is a Staying Alive travel companion (also available as an e-book). As well as selecting favourite poems from the trilogy - readers' and writers' choices as well as his own favourites - editor Neil Astley provides background notes on the poets and poems. This format makes it even more suitable as a gift book for all those people you're sure would love modern poetry if only they were familiar with these kinds of poems. These essential poems are all about being human, being alive and staying alive: about love and loss; fear and longing; hurt and wonder; war and death; grief and suffering; birth, growing up and family; time, ageing and mortality; memory, self and identity; faith, hope and belief; acceptance of inadequacy and making do - all of human life in a hundred highly individual, universal poems.

Synopsis

"Staying Alive", "Being Alive" and "Being Human" have introduced many thousands of new readers to contemporary poetry, and have helped poetry lovers to discover the little known riches of world poetry. Each anthology in the Staying Alive trilogy has 500 poems to touch the heart, stir the mind and fire the spirit. These books have been enormously popular with readers, especially as gift books and bedside companions. The poems - by writers from many parts of the world - have emotional power, intellectual edge and playful wit. This new pocketbook selection of 100 essential poems from the trilogy is a Staying Alive travel companion (also available as an e-book). As well as selecting favourite poems from the trilogy - readers' and writers' choices as well as his own favourites - editor Neil Astley provides background notes on the poets and poems. This format makes it even more suitable as a gift book for all those people you're sure would love modern poetry if only they were familiar with these kinds of poems. These essential poems are all about being human, being alive and staying alive: about love and loss; fear and longing; hurt and wonder; war and death; grief and suffering; birth, growing up and family; time, ageing and mortality; memory, self and identity; faith, hope and belief; acceptance of inadequacy and making do - all of human life in a hundred highly individual, universal poems.

$13.90

Quantity

15 in stock

More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd
Published: 24 May 2012
ISBN 10: 1852249420
ISBN 13: 9781852249427

Media Reviews

'These poems distil the human heart as nothing else' - Jane Campion. 'Truly startling and powerful poems' - Mia Farrow. 'Staying Alive is a book which leaves those who have read or heard a poem from it feeling less alone and more alive' - John Berger. 'A magnificent anthology' - Philip Pullman. 'I love Staying Alive and keep going back to it. Being Alive is just as vivid - this new book feels even more alive - I think it has a heartbeat' - Meryl Streep.

Author Bio

Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably the Bloodaxe Staying Alive trilogy: Staying Alive (2002), Being Alive (2004) and Being Human (2011), and now Essential poems from the Staying Alive trilogy (2011). His other anthologies include Passionfood, Do Not Go Gentle, Earth Shattering: ecopoems, Soul Food [with Pamela Robertson-Pearce] and the DVD-book In Person: 30 Poets filmed by Pamela Robertson-Pearce. He has published two novels, The End of My Tether, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World. He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry and was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books. He lives in Northumberland.