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You Took the Last Bus Home

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Brief Description
If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston - Richard Osman, author of We Solve Murders 'There is poetry to be found in anything if you look hard enough.' You Took the Last Bus Home is... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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You Took the Last Bus Home is the delightfully charming first collection of poetry from Brian Bilston, one of Britain's best loved poets.

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If you like a) laughing or b) words which rhyme with each other, you will love Brian Bilston - Richard Osman, author of We Solve Murders

'There is poetry to be found in anything if you look hard enough.'

You Took the Last Bus Home is a collection of ingenious, hilarious, and touching poems from Brian Bilston, one of Britainโ€™s funniest and best-loved poets.

With endless wit, wisdom, and delightful wordplay, Bilston's first collection of poetry offers profound insights into the common joys and sorrows of modern life. Exploring themes as diverse as love, death, and the unbearable torment of forgetting to put the rubbish out, all of Bilstonโ€™s poems are alive to the improbable nuances of the English language.

Constantly experimenting with poetic forms โ€“ from Venn diagrams to Scrabble tiles โ€“ this irresistibly charming collection of poems will make you ponder the very essence of the human condition in the twenty-first century.

'Bilston is a magician with words' - The Guardian

'Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times' - Ian McMillan

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035086634

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 21 August 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 17.0mm

Width: 131.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 180g

Pages: 256

About the Author

Brian Bilston is a poet and novelist. His poetry collections include You Took the Last Bus Home, Alexa, what is there to know about love?, Let Sleeping Cats Lie: Pet Poems, Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems and a festive collection, And So This is Christmas: 51 Seasonally Adjusted Poems. His debut novel, Diary of a Somebody, was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award. He has also published a collection of football poetry, 50 Ways to Score a Goal, and his acclaimed poem Refugees has been made into an illustrated book for children.

Also by Brian Bilston

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  • Refugees
    Refugees is a powerful word. One that conjures opposing emotions. For some, it provokes feelings of fear and hate, for others, the need for compassion, understanding, and empathy. In this celebrated poem, Refugees, Brian Bilston tells both sides of the story by cleverly crafting a verse that can be read backward and forward to convey two opposing views. Brian Bilston...
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  • Days Like These
    A brilliant way to brighten each day. In this playful, innovative collection, Brian Bilston writes a poem to accompany every day of the year. Each poem is inspired by a significantโ€”often curiousโ€”event associated with that day: from Open an Umbrella Indoors Day to the day on which New York banned public flirting; from the launch of the Rubik's Cube to...
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  • How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside
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    How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside
    Why do we write poetry? Who should write it? And where do you even start? Well, Brian Bilston, one of the UK's most hilarious and best-loved poets, is here to take us through the hows, whys, and whats of reading, writing, and enjoying poetry every day. With his characteristic wit and charm, Bilston accompanies us through the jungle of imagination...
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