Cultural & Diverse Poetry

The instant Sunday Times bestseller, a vibrant and heartbreaking story of unexpected friendship and how far people go to find a second chance. One late summer evening in the town of East Gladness, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly...

The Sunday Times bestselling debut novel from the prize-winning prodigy. Sunday Times Bestseller Brilliant, heart-breaking and highly original, TikTok has fallen in love with Ocean Vuong's shattering portrait of a family. This is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's...

The New Yorker, The Best Books of Poetry of 2016 Critics PickBest Books listingBest LGBTQ BooksTop 100 Books of the YearBest Books of 2016 "There is a powerful emotional undertow to these poems that springs from Mr. Vuong's sincerity and candor, and from his ability to capture specific moments in time with both photographic clarity and a sense of the...

The critically acclaimed exploration of mounting racial aggressions in 21st-century daily life and in the media. In this moving, critical, and fiercely intelligent collection of prose poems, Claudia Rankine examines the experience of race and racism in Western society through sharp vignettes of everyday discrimination and prejudice, and longer meditations on the violence—whether linguistic or physical—which has impacted the lives...

A joy to read with small children - Independent Chunky board book edition of this joyful celebration of nature and the wonder of the world around us by legendary poet and performer Benjamin Zephaniah, one of The Times' top 50 British post-war writers. At the bottom of my garden, there's a hedgehog and a frog, And a lot of creepy-crawlies...

A masterful story of friendship and how much we're willing to risk to possess one of life's most treasured mercies— a second chance. The Emperor of Gladness is the million-copy bestseller and TikTok sensation. Ocean Vuong returns with a big-hearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. One late summer evening...

The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah is an enthralling and inspiring autobiography that chronicles the extraordinary life of one of Britain’s most celebrated poets. Embark on a riveting journey through Zephaniah’s vibrant and diverse experiences, from his tumultuous youth in Birmingham to his meteoric rise as an international poet and activist. This compelling narrative showcases his relentless dedication to...

The instant New York Times bestseller • Oprah’s Book Club Pick • Named a Best Book of 2025 by TIME, The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, USA Today, NPR, People, Christian Science Monitor, Scientific American, and Kirkus Reviews • Longlisted for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence “Stunning . . . A heartfelt and powerful examination of those living on...

A masterpiece of Arabic love poetry in a new and complete English translation The Translator of Desires, a collection of sixty-one love poems, is the lyric masterwork of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240 CE), one of the most influential writers of classical Arabic and Islamic civilisation. In this authoritative volume, Michael Sells presents the first complete English translation of this work...

A joyous book to share, with charming details to spot on every spread - BookTrust To walk to To talk to To cry and rely on, People will always need people . . . From the creators of Nature Trail comes an uplifting picture book about the power of people, and the importance of connecting with others. This timely poem...

Horace has long been revered as the supreme lyric poet of the Augustan Age. In his perceptive introduction to this translation of The Complete Odes and Satires of Horace, Sidney Alexander engagingly spells out how the poet expresses values and traditions that remain unchanged in the deepest strata of Italian character two thousand years later. Horace shares with Italians of...

In 1923, Shuzo Takiguchi's first year at Tokyo's Keio University was cut short by the Great Kanto Earthquake, which nearly destroyed the Japanese capital. When he returned to school two years later, he was hit by a second earthquake—French Surrealism. Takiguchi (1903-1979) began to write surrealist poems, translate surrealist writers, curate exhibitions of surrealist art, write art criticism, and later,...

Contemporary translations and adaptations of ancient Greek poet Callimachus by noted writer and critic Stephanie Burt Callimachus may be the best-kept secret in all of ancient poetry. Loved and admired by later Romans and Greeks, his funny, sexy, generous, thoughtful, learned, sometimes elaborate, and always articulate lyric poems, hymns, epigrams, and short stories in verse have gone without a contemporary...

Award-winning new translations of a major contemporary Italian poet Brief Homage to Pluto and Other Poems collects forty-five poems by Fabio Pusterla, one of the most distinguished Italian-language poets writing today. Born in Switzerland and resident in Italy, Pusterla engages the pressing moral concerns of his age and excavates the hidden realities of our concrete world. These are poems of...

A masterpiece of Arabic love poetry in a new and complete English translation, The Translator of Desires, a collection of sixty-one love poems, is the lyric masterwork of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240 CE), one of the most influential writers of classical Arabic and Islamic civilization. In this authoritative volume, Michael Sells presents the first complete English translation of this work...

Beautifully illustrated in Imtiaz Dharker's distinctive style, Shadow Reader is a radiant criss-cross of encounters, messages, and earthy Punjabi proverbs, shot through with the dark thread of an unwelcome prophecy. Imtiaz Dharker's new collection pays attention to wilful erasures, exclusions, and also to places of sanctuary. This is poetry as music, as momentum, as the texture and taste of languages,...

I’m making a decision. I’m changing things. This is it. Three old friends in their mid-twenties. One remarkable day. For Ted, Danny, and Charlotte, it’s time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it. A day trip through the parks and raves and cafés of South London, where life is what you make it. The rapid-fire words...

Freedom has only ever meant Love. And life lived without love Is not life enough. Chess is in prison. Facing a lengthy sentence, her cell mate, Serena, becomes her soul mate. But when Serena is given parole, Chess faces total isolation. Hope comes in the form of a music producer looking for a reason to love music again. She finds...

C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) is the most important figure in twentieth-century Greek poetry, and his poems are considered among the most powerful in modern European literature. Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard's celebrated English translation of Cavafy's collected poems captures the poet's mixture of formal and idiomatic language, the immediacy of his frank treatment of homoeroticism, his brilliant re-creation of history,...

Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts, translated and introduced by Magnus J. Krynski and Robert A. Maguire, is regarded as one of the finest examples of the post-World War II Polish poetic tradition. Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012) is described by the translators as "that rarest of phenomena: a serious poet who commands a large audience in her native land." This bilingual edition includes seventy...

An eye for an eye. It’s very simple. You choose your homeland like a hyena picking and choosing where he steals his next meal from. Scavenger. Yes, you grovel to the feet of Mengistu and when his people spit at you and kick you from the bowl, you scuttle across the border. Scavenger. As a violent civil war rages back...

In 1923, Shuzo Takiguchi's first year at Tokyo's Keio University was cut short by the Great Kanto Earthquake, which nearly destroyed the Japanese capital. When he returned to school two years later, he was hit by a second earthquake—French Surrealism. Takiguchi (1903-1979) began to write surrealist poems, translate surrealist writers, curate exhibitions of surrealist art, write art criticism, and, later,...

With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling, Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak'This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift,...

The heart-breaking, soul-building new novel about the transformative power of love, from the Sunday Times-bestselling Kae Tempest. 'A wonderful, moving and enlightening state-of-Britain novel' — IRVINE WELSH 'Kae Tempest at his finest' — ANTHONY SHAPLAND Rothko Taylor has washed up with the tide, back in their hometown, Edgecliff. Fifteen years since they left it behind. The past is accelerating towards...

A new collection combining Benjamin Zephaniah's three Puffin Poetry books with a previously unpublished spoken-word poem and a new foreword by George the Poet 'a shining light ... showing us all the power of words to delight, enthral and challenge' - Joseph Coelho Musical, plain-spoken, playful and powerful, Benjamin Zephaniah's poetry has been lighting up British cultural life since the...

A joyful picture book that celebrates the magic of poetry, from the award-winning makers of Nature Trail and People Need People. There's a poem on your face There's a poem in the sky There's a poem in outta space There are poems passing by Poems are EVERYWHERE - in your dreams, on your fingers and in your teeth! There's even...

Three old friends in their mid-twenties. One remarkable day. For Ted, Danny and Charlotte, it’s time to seize control. Make a difference. Change things. This is it.A day trip through the parks and raves and cafes of South London, where life is what you make it. The rapid-fire words of Kate Tempest paint a picture of lives less ordinary in...

Discover the Sunday Times bestselling collection from the TikTok sensation and author of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. 'One of the most important poets of his generation' ANDREW MCMILLAN, author of Physical 'Powerful' DUA LIPA 'Redefines our idea of what an elegy can do, what it is for' ILYA KAMINSKY, author of Deaf Republic In this deeply intimate second poetry...

Follow a little boy's friendship and journey with one tree, in this powerful and beautiful love letter to nature. From master wordsmith, Benjamin Zephaniah, comes a breathtaking new poem and story showing how trees offer us the perspective and connection to nature we crave in our daily lives. The final scene is an honest representation of the devastating effects of...

Beneath the surface we are all connected . . . This is a meditation on the power of creative connection. Drawing on twenty years' experience as a writer and performer, Kae Tempest explores how and why creativity—however we choose to practise it—can cultivate greater self-awareness and help us establish a deeper relationship to ourselves and the world. Honest, tender and...

A joy to read with small children - Independent An uplifting celebration of nature and the wonder of the world around us. By legendary poet and performer Benjamin Zephaniah, one of The Times' top 50 British post-war writers, and beautifully illustrated by the award-winning Nila Aye. At the bottom of my garden, there's a hedgehog and a frog, And a...

‘Johnson is a leading voice of his generation.’ - New York Times The most comprehensive publication to date on widely celebrated artist Rashid Johnson Working with a variety of media that includes painting, sculpture, photography, video, and performance, Rashid Johnson has created a nuanced and iconographic body of work that connects literature, music, and art. Personal references and pervasive cultural...

It gets into your bones. You don't even realise it, until you're driving through it, watching all the things you've always known and leaving them behind. This corner of the city. Everything is yours and nothing else exists but this. South London. Young Londoners Becky, Harry, and Leon are escaping the city with a suitcase full of stolen money. Taking...

The debut collection from award-winning Somali British poet Warsan Shire, celebrated collaborator on Beyoncé's Lemonade and Black Is King. SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 FELIX DENNIS PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4 'Warsan Shire is an extraordinarily gifted poet whose profoundly moving poems so powerfully give voice to the unspoken.' — Bernardine Evaristo 'Vital, moving and...

Night Sky with Exit Wounds is the extraordinary debut from young Vietnamese American poet, Ocean Vuong. Winner of the 2017 T. S. Eliot Prize and the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection, this book of poetry is unlike any other. Steeped in themes of war and cultural upheaval, and wielding a fresh new language, Vuong writes about the most...

Winner of The Queen's Knickers Award 2024 To walk to To talk to To cry and rely on, People will always need people . . . From the creators of Nature Trail comes an uplifting picture book about the power of people, and the importance of connecting with others. This timely poem reminds us all to be kind to one...

From one of our most beloved poets, Benjamin Zephaniah, and bestselling illustrator Emily Sutton comes this powerful and uplifting book for children - an urgent, hopeful call to restore our relationship with Earth, and rewild our future. In the beginning, the land was bare. Humanity rose, learned to speak, to farm, to build, to imagine. With language, art, science and...

C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) lived in relative obscurity in Alexandria, and a collected edition of his poems was not published until after his death. Now, however, he is regarded as the most important figure in twentieth-century Greek poetry, and his poems are considered among the most powerful in modern European literature. Here is an extensively revised edition of the acclaimed...

Hold Your Own, Kae Tempest's first full-length collection for Picador, is an ambitious, multi-voiced work based around the mythical figure of Tiresias. This four-part work follows him through his transformations from child, man and woman to blind prophet. Through this structure, Tempest holds up a mirror to contemporary life in a direct and provocative way rarely associated with poetry. A...