This anthology documents a decade of some of the UK's most exciting queer performance, through a combination of retrospective scripts, development material and visual documentation.Queer performance is expected to live a brief, bright life without leaving any textual record. Indeed, it rarely begins with a complete script at all, being often developed instead by performance practices designed to fill noisy bars, clinking cabaret venues and fringe theatres, typicall...

**Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for CriticismA New York Times Notable BookFrom Zadie Smith, one of the most beloved authors of her generation, a new collection of essays**Since she burst spectacularly into view with her debut novel almost two decades ago, Zadie Smith has established herself not just as one of the world's preeminent fiction writers, but also a brilliant and singular essayist. She contributes regularly to The New Y...

'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)...

An unexpected meeting at an airport leads to an intense, passionate, head-over-heels relationship. Before long they begin to settle down, buy a house, juggle careers, have kids – theirs is an ordinary family.But then their world starts to unravel and things take a disturbing turn.A tragic, violent look at parenthood and trauma.

Everything I've ever doneEverything I ever doEvery place I've ever beenEverywhere I'm going toOver a career that spans four decades and thirteen studio albums with Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant has consistently proved himself to be one of the most elegant and stylish of contemporary lyricists. Arranged alphabetically, One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem presents an overview of Neil Tennant's considerable achievement as a chr...

Edited by award winning novelist and short story writer Kevin Barry, this volume will once again mix established names with previously unpublished authors, and will seek to offer fresh renditions to the Irish story - new angles, new approaches, new modes of attack.Published in 2011, New Irish Short Stories, edited by Joseph O'Connor, has sold over 10,000 copies to date and featured Kevin Barry's 'Beer Trip to Llandudno' - winner of the 2012 Sunday Times EFG Short ...

A treasure trove of prompts, provocations and practical exercises to help you spark new ideas, hone your craft and unleash your creativity.In A Year of Creative Thinking, award-winning writer, director and film-maker Jessica Swale guides you through 366 fun and rewarding activities – one for every day of the year (including leap years!) – to fire up your imagination and flex your creative muscles.You'll find a host of writing prompts and imaginative challenges to g...

‘My future mother-in-law burst into tears when she heard her son was to marry an actress. There’s still something disturbing, I grant you, about the word “actress”. If an MP or some other outstanding person plays fast and loose with an actress the world is unsurprised. She is certainly no better than she should be, and probably French…’As well as being a mother (to the actresses Sophie and Emma Thompson) and a devoted carer to her own mother and mother-in-law, Phyllida Law...

The Guardian publishes over forty thousand reader comments a day below the line. This is a miscellany of the best and most baffling thoughts from their witty, well-meaning readers. In the book, Guardian readers ponder the big questions ('Am I the only one who thinks that ham and cheese is a ghastly mix?') reflect with nostalgia on better days ('Airline employees were so much more agreeable back when they were all drunk') and share hard-won wisdom ('Dishwashers make lousy ...

Discover the story of a gentleman's most distinguished accessory, the necktie, with the inimitable Stephen Fry as your guide.In this utterly charming volume, Stephen Fry excavates his epic collection of neckties and shares the stories behind them. From the traditional "egg and bacon" colors of the Marylebone Cricket Club to the exuberant Dalmatian pattern of a 1980s Nicole Miller design, each tie tells a story. Interspersed amongst the collection are diagrams to ai...

"If this poetry collection were a concert it would be a virtuoso performance warranting a standing ovation" Nation. Cymru"A culturally significant book that everyone, everywhere – irrespective of their sex – should definitely read" Buzz Magazine"Kim Moore's brave and open-hearted new collection does not offer any form of resolution to the significant questions it sets itself, but rather a working through of continuing anxieties and turmoil" Steve WhitakerMoore explores a world of femininit...

This is my blood oath with myself: the only dead Chinese person I'll write about from now on is me. 'Punctum' In How to be Dead in a Year of Snakes, Chris Tse took readers back to a shocking 1905 murder. Now he brings the reader much closer to home. He's So MASC confronts a contemporary world of self-loathing poets and compulsive liars, of youth and sexual identity, and of the author as character — pop star, actor, hitman, and much more. These are poems that delve into worlds of hyper-masc...