A poet and journalist looks back on a remarkable journey from Turkey to Nepal in 1978, when the region was on the brink of massive transformation.In the spring of 1978, at age twenty-two, Mark Abley put aside his studies at Oxford and set off with a friend on a three-month trek across the celebrated Hippie Trail — a sprawling route between Europe and South Asia, peppered with Western bohemians and vagabonds. It was a time when the Shah of Iran still reigned supreme,...

Harry Abley was a nightmare of a father: depressive, self-absorbed, unpredictable, emotionally unstable. He was also a dream of a father: gentle, courageous, artistically gifted. Mark Abley, his only child, grew up in the shadow of music and mental illness. How he came to terms with this divided legacy, and how he learned to be a man in the absence of a traditional masculine role model, are central to this beautifully written memoir.This extraordinary story will speak to all those ...

The second edition of Mark Abley’s acclaimed creative biography, revised and expanded with a new introduction by the author. When he died in 1947, Duncan Campbell Scott was revered as one of his country’s finest poets and honoured as a devoted civil servant. Today, because of his work as head of the Department of Indian Affairs, he's widely considered one of history's worst Canadians. When word of this reaches Scott's ghost, he returns to the land of the living to ask poet and journalist M...

Whether on the other side of the world or in our own backyard, languages everywhere are fading into oblivion. Mark Abley explores what the human family stands to lose — and explains why some endangered languages continue to thrive.Within the next couple of generations, most of the world’s 6000 languages will vanish, due mainly to the unstoppable tide of English. With an open mind and a well-worn passport, award-winning journalist and poet Mark Abley tells entertaining and vital sto...

The Prodigal Tongue takes a look at the wild, wacky and sometimes baffling road our language–English and others–is taking in its evolution. Where in the world will it end up?!Mark Abley, author of Spoken Here, has created an entertaining and informative exploration of the way that languages–English, Japanese, French, Arabic and other major tongues–are likely to transform and be transformed by their speakers during the twenty-first century. Grammar ...

A poet and journalist looks back on a remarkable journey from Turkey to Nepal in 1978, when the region was on the brink of massive transformation.In the spring of 1978, at age twenty-two, Mark Abley put aside his studies at Oxford and set off with a friend on a three-month trek across the celebrated Hippie Trail — a sprawling route between Europe and South Asia, peppered with Western bohemians and vagabonds. It was a time when the Shah of Iran still reigned supreme,...

**PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST • In this wondrously unusual memoir, a woman retreats into her shell in the aftermath of her divorce, and must choose between the pleasures and the perils of a closed-up life—a transformation fable from an acclaimed 5 Under 35 National Book Foundation honoree.“A marvel and a delight . . . This is a book that will stay with me forever.”—Leslie Jamison, author of Splinters**ONE OF CHICAGO TRIBUNE’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR...

From Dr. Kwane Stewart, CNN's Hero of the Year for 2023.Mountains Beyond Mountains meets Tattoos On the Heart in this unforgettable, powerful, and stunningly-told memoir of a struggling veterinarian saving animals and humans on the streets of California - and how he discovered what bonds all living creatures.Dr. Kwane Stewart was questioning his career as a veterinarian when he saw a homeless man with a flea-infested dog o...

Discover the resilient and inspiring people who live outside the big Australian cities – indeed off the beaten track altogether. Defined by their strength and humility, these are characters whose grit and good humour will uplift and inspire. Meet strong women like Joan Sinclair, still riding horses in her 80s; Heather Jones from the Pilbara Heavy Haulage Girls; and Diane Reeves, a transgender former dairy farmer, shearer and truck driver. Visit historic places, such as Pine Creek, built on...

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • An exhilarating debut novel following members of a Dominican family in New York City who take radically different paths when faced with encroaching gentrification“Strikes all the right notes—captivating characters, lyrical language, and a storyline that captures your imagination and refuses to let go . . . an unforgettable debut!”—Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage

Experience a beautiful, humorous, universal love story with this memoir about learning to live with another human being and how every relationship is a mystery—and a miracle.When they first meet, John, a dashing European, a Latvian refugee, a physics PhD, is hoping to settle down. Michaele, a fast-talking American college student, is hungry for an independent life as a writer and historian. When they meet again some years later, Michaele is ready. Or so she thinks....

A book of lyrical mini-essays celebrating the everyday that will inspire readers to rediscover the joys in the world around us, from an award-winning poet and bestselling author of The Book of Delights**.**In Ross Gay’s collection of small, daily wonders, again written over the course of a year, one of America’s most original voices continues his ongoing investigation of delight.For Gay, what delights us is what connects us, what g...