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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR LIBRARIANS
new titles recommended in 2014
SINGLE AUTHOR
The Cream of the Well: New and selected poems
Valerie Gillies
Luath Press, ISBN 978-1910021682, 30 November 2014, £9.99, pbk
From former Edinburgh Makar, Valerie Gillies, comes a selection of works from over eight collections of poetry, including previously uncollected poems and a new selection of poems, 'A Year as an American Bird'.
Thomas Lux: Selected Poems
Bloodaxe Books, ISBN 978-1780371153, £12, pbk, 7 November
Covering this US poet's career from earlier surrealist poems to his later, direct voice. 'One of the few poets writing today who fills me with envy' - Billy Collins.
An Aviary of Small Birds
Karen McCarthy Woolf
Carcanet, ISBN 978 1 906188 14 6, October 2014, £9.95, pbk
A first collection of poems that is both elegy to a stillborn son and testament to the redemptive qualities of poetry as a transformative art.
Sack
John Kinsella
Picador, ISBN ISBN: 9781447259435, £9.99, November, pbk
This major Australian poet uses an old Welsh stanza form to explore the exploitation - or sacking - of the human relationship with the land.
When God Is A Traveller
Arundhathi Subramaniam
Bloodaxe, ISBN 978-1780371160, £9.99, 20 November, pbk
Shortlisted for the 2015 T S Eliot Prize, this Bombay-based poet's second collection with Bloodaxe is about 'the long dangerous route to recovering what it is to be alive and human'.
ScapegoatAlan Gillis
Gallery Press, ISBN 978-1852356095, €11.95 pb, €18.50 hb, 1 October
Belfast-born Alan Gillis now lives in Edinburgh, where he edits Edinburgh Review and teaches at the University. His last collection was a knockout, and you can confidently expect this one will be too.
Ritual LightingCarol Ann Duffy, artwork by Stephen Raw
Picador, ISBN 978-1447274506, September 2014, £16.99, hbk
Carol Ann Duffy is halfway through her Laureate post, and this book gathers together many of the public poems written since 2009. It accompanies the Poetry from the Palace: From Dryden to Duffy exhibition of work by poets laureate at the Palace of Holyrood.
Hold Your OwnKate Tempest
Picador, ISBN ISBN: 9781447241218, £9.99, October, pbk
The sensational Kate Tempest's poetry explodes in performance but lives on the page too. This first full-length collection is an ambitious, multi-voiced work based around the mythical figure of Tiresias.
Two CountriesKatrina Porteous
Bloodaxe, ISBN 978-1852248307, £12, 23 October, pbk
Katrina Porteous, born in Aberdeen and living in Northumberland, draws on Border ballad and Northumbrian story-telling and song to explore the 'debatable lands'.
GumiguruTogara Muzanenhamo
Carcanet, ISBN978-1847772572, £9.95, 31 October, pbk
Gumiguru is the tenth month of the Shona calendar - a month of dryness and heat before the first rains fall and rejuvenate the land. This cycle of poems distils the experiences of a decade into one calendar year, framed through the landscapes of Zimbabwe; an elegy for the poet's father and a hymn to the veldt.
Mimi Khalvati,The Weather Wheel(Carcanet)
Kerry Hardie,The Zebra Stood in the Night(Bloodaxe)
John Fuller,The Dice Cup (Chatto & Windus)
Martha Kapos,The Likeness(Enitharmon Press)
Dennis O’Driscoll,Update: Poems 2011-2013 (Anvil Press Poetry)
Richard James Jones,Little Man(Parthian Press)
Michael Laskey,Weighing the Present(Smith/Doorstop)
James Russell,A True-Dream Run(Knives Forks & Spoons)
Lesley Saunders,The Walls Have Angels(Mulfran Press)
Agnieszka Studzinska,What Things Are(Eyewear)
Sailing the Forest: Selected poems
Robin Robertson
Picador, ISBN 9781447231554 hbk, £20, 9781447274049 pbk, £14.99, September
A first Selected from this major Scottish poet.
Over the Moon
Imtiaz Dharker
Bloodaxe, ISBN 978144726344901, August 2014, £14.99, pbk
The fifth collection from Pakistani-Glasgow-London poet Imtiaz Dharker, focusing on London rather than the poems of India in her previous collection.
Pirate Music
Miriam Gamble
Bloodaxe, ISBN 1 78037 113 6, £9.95, September, pbk
Miriam Gamble, now based in Edinburgh, takes the title of her second collection from pirate radio, and explores a world where people are 'steered rather than steering'.
Not All Honey
Roddy Lumsden
Bloodaxe, ISBN 1 78037 112 8, £9.95, September, pbk
Roddy Lumsden 'fathoms the ingredients for happy' in this collection, which includes 'The Bells of Hope', 51 short and exuberant 'kernel poems' which record the poet's first ever year lived alone.
Fault Line
Gerry Loose
Vagabond Poets, ISBN978-1908251343, £8.95, September, pbk
Gerry Loose, poet and garden maker, maps the 'fault line' dividing man from his environment, here particularly the Faslane submarine base.
The Whole and Rain-Domed Universe
Colette Bryce
Picador, ISBN978-1447263432, £9.99, September, pbk
Colette Bryce was born in Derry and this riveting fifth collection is about growing up there during the Troubles.
Paper Aeroplane: Selected poems 1989-2014
Simon Armitage
Faber, ISBN 978 0 571 31067 8, £14.99, September, hbk/ebk
Simon Armitage's own selection from twenty-five years of work, from his debut to the latest, uncollected work.
Eavan Boland,A Woman Without a Country(new collection), Carcanet
Pascale Petit,Fauverie(Seren, September 2014)
Martin Anderson,Obsequy for Lost Things(Shearsman, September 2014)
Jon Thompson,Landscape with Light (Shearsman, September 2014)
Lucy Tunstall,The Republic of the Husband(Carcanet, September 2014)
Togara Muzanenhamo,Gumiguru(Carcanet, September 2014)
John Wilkinson,Schedule of Unrest: Selected poems 1974-2008(Salt, September 2014)
Concerning the Atlas of Scotland and other poemsTom Pow
Polygon, ISBN 978-1846973017 pbk, £12.99, August
Inspired by Tom Pow's recent residency at the National Library of Scotland's Map Library; poems interspersed with images of unusual maps, in a beautiful book design from Polygon.
Selected PoemsKate Clanchy
Picador, ISBN 978144726344901, August 2014, £14.99, pbk
A selection from three books of poetry by Scottish-born poet and novelist Kate Clanchy.
The StairwellMichael Longley
Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0224102063, £10, August, pbk
The tenth collection from one of the most respected and widely-read poets of his generation,The Stairwellcombines elegy (war, personal loss) and life-affirming warmth.
Short Days, Long ShadowsSheena Pugh
Seren, ISBN 978-1781721568, £9.99, June, pbk
Sheenagh Pugh's twelfth collection explores a new landscape for this noted and popular poet - Shetland.
Black CountryLiz Berry
Chatto & Windus, ISBN978-0701188573, £10, August, pbk
Primary school teacher Liz Berry's first collection is about the place she was born, the West Midlands' Black Country. This collection is shortlisted for the Forward First Collection and comes pre-recommended with an unusually high level of impressive reviews..
David Harsent,Standing Shadows, Faber
David C Ward,Call Waiting, Carcanet
Marcus Kociejowski,God’s Zoo, Carcanet
TestamentRobert Crawford
Jonathan Cape, ISBN 9780224098076 pbk, 9781448163229 ebk, £10, July
What matters most? From love to politics by way of the New Testament, Robert Crawford's seventh collection is about the important things.
Dante's InfernoPhilip Terry
Carcanet, ISBN 978-1847772206, June 2014, £12.95, pbk
Philip Terry transplants the story of Dante'sInfernoto the University of Essex...
Learning to Make An Oud in NazarethRuth Padel
Chatto & Windus, ISBN 9780701188160, £10, ebook ISBN 9781448161553
Through images of conflict and craftsmanship, Ruth Padel’s (The Poem and the Journey; 52 Ways of Looking At a Poem) powerful new collection on the Middle East traces a quest for harmony in the midst of destruction.
And You, Helen
Deryn Rees-Jones, Charlotte Hodes
Seren, ISBN 9781781721728,15 July 2014, hbk, £14.99
Helen Thomas was widowed with three young children when her husband the war poet Edward Thomas was killed at the battle of Arras in 1917. And You, Helen explores her loss, and the loss of all war widows, through Deryn Rees-Jones' long poem and the art of Charlotte Hodes.
Faber Poets of the Great War Series:
Wilfred Owen,Selected Poems; Siegfried Sassoon,The War Poems; Robert Graves,Selected Poems; Edward Thomas,Selected Poems; Rupert Brooke,The Poetical Works
All Faber, 7 July 2014, hbk, £10
Five of the most significant poets of WWI republished in this hardback series from Faber.
Jon Silkin,Complete poetry, ed Jon Glover, Kathryn Jenner, Carcanet
Kelly Grovier,The Lantern Cage, Carcanet
Marcus Kociejowski,God’s Zoo, Carcanet
Cairn
Richie McCaffery
Nine Arches Press, ISBN978-0-9927589-1-2, £8.99, pbk, June
First full-length collection from Stirling-based poet Richie McCaffery.
One Day in the Life of Jimmy Denisovich
Graham Fulton
Smokestack Books, ISBN9780992740917, £7.95, pbk, June
Graham Fulton's widely-published poems may reference Glasgow, but - the title's a giveaway - they've got international roots.
Hoyoot: Collected poems and songs
Tom Pickard
Carcanet, ISBN 978 1 847772 54 1, £19.95, pbk, June
Tom Pickard was born in Newcastle, and founded the legendary Morden Tower readings there in 1963; he's going back to source with this selection from a life of writing.
Terror
Toby Martinez de las Rivas
Faber, ISBN 978-0571296828, £9.99, pbk, June
First collection from this poet whose influences range from archaeology and the landscape of Northumberland to love, sex, betrayal.
The Cartographer Tries to Map a Way to ZionKei Miller
Carcanet, ISBN978-1847772671, £9.95, pbk, May
A fourth collection by the blisteringly eloquent poet and novelist Kei Miller, based in Glasgow and Jamaica.
Dry Stone WorkBrian Johnstone
Arc, ISBN978-1908376-05-3, £9.99, pbk (also available hbk), June
Brian Johnstone, based in Fife and a big figure on the Scottish poetry scene, follows up on his 2009 collection from Arc,The Book of Belongings.
Bright TravellersFiona Benson
Jonathan Cape, ISBN 978-0224099493, £10, pbk, May
First full-length collection from Fiona Benson, previously published in the Faber New Poets series.
Eavan Boland: A Poet's Dublined Paula Meehan and Jody Allen Randolph
Carcanet, ISBN 978 1 847774 47 7, £8.95, pbk, May
Renowned Irish poet Eavan Boland's 70th birthday is celebrated with this selection of photographs to accompany her poems about her home city of Dublin.
Merchant in FeathersTanya Shirley
Peepal Tree Press, ISBN 9781845232337, £8.99, pbk, May
Jamaican poet Tanya Shirley is taking part in our Commonwealth Poetry exchange - hear her 'poetry postcard' on BBC Scotland's podcast.
Tom Paulin: New Selected Poems
Faber & Faber,ISBN 978-0571307982, hbk, £14.99, May
The Moon Before Morning
W S Merwin
Bloodaxe, ISBN 1 78037 101 2, pbk, £12, May
P J Kavanagh: New Selected Poems
Carcanet, ISBN 978 1 847772 52 7, pbk, £12.95, May
Elsewhere Or Thereabouts
Alasdair Paterson
Shearsman, ISBN 9781848613270, £8.95, pbk, 15 January
Born in Edinburgh and now living in Exeter, Alasdair Paterson returned to writing after a gap of 20 years. His poem 'In The Library' was selected for the SPL's Best Scottish Poems 2010.
Selected Poems
Paul Farley
Picador, ISBN: 9781447220428 13 February, £16.99 pbk
Manual
Richard Berengarten
Shearsman, ISBN 9781848613256, 15 February, £8.95 pbk
Elder
David Constantine
Bloodaxe, ISBN978-1780370989, £9.95, pbk, March
The tenth collection from this poet and translator informed by European influences.
All One Breath
John Burnside
Jonathan Cape, ISBN978-0224097406, £10, pbk, Feb
John Burnside's new collection, his first since T S Eliot prize-winningBlack Cat Bone, considers shared experience. (A prose memoir,I Put A Spell On You, is out in May, also from Jonathan Cape.)
Taking Mesopotamia
Jenny Lewis
Carcanet, ISBN978 1 906188 11 5, £9.95, pbk, March
Rooted in the author's discovery of her father, a soldier in the Mesopotamian campaign in World War I; but brought up to the present, connecting WWI fragments to war in Iraq. Contains poems translated into Arabic, as well as exploring diary, prose, free verse and formal poems.
Grun-tu-molani
Vidyan Ravinthiran
Bloodaxe, ISBN1 78037 099 7, £9.95, pbk, 27 March
A first full-length collection from Vidyan Ravinthiran, with poems about Sri Lanka, as well as poems in translation.
The Sparkling Jewel of Naturism
Selima Hill
Bloodaxe, ISBN1 78037 103 9, pbk, £9.95, March
Northern Soul
Ron Silliman
Shearsman, ISBN 9781848613195,pbk, £8.95,15 March
Openings: A European Journal
Jeremy Hooker
Shearsman, ISBN 9781848613041,pbk, £13.95,15 March 2014
Reassembling Still — Collected Poems
David Miller
Shearsman, ISBN 9781848613317, pbk,£14.95,15 March
The Dustbowl
Jim Goar
Shearsman, ISBN 978-1848613218, pbk, £8.95, April
ANTHOLOGIES
The Evergreen: A New Season in the North
Wordbank
hbk, £15, October, direct fromWordbank
Edinburgh publishing collective Wordbank is updating theEvergreenperiodical last produced 120 years ago by Allan Ramsay and Patrick Geddes, with an impressive roster of contributing poets and authors. The newEvergreenaims to ‘revive local colour’ in Edinburgh and explore how literature and the arts support community – in any locality.
Out There
edZoë Strachan
Freight Publishing, ISBN 978-1-908754-68-4, pbk, £8.99, September
A definitive new anthology of poetry and prose writing from Scotland’s leading and emerging LGBT writers, including the likes of Ali Smith, Louise Welsh, Jackie Kay, Ronald Frame, Toni Davidson, Kerry Hudson, Val McDermid, Damian Barr, and edited by Zoe Strachan.
Forward Book of Poetry 2015
intro Jeremy Paxman
Faber, ISBN 978-0571315246, pbk, £8.99, 30 September
Selections from the books and poems shortlisted in the three categories of this year's Forward Prize - shortlist to your right.
Best British Poetry 2014
ed Mark Ford, Roddy Lumsden
Salt, ISBN 978-1-907773-68-6, £9.99
Exactly what it says on the tin.
Poetry By Heart: Poems for learning and reciting
ed Andrew Motion, Dixon
Viking, ISBN 978-0241185544, pbk, £16.99, also hbk, 2 October
Coincides with the third Poetry By Heart competition, and - of course - National Poetry Day 2014.
Look Up Edinburgh: World-Class Architectural Heritage That's Hidden in Plain Sight
ed Adrian Searle, David Barbour
Freight Books, ISBN978-1908754776, £25, hbk, 31 October
FollowingLook Up Glasgow, this book explores Edinburgh's extraordinary rooftop architectural heritage. Features full colour photography, annotations, and occasional verse from some of the city's leading poets.
Be The First to Like This: New Scottish poetry
ed Colin Waters
Vagabond Voices, ISBN 978-1-908251-35-0, pbk, £9.95, September
Be the First to Like Thisfeatures 40 poets, mostly under 40, who have made Scotland their home. It’s a survey, a yearbook, a celebration and a promise of things to come.
Songs of Other Places: New writing Scotland 32
ed Gerry Cambridge, Zoe Strachan
ASLS, ISBN 978-1906841195, pbk, £9.45, July
The annual selection of new writing, prose and poetry, from established and emerging writers. Full contents list on the ASLS site.
Ten: The new wave
ed Karen McCarthy Woolf
Bloodaxe, ISBN 978-1780371108, £9.95, pbk,September
Ten poets, selected for The Complete Works 2 mentoring project, a groundbreaking initiative to promote diversity and quality in British poetry, initiated by the writer Bernardine Evaristo.
Poems Dead and Undead
ed Tony Barnstone, Michelle Mitchell-Foust
Everyman, ISBN 978-0375712517, £9, hbk,September
A spine-chillingly (and in good time to be Hallowe'en-appropriate) collection of poems about the living and the dead and the world between.
Scotia Nova: Poems for the Early Days of a Better Nationed Alistair Findlay and Tessa Ransford
Luath Press, ISBN, 9781910021101, pbk, £8.99, August
Scotia Novais a collection of poetry addressing social and political issues in Scotland.
Blame Montezuma!: An assortment of chocolate poems
Happenstance Press, August
From Happenstance, the small Scottish pamphlet press, this tantalising promise: an anthology of chocolate poems. Poems about chocolate. It may have sent the publisher a little dotty, though: doread her blog, you'll see what I mean.
Poems Of The American South, ed David Biespiel, Everyman Classics (US)
Arabic Poems, ed Marle Hammond, Everyman Classics (US)
Tools of the Trade: Poems for new doctors
ed Lesley Manson, John Gillies, Ali Newell, Lilias Fraser
Scottish Poetry Library, pbk, £5, 978-0-9562191-6-9
A pocket-size book, given free to every new doctor graduating in Scotland this year, with poems to help them do the job and stay in one piece. We have a small proportion of the print run for sale. Readmore
A Doctor's Line
ed Kenneth Calman
Sandstone Press, hbk, £16.99, 978-1-908737-89-2
Professor Sir Kenneth Calman looks at public health and the practice ofmedicine, usingScottish literature from the 18th century to the present,the developing role of doctors in society and their relationship withtheir patients.
Ten Poems from Scotland
ed Don Paterson
Candlestick Press, ISBN 978 1 907598 25 8, pbk, £4.95, April
A lovely micro-selection of Scotland in 10 poems from the excellent Candlestick Press, containing some unexpecteds and some favourites - see the full listhere.
The Emma Press Anthology of Fatherhood
ed Rachel Piercey, Emma Wright
The Emma Press, ISBN 978-1910139004, pbk, £10, April
This small press is establishing itself with attractively designed poem cards and thematic anthologies. Their 'motherhood' anthology came out earlier in the year; 'fatherhood' is nicely in time for Fathers' Day in June.
Poems from the First World War
ed Gaby Morgan
Macmillan Children's Books & Imperial War Museum, ISBN 978-1447248644, pbk, £5.99, May (hbk available from Sep 2013)
Poetry of WWI by not only the servicemen, but many more affected by the conflict, from nursing staff to families.
Passionfood: 100 Love Poems
ed Neil Astley
Bloodaxe, ISBN 978-1852248697, hbk, £9.95, 30 January
A new hardback gift edition of this particularly luscious selection of love poems.
The Poetry of Sex
ed Sophie Hannah
Viking, ISBN 978-0670921836, hbk, £14.99, 30 January
This new anthology, edited by Sophie Hannah who is herself no slouch on the concise skewering of love and lovers in verse, promises a wide range of poems all about a perfectly sensible topic your web browser isn't going to like. Order the printed book.
From the Line: Scottish War Poetry 1914-1945
ed David Goldie and Roderick Watson
ASLS Annual Volumes, ISBN978-1906841164, £12.50, hbk, 3 February
From the Linebrings together the best of Scotland's poetry from the two World Wars: 138 poems, from fifty-six poets, both men and women, from battlefields across the world and from the Home Front.
Paris: Poetry of place
ed Hetty Meyric Hughes
Eland, ISBN 978-1906011314, pbk, £6.99, Feb
Another in Eland's lovely pocket-sized anthologies of poetry about particular places (the one about Scotland a few years back is also excellent).