Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times - Softcover

Neil Astley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852245883 ISBN 13: 9781852245887

Publisher: Bloodaxe Books, 2002

Synopsis

Staying Alive is an international anthology of 500 life-affirming poems fired by belief in the human and the spiritual at a time when much in the world feels unreal, inhuman and hollow. These are poems of great personal force connecting our aspirations with our humanity, helping us stay alive to the world and stay true to ourselves. Many people turn to poetry only at unreal times, whether for consolation in loss or affirmation in love, or when facing other extremes and anxieties. Staying Alive includes many of the great modern love poems and elegies, but it also shows the power of poetry in celebrating the ordinary miracle, taking you on a journey around many of the different aspects of everyday life explored in poems. A strong poem is not just for crisis. Such a poem is there for all times, helping us face or embrace daily change and disruption. It will also speak to us when nothing seems to be happening, when the poem's importance is in helping us stay alive to the world and stay true to ourselves. Staying Alive has reached a wider readership than any other anthology of contemporary poetry. It is a landmark in the history of literary publishing. A sequel, Being Alive (2004), and a companion anthology, Being Human (2011), completed this poetry trilogy. Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy (2012) selects 100 poems from all three anthologies, a third from each. These anthologies have been welcomed not only by poets but by a wide range of well-known people respected for their work in fields other than poetry - all avid readers of poetry. They want to recommend these books above all other anthologies of contemporary poetry.

About this title

Review

'Staying Alive'is a magnificent anthology. I can't think of any other anthology that has introduced me to so many vivid and memorable poems. -- Philip Pullman, Children's writer

A book for people who know they love poetry, and for people who think they don't. -- Helen Dunmore, novelist and poet

A wonderful book - a powerful weapon of happiness -- Sir Richard Eyre, TV and theatre director

An incredible anthology... for inspiration, solace and perspective .. but mostly just for pure pleasure. -- Shirley Manson, musician (Garbage)

Everyone who cares about poetry should own this book. -- Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate

These poems, just words, distil the human heart as nothing else. -- Jane Campion, film director

This unique collection of 20th century poetry from all over the world cannot fail to enrich your life. -- Denis Healey, politician

Truly startling and powerful poems -- Mia Farrow, actor

When you choose your book for Desert Island Discs this should be it. -- Helena Kennedy, QC, human rights lawyer

[Staying Alive] is a relvelation. Buy it. Leave it around the house. Give it to friends. It could keep them alive. -- Sunday Times, June 23 2002

About the Author

Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably the Bloodaxe Staying Alive trilogy: Staying Alive (Bloodaxe, UK 2002/ Miramax, US 2003), Being Alive (2004) and Being Human (2011), along with Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy (2012). His other anthologies (all these from Bloodaxe) include Earth Shattering: ecopoems (2007), The Hundred Years' War: modern war poems (2014), and three collaborations with with Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Soul Food: nourishing poems for starved minds (2008), and the DVD-books In Person: 30 Poets (2008) and In Person: World Poets (2017). He has published two novels, The End of My Tether (2002), which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World (2005). In 2012 Candlestick Press published his selection of Ten Poems About Sheep in its renowned pamphlet series. In 2015 he guest-edited a special international issue of the American literary journal Ploughshares, its first all-poetry issue in its 44-year history. He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry from the Society of Authors in 1982 and was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books in 1995. He is a trustee of Ledbury Poetry Festival, and a Visiting Fellow at Newcastle University. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1852245883
• ISBN 13: 9781852245887
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 496
• Editor: Neil Astley