Bloodaxe Poems of the Year: 2003 - Celebrating the 25th Birthday of Bloodaxe Books - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852246545 ISBN 13: 9781852246549

Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd, 2003

Synopsis

This lively sampler anthology celebrates Bloodaxe’s 25th birthday, with poems from 25 new books published in the anniversary year. Selected by founding editor Neil Astley, it shows that the famous Bloodaxe edge hasn’t been blunted by age, and that Britain’s sharpest poetry imprint is still discovering some of the most imaginatively adventurous new poetry from around the world. This year’s output also includes new editions of major modern writers, vigorous translations of poetry classics, and anthologies of contemporary poetry aimed at a broad readership. With its bold and diverse stable of new and established British, Irish, American, European and Commonwealth writers, Bloodaxe has revolutionised poetry publishing in Britain. Its authors and books have won virtually every major literary award given to poetry, from the Pulitzer to the Nobel Prize. Bloodaxe has also been a pioneering publisher of poetry in translation, and has built its reputation over 25 years on publishing numerous new poets alongside some of the most important figures in modern poetry. This book is not only a birthday sampler. It is an alternative anthology presenting a completely different map of contemporary poetry from the academically distorted view now being foisted on readers by poetry’s new spin doctors. It is representative not only of Bloodaxe’s publishing but of all the poets who believe poetry’s prime concern is human life not intellectual word-games.

About this title

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 Ltd
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1852246545
• ISBN 13: 9781852246549
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96
• Editor: Astley Neil