Gold from the Stone: New and Selected Poems

by Lemn Sissay

Overview

Lemn Sissay was seventeen when he wrote his first poetry book, which he hand-sold to the miners and millworkers of Wigan. Since then his poems have become landmarks, sculpted in granite and built from concrete, recorded on era-defining albums and declaimed in over thirty countries.

He has performed to thousands of football fans at the FA Cup Final, to hundreds of thousands as the poet of the London Olympics, and to millions across our TV screens and the airwaves of BBC Radio. He has become one of the nation's best-loved voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782119456
Publisher:	Canongate Books
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Series:	Canons , #70
Edition description:	Main - Canons Edition
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,070,529
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Lemn Sissay is an award-winning writer and popular broadcaster as well as being the author of five poetry books. He was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the Universityof Huddersfield and the Universityof Manchester. He was awarded an MBE by the Queen for services to literature. He was the official poet for the London 2012 Olympics. He has worked throughout the world and is patron of the Letterbox Club, supporting children in care. His work in the Arctic has featured at the Royal Academy and in galleries throughout the world. His Landmark poems can be found in London, Manchester, Huddersfield and Addis Ababa. In 2015 he was appointed Chancellor of the Universityof Manchester. He is British and Ethiopian.

Editorial Reviews

One of the most original, challenging poets writing in Britain today, and his extraordinary, heart-breaking, courageous life story is the stuff of legend . . . The collection showcases his breadth, his passion, his anger and his humanity . . . Full of light and hope . . . A prodigious talent” Daily Mail, Poetry of the Year

“Hugely enjoyable, inventive, funny and touching” Guardian

“Lemn Sissay is a passionate and powerful voice whose performances are humbling and exhilarating” KATE TEMPEST

“A tremendous selection of his poetry . . . His gift as a writer - of plays, poetry, documentaries - is for turning life's base metal into gold” Observer

“This volume of selected and new poems traces [Sissay's] path from gifted adolescent to accomplished poetic voice, railing with passion and prowess against the ‘quiet violence of the day-to-day’” Financial Times

“A collection of the poet's best-loved works . . . The performative element to his poetry is evident but no vibrancy or emotion is lost on paper, where his honesty, charm and humour prevail . . . Gold from the Stone maps Sissay's development as a poet and writer but also his many personal triumphs, even when the odds were stacked against him ****” The List

From the Publisher

His name is magic, his poems are songs on the street

Independent

A tremendous selection of his poetry . . . His gift as a writer - of plays, poetry, documentaries - is for turning life's base metal into gold

Observer

A lyrical genius

The Voice

One of the most original, challenging poets writing in Britain today, and his extraordinary, heart-breaking, courageous life story is the stuff of legend . . . The collection showcases his breadth, his passion, his anger and his humanity . . . Full of light and hope . . . A prodigious talent

Poetry of the Year Daily Mail

A collection of the poet's best-loved works . . . The performative element to his poetry is evident but no vibrancy or emotion is lost on paper, where his honesty, charm and humour prevail . . . Gold from the Stone maps Sissay's development as a poet and writer but also his many personal triumphs, even when the odds were stacked against him ****

The List

Lemn Sissay is a passionate and powerful voice whose performances are humbling and exhilarating

Kate Tempest

A literary institution

Big Issue

Hugely enjoyable, inventive, funny and touching

Guardian

This volume of selected and new poems traces [Sissay's] path from gifted adolescent to accomplished poetic voice, railing with passion and prowess against the "quiet violence of the day-to-day"

Financial Times