{"product_id":"collected-poems-paperback-40","title":"Collected Poems - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eKen Smith\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKen Smith (1938-2003) was a major voice in world poetry, his work and example inspiring a whole generation of younger British poets. \u003c\/b\u003eHis politically edgy, cuttingly colloquial, muscular poetry poetry shifted territory with time, from rural Yorkshire, America and London to the war-ravaged Balkans and Eastern Europe (before and after Communism). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis early books span a transition from a preoccupation with land and myth to his later engagement with urban Britain and the politics of radical disaffection. The pivotal work marking this shift was his long poem \u003ci\u003eFox Running\u003c\/i\u003e (1980), brought to recent attention when an archive recording of him reading it was broadcast by BBC Radio 4's \u003ci\u003ePoetry Please\u003c\/i\u003e in 2016. His \u003ci\u003eCollected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e brings together poetry from four decades, including all the work from two earlier retrospectives, \u003ci\u003eThe Poet Reclining: Selected Poems 1962-1980 \u003c\/i\u003e(1982) and \u003ci\u003eShed: Poems 1980-2001\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), together with the posthumously published \u003ci\u003eYou Again: last poems \u0026amp; other words\u003c\/i\u003e (2004). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe book is introduced with essays by Roger Garfitt and Jon Glover. Its publication coincided with his 80th birthday and with the 40th anniversary of the publication of Bloodaxe's first title, Ken Smith's\u003ci\u003e Tristan Crazy\u003c\/i\u003e (1978).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKen Smith\u003c\/b\u003e (1938-2003) was a major voice in world poetry, a writer whose work shifted territory with time, from land to city, from Yorkshire, America and London to war-ravaged Eastern Europe. He was called 'the godfather of the new poetry' because his politically edgy, cuttingly colloquial, muscular poetry influenced a whole generation of younger British poets, from Simon Armitage to Carol Ann Duffy. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKen Smith was born in Rudston, East Yorkshire, the son of an itinerant farm labourer. He worked in Britain and America as a teacher, freelance writer, barman, magazine editor, potato picker, BBC reader and creative writing fellow, and was writer-in-residence at Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1985-87. He received America's highly prestigious Lannan Literary Award for Poetry in 1997, and a Cholmondeley Award in 1998. Ken Smith was the first poet to be published by Bloodaxe, with his pamphlet \u003ci\u003eTristan Crazy\u003c\/i\u003e in 1978. Smith's first book, \u003ci\u003eThe Pity\u003c\/i\u003e, was published by Jonathan Cape in 1967, and his second, \u003ci\u003eWork, distances\/poems\u003c\/i\u003e, by Swallow Press, Chicago, in 1972. His early books span a transition from his preoccupation with land and myth (when he lived in Yorkshire, Devon and America) to his later engagement with urban Britain and the politics of radical disaffection (when he lived in East London). \u003ci\u003eThe Poet Reclining: Selected Poems 1962-1980\u003c\/i\u003e (Bloodaxe, 1982; reissued 1989) covers the first half of his writing career. In 1986 Ken Smith's collection \u003ci\u003eTerra\u003c\/i\u003e was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award. In 1987 Bloodaxe published his collected prose, \u003ci\u003eA Book of Chinese Whispers\u003c\/i\u003e. Four of his collections, \u003ci\u003eTerra\u003c\/i\u003e (1986), \u003ci\u003eWormwood\u003c\/i\u003e (1987), \u003ci\u003eThe heart, the border\u003c\/i\u003e (1990) and \u003ci\u003eTender to the Queen of Spain\u003c\/i\u003e (1993), were Poetry Book Society Recommendations. His last separate collection, \u003ci\u003eWild Root\u003c\/i\u003e (1998), a Poetry Book Society Choice, was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. All these collections are included in his second Bloodaxe compilation, \u003ci\u003eShed: Poems 1980-2001\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), the sequel to \u003ci\u003eThe Poet Reclining\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1989 Harrap published \u003ci\u003eInside Time\u003c\/i\u003e, Ken Smith's book about imprisonment, about Wormwood Scrubs and the men he met there. This was published in paperback by Mandarin in 1990. Ken Smith was working in Berlin when the Wall came down, writing a book about East and West Berlin: this turned into\u003ci\u003e Berlin: Coming in from the Cold\u003c\/i\u003e (Hamish Hamilton, 1990; Penguin paperback, 1991. He edited \u003ci\u003eKlaonica: poems for Bosnia\u003c\/i\u003e (Bloodaxe Books, 1993) with Judi Benson, and with Matthew Sweeney co-edited \u003ci\u003eBeyond Bedlam \u003c\/i\u003e(Anvil Press Poetry, 1997), a book of poems by mentally ill people. He died on 27 June 2003 from a hospital infection caught while being treated for Legionnaires' Disease, which he had contracted months earlier in Cuba. His last poems were published in \u003ci\u003eYou Again: last poems \u0026amp; other words\u003c\/i\u003e (Bloodaxe Books, 2004) along with other uncollected work, tributes from other poets, photographs, a biographical portrait and interviews covering the whole range of his life and work. His \u003ci\u003eCollected Poems\u003c\/i\u003e was published by Bloodaxe in October 2018, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the publication of Bloodaxe's first title, Ken Smith's \u003ci\u003eTristan Crazy\u003c\/i\u003e (1978), and with what would have been his 80th birthday.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 648\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.8 x 9.2 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 25, 2018\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47351147069689,"sku":"9781780374321","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/ZHE3U1dtRk5Vdm1tZFN3bXdBd1hHUT09.webp?v=1769795372","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/collected-poems-paperback-40","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}