Showing results by author "Andrew Motion" in All Categories

In the eastern reaches of the Thames lies the Hispaniola, an inn kept by Jim Hawkins and his son. Late one night, a mysterious girl named Natty arrives on the river with a request for Jim from her father - Long John Silver. Aged and weak, but still possessing a strange power, the pirate proposes Jim and Natty sail to Treasure Island in search of Captain Flint's hidden bounty. But the thrill of the ocean odyssey gives way to terror as the Nightingale reaches its destination, for it seems Treasure Island is not as uninhabited as it once was....

In this comprehensive anthology, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion has gathered together exceptional poems from the 14th century through to the present day, creating an extraordinary poetic journey for the listener. From the love poems of Shelley and Keats to the grim war elegies of Owen and Sassoon, there is a poem here for every sentiment, each with something different to offer.

Andrew Motion's prose memoir, In the Blood (2006), was widely acclaimed, praised as 'an act of magical retrieval' (Daily Telegraph) and 'a hymn to familial love' (Independent). Now, 12 years later and three years after moving to live and work in the United States, Motion looks back once more to re-create a stunning biographical sequel - but this time in verse. Essex Clay rekindles, expands and gives a tragic resonance to subjects that have haunted the poet throughout his writing life.

The thrilling follow-up to Treasure Island, as told by one of England's greatest contemporary writers. July, 1802. In the marshy eastern reaches of the Thames lies the Hispaniola, an inn kept by Jim Hawkins and his son. Late one night, a mysterious girl named Natty arrives with a request from her father, Long John Silver. Aged and weak, but still possessing a strange power, the pirate proposes that Young Jim and Natty sail to Treasure Island in search of Captain Flint's hidden bounty, left behind many years before....

A celebration of adult literature and reading. The whole book industry, including booksellers, librarians and publishers, were invited come together and pick out their favourite titles to be included the final list of 25 books by authors from the UK and Ireland. The final list included fiction, poetry and memoirs, among others. There were some best sellers, some classics and some lesser known. Interviews with Graeme Simsion, Lucy Fleming, Jojo Moyes, Lemn Sissay, Mark Haddon, Tracy Chevalier, Victoria Hislop, Rupert Thomson and Andrew Motion.

In the Blood is Andrew Motion's beautifully written memoir of growing up in post-war England—an unforgettable evocation of family life, school life and country life. It also tells the story of how these worlds are shattered, when his mother suffers a terrible riding accident. The tragedy shadows the book, feeding its mood of elegy as well as its celebratory vigilance. Written from a teenage child's point of view, without the benefit of adult hindsight, Motion captures the pathos and puzzlement of childhood with great clarity of expression and freshness of memory. 

Randomly Moving Particles is built from two long poems that form its opening and close, connected by three shorter pieces. The title poem, in a kaleidoscope of compelling scenes, engages with subjects that include migration, placement, loss, space exploration and current British and American politics. It is a clarifying action and reaction between terra and solar system, mundanity and possibility, taking us from the grit of road surfaces to the distant glimpses of satellites.

Andrew Motion has been close to the centers of British poetry for over fifty years. Sleeping on Islands is his clear-sighted and open-hearted account of this remarkable career. It takes us from scenes of a teenage home-life colored by tragedy and silence—where writing was as much a refuge as an assertion—to the excruciations of early public appearances, to the decade he spent as Poet Laureate, promoting and ensuring the central place of poetry in a nation's character.