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'One of those rare books that is immediately enjoyable yet will repay many re-readings' Poetry Review
'Not only a fresh voice but a dexterity with language, that glorious juggling which poets sometimes achieve with a sense of surprise even to themselves' Elizabeth Jennings, Independent
Carol Ann Duffy's highly praised second collection, for which she was given the Somerset Maugham Award, showcases the Poet Laureate's skill even at the very start of her career. Within it are poems that reveal the full range of her interests: from dramatic monologues to meditations on death and art, to poems of protest and poems of love. Throughout it all, though, is a resounding determination to give voice to those who are usually voiceless, and always apparent is her inimitable wit, wisdom and imagination.
At once tender and sharp, moving and humorous, Selling Manhattan has dazzled both readers and critics ever since it was first published in 1987.
About the author
Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children's Verse, the Whitbread, Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes, and the Lannan and E. M. Forster Prize in America. She was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2019. Her many collections include Mean Time, Love Poems and The Bees, which won the Costa Poetry Award. Her writing for children includes Queen Munch and Queen Nibble, The Skipping-Rope Snake and The Tear Thief. She was made a DBE in the 2015 New Year Honours list. In 2021, she was awarded the international lifetime achievement award the Golden Wreath for her achievements in poetry.
Summary
One of those rare books that is immediately enjoyable yet will repay many re-readings' Poetry Review
Carol Ann Duffy's highly praised second collection, for which she was given the Somerset Maughan Award, showcases the Poet Laureate's skill even at the very start of her career. Within are poems that reveal the full range of her interests: from the dramatic monologues, to meditations on death and art, to poems of protest and poems of love. Throughout it all, though, is a resounding determination to give voices to those who are usually voiceless, and always apparent is her inimitable wit, wisdom and imagination.
At once tender and sharp, moving and humourous, Selling Manhattan has dazzled both readers and critics ever since it was first published in 1987.
Foreword
Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's stunning second collection, originally published in 1986.
Additional text
Accessible and entertaining, yet her form is classical, her technique razor-sharp. She is read by people who don't really read poetry, yet she maintains the respect of her peers. Reviewers praise her touching, sensitive, witty evocations of love, loss, dislocation, nostalgia; fans talk of greeting her at readings 'with claps and cheers that would not sound out of place at a rock concert.
