Offa’s Press Shop
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If you’d like to order multiple copies of one product or a number of different items from the shop to get a sensible quote for postage & packing please contact Offa’s Press info@offaspress.co.uk
The Bridge [Paperback] by Jane Salmons.
The Bridge is a collection of lovingly written portraits of people from the nationally-known Mary Macarthur to Great Aunt Alice and teenagers at The Silver Blades Ice Rink. The timeline twists and turns as the past intrudes and leaves its mark on the present. This is a haunting collection you will want to read again and again.
ISBN: 978-1-7393618-5-3
Cover price: £6.95
Away with the Birds [Paperback] edited by Simon Fletcher and Kuli Kohli.
The reader will be thrilled by the power of observation and the urgency that’s shown, to respect bird life in the West Midlands, in these remarkable poems. This beautiful collection will make you want to fly ‘away with the birds’.
ISBN: 978-1-7393618-4-6
Cover price: £9.95
Falling and Flying [Paperback] by Jeff Phelps.
Jeff Phelps’s poetry is a quiet blessing in a noisy world. His imagery is precise and heart-warming. The reader won’t, lightly, want to put his first full collection down.
ISBN: 978-1-7393618-3-9
Cover price: £9.95
The Taste of Rain [Paperback] by Cherry Doyle.
In The Taste of Rain, a modern almanac of Cannock Chase, Cherry Doyle describes a yearly round which hints at the ancient magic we might lose from our lives. A modern, visual celebration of the natural world, it speaks of the beauties, history and environmental challenges she sees every day.
ISBN: 978-1-7393618-2-2
Cover price: £9.95
Earth Walker [Paperback] by Ros Woolner.
Ros Woolner’s first full collection, Earth Walker, is packed with witty social observation and will appeal to her growing fan base. Form is understated, as in the prize-winning sonnet ‘Pruning the Laurel’, but delightfully present. A must for all who admire contemporary and relatable voices.
ISBN: 978-1-7393618-1-5
Cover price: £9.95
Wild Orchids [Paperback] by Simon Fletcher.
Wild Orchids is Simon Fletcher’s battle cry in the face of spiralling environmental crisis. Unflinching in celebration and concern, there’s something to empower the curious and the committed amongst Fletcher’s carefully-crafted landscapes.
ISBN: 978-1-7393618-0-8
Cover price: £5.95
It’s Honorary, Bab [Paperback] by Emma Purshouse.
Wolverhampton’s a terrible place, all the surveys and pollsters agree. So, what do you do if you become poet laureate of such a city? And what happens when a pandemic breaks out? To find out how Emma rose to the challenge…
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-9-5
Cover price: £7.95
New Voices [Paperback] Edited by Simon Fletcher.
An anthology of new poets from the West Midlands.
The language the poets choose to write in reminds us of the variety of spoken English in the West Midlands and will be a sheer delight for all who love the diversity of our babbling region.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-8-8
Cover price: £7.95
In the Sticks [Paperback] edited by Simon Fletcher & Cherry Doyle
This Arts Council England-supported anthology takes a dispassionate look at life in the countryside in the West Midlands today. There are poems about farming and fishing, the changing environment and village life, nature, rural isolation and romance.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-7-1
Cover price: £7.95
A Wonder Woman [Paperback] by Kuli Kohli
A Wonder Woman is a powerful collection of poems of experience and wisdom, innocence of the world and wonder at its various beauties and struggles. It is full of love and surprises and will delight Kuli’s many admirers and followers.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-6-4
Cover price: £9.95
Under Smoky Light [Paperback] by Michael W. Thomas
Under Smoky Light is an exploration of identity and history and touches on many contemporary issues. The reader will be transported in time and place but underlying the work is a profound sense of what it is to be human.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-4-0
Cover price: £5.95
Hokusai’s Passion 36 Glimpses of Skiddaw [Paperback] by John Sewell
John Sewell’s poetry will delight and entertain as he takes the reader on an unusual tour of his favourite Lakeland peak, Skiddaw. These ‘36 Views’ have as their starting point the work of the Japanese artist Hokusai and they are as quirky and original as those wonderfully evocative
images.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-5-7
Cover price: £5.95
Barista [Paperback] by Nick Pearson
Nick Pearson’s understated wit is often never far from the surface but these are poems with humanity at their core, closely observed and unpretentious, searching always for some measure of gravity in the mainstream and mundane.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-3-3
Cover price: £5.95
The Wednesbury Mangle Theory [Paperback] by Marion Cockin
There is good humour here, an earthy vitality and warmth for the essentially human follies and foibles we all enjoy. With a touch of Black Country surreal Marion keeps us, the readers, on our toes.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-2-6
Cover price: £5.95
The Poetry of Worcestershire [Paperback] edited by Michael W. Thomas & Simon Fletcher
This exciting new anthology, a cornucopia edited by Michael W. Thomas and Simon Fletcher, includes work by Heather Wastie, John Sewell, Suz Winspear, Paul Francis, Raine Geoghegan and A.E.Housman. Here are Severn river swans, the plum orchards and asparagus fields, potters and carpet weavers, not to mention Edward Elgar and Basil D’Oliveira.
ISBN: 978-1-9996943-1-9
Cover price: £7.95
Ripening Cherries, an anthology of haiku, tanka and haibun [Paperback] edited by David Bingham & Simon Fletcher
This delightful anthology will draw you into another world, the minimalist world of Japanese poetic forms. You’ll be thrilled by images of the art of frost, lipstick on a wine glass, a Mesolithic flint in a Telford field, paintings that speak of small things and much more.
ISBN: 978-0-9955225-9-6
Cover price: £7.95
September [Paperback] by Cherry Doyle
This first collection from Cannock-based Cherry Doyle is lyrical and emotionally taut, a modern crab apple pastoral. Many of the poems are drawn from her love of Cannock Chase and its wildlife, others touch on personal loss, but all are created with love and a fine eye for detail.
ISBN: 978-0-9955225-9-6
Cover price: £5.95
Close [Paperback] by Emma Purshouse
Emma’s first full collection from Offa’s Press is a closely observed, wonderfully humane study of a community somewhere in the Black Country. As one reader noted, ‘there’s something for everyone to identify with in these poems… brilliant, sharp and subtle observations of local daily life’.
ISBN: 978-0-9955225-8-9
Cover price: £9.95
Bella [Paperback] by Nellie Cole
In a work which blends factual evidence with folklore, superstition, hearsay and the imagination, these poems explore the Worcestershire murder mystery ‘Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?’
ISBN: 978-0-9955225-7-2
Cover price: £5.95
On the Wing [Paperback] by Ros Woolner
This is a collection of shared secrets and conversational asides, a series of doors opening into colourful, magical worlds. In here, you’ll find council flats and kraken, laundry and skateboards, tea-leaf futures and dreams.
ISBN: 978-09955225-58
Cover price: £5.95
This is Just to Say [Paperback] by John Woodall
Some of John Woodall’s poems will make you laugh out loud, while others will leave you with a sigh of satisfaction. A must for your poetry bookshelf!
ISBN: 978-0-9955225-65
Cover price: £5.95
Our Beautiful Scars [Paperback] by Jane Seabourne
Compassion, humour and skill blend with care in Jane Seabourne’s second collection, Our Beautiful Scars, reminding the reader of what poetry should do and be. A joy to read!
ISBN: 978-0-9955225-4-1
Cover price: £7.95
The Poetry of The Black Country [Paperback] edited by Emma Purshouse, Dave Reeves & Simon Fletcher
This exciting new anthology from Offa’s Press is a celebration of Black Country life and speech, work and pastimes, and includes poems by Liz Berry, Brendan Hawthorne, Heather Wastie, Roy McFarlane and the late Roy Fisher among a galaxy of poets.
ISBN: 978-0-9955225-3-4
Cover price: £7.95
Euphony [Paperback] by Bo Crowder
Bo Crowder takes the reader on a fascinating journey, from the stars in Ursa Major to the Staffordshire Peak District, from the city of Stoke to Ancient Rome. “Euphony” is a fine first collection from a poet who deserves to be very widely read.
ISBN 978-0-99552-25-2-7.
Cover price: £5.95
Patchwork [Paperback] by Kuli Kohli
Like the best patchwork quilts from India and England, Kuli Kohli’s Patchwork has vivid colours, homespun originality and a variety of subjects and forms of poetry. This is a promising debut collection by a Wolverhampton Punjabi writer.
ISBN 978-0-99552-25-0-3.
Cover price: £5.95
Wolverhampton Madonna [Paperback] by Jeff Phelps
This pamphlet has the weight and variety of a full collection; readers will want to return to its incisive and insightful (and often funny and moving) poems again and again.
ISBN 978-0-99552-25-1-0.
Cover price: £5.95
The Poetry of Staffordshire [Paperback]
This new collection of poetry from Offa’s Press features poets with strong ties to the county including Roger Elkin, Jean Sprackland and Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Themes include the history and geography of the county as well as historical characters, the Potteries, industry, sport, rural life and the environment. From oat cakes to Burton ale, Cannock Chase to the Roches and Wedgwood to Sir Stanley Matthews, this book of poetry will delight anyone who loves Staffordshire.
ISBN 978-0-95655-18-9-4.
Cover price: £7.95
Offa’s Poets Live at the Lych Gate [CD]
This delightful collection of live recordings at the Lych Gate Tavern, Wolverhampton, from spring 2015, will please anyone who’s ever attended ‘City Voices’, the regular live literature gig, or who’s read the works of these popular and skilful poets. What comes across is the sensitivity to language, theme and audience which is becoming a trademark of Offa’s poets and confirms their goal of being ‘good on the page and good on stage’.
Cover price: £5.95
The Nailmakers’ Daughters [Paperback]
This stylish new collection features the poetry of Emma Purshouse, Iris Rhodes and Marion Cockin, deftly edited by Jane Seabourne. These Black Country women’s lives are deeply rooted in the history of the area, their poems will challenge and delight by turns.
ISBN 978-0-9565518-8-7
Cover price: £7.95
Thought Apples [Paperback] by Bert Flitcroft
Thought-Apples is a collection of 25 poems by Staffordshire poet Bert Flitcroft. They are philosophical, occasionally piquant, always accessible, and will please poetry readers and the general public alike. This is lived poetry and many will identify with the places, moods and hazards on his journey.
ISBN: 978-0-9565518-7-0
Cover price: £5.95
The Chatter of Crows [Paperback] by David Bingham
The Chatter of Crows will charm poetry readers everywhere. There are tales here of King Offa and Wild Edric, a surrealist Ancient Tortoise and the wise words of ‘agony uncle’ Aldibone.
David Bingham’s debut collection from Offa’s Press also includes impressive Japanese-influenced haibun and haiku which amuse and intrigue in equal measure. Their authenticity comes from long years of fascination with these forms.
ISBN: 978-0-9565518-6-3
Cover price: £7.95
The Poetry of Shropshire [Paperback] edited by Simon Fletcher & Jeff Phelps
A.E. Housman put Shropshire on the poetry map with his lyrical evocations of the county’s landscapes but there is a lot more to Shropshire than ‘blue remembered hills’. Here are poems by established writers that capture the beauties and history of this ancient border land, and newer voices, vibrant and sometimes surprising.
ISBN: 978-0-9565518-5-6
Cover price: £7.95
We’re All In This Together [Paperback] edited by Nick Pearson & Jane Seabourne
We’re All in This Together is the first collection of environmental poetry to be published in the West Midlands. Some of the poetry is challenging, some of it angry, but the poets show a deep love of the wildlife and landscapes of our post-industrial lives.
ISBN: 978-0-9565518-4-9
Cover price: £8.95
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Black Country Dialectics [Paperback] by Dave Reeves
Black Country Dialectics will delight anyone who enjoys the language of the Black Country, its wit and warmth. There are lovely things in these pages, true things that will bring a tear to the eye and be recognized by anyone familiar with the pain and the pathos of Black Country life, then and now.
ISBN: 978-0-9565518-3-2
Cover price: £8.95 (includes CD)
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Made In Captivity [Paperback] by Nick Pearson
This collection draws together a range of work written over the last ten years. Urban, sharply observed, often humorous and with elements of atmospheric staging these poems catch some of the voices of contemporary disconnection and the search for certainty.
ISBN: 978–0–9565518-2-5
Cover price: £7.95
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Wins Top Thirty! [Paperback] by Win Saha
At times mocking, at times loving, Win Saha’s poetry is in a long tradition of witty light verse that packs a punch. She pays close attention to traditional forms and rhythms and delivers her lines with perfect timing.
ISBN: 978–0–9565518-1-8
Cover price: £5.95
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Bright Morning [Paperback] by Jane Seabourne
Jane Seabourne’s début collection will be a delight for anyone who enjoys well-crafted and witty contemporary poetry. There are oddities here and there are illuminations. Some of these poems are so beautiful they make you want to steal them.
ISBN: 978–0–9565518–0–1
Cover price: £7.95
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