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Henrik Ibsen

With her assertion that she is 'first and foremost a human being', rather than a wife, mother or fragile doll, Nora Helmer sent shockwaves throughout Europe when she appeared in Ibsen's greatest and most famous play, A Doll's House. Ibsen's follow-up Ghosts was no less radical, with its unrelenting investigation into religious hypocrisy, family secrets and sexual double-dealing. These two masterpieces are accompanied here by The Pillars of the Community and An Enemy of the People, both exploring the tensions and dark compromises at the heart of society.

A Doll's House and Other Plays

Suleika Jaouad

Suleika Jaouad’s journal has been a lifelong companion: marking life’s great occasions and helping her ride its roughest waves, through illness, heartbreak, and the deepest oceans of uncertainty. Like Suleika, many consider it a transformative and often vulnerable journey of self-discovery. The Book of Alchemy explores this art and offers companionship and support to those seeking to navigate the in-between. It gives readers invaluable tools to engage with discomfort and peel back the layers shrouding their truest selves.

The Book of Alchemy

A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life

Julia Cameron

'Lately, I am trying to provoke myself into art - into writing... I wasn't exactly in despair - I was in cynicism, which is despair's more torpid sister... Let me tell you how writing snuck back on me.' 
 
Whether you are starting from scratch or need a gentle nudge back in the right direction, The Sound of Paper is a wonderful creative companion. Through inspiring essays and practical tasks, it stimulates creativity so that the reader becomes more and more familiar with their own strengths. Including her own fascinating journey from writer's block back to productive work, which takes the reader across America from New York to New Mexico, this is a story of inspiration infused with brilliantly practical suggestions, the perfect combination for anyone on the path to creativity.

The Sound of Paper

Inspiration and Practical Guidance for Starting the Creative Process

Alan Connor

‘Alan knows everything, knows everyone, and writes beautifully too.’ 
RICHARD OSMAN 
 
‘The man with the contents of the Oxford English Dictionary stored just above his left eyebrow … and he’s quite funny too.’ 
RORY CELLAN-JONES 
 
'A gorgeous, funny tour of the British Isles as seen from the clouds.’ 
KONNIE HUQ 
 
 
For fans of THE ETYMOLOGICON and VERY BRITISH PROBLEMS, a delightfully damp tour of the British Isles. 
 
 
Mizzle. Dreich. Raining knives and forks. A real mugga-fisty. A spot of plother... 
 
We Brits love talking about the weather. So much so that our islands have hundreds of words and phrases for rain, some self-explanatory and others that really leave us scratching our heads. From a light smirr in Aberdeen to a "it's raining knives and forks!" in the Brecon Beacons, each type of rain tells a story about the people and places it falls on. 
 
In this delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, writer and puddle-splasher Alan Connor digs deep into the meaning and quirky histories of over one hundred words for precipitation. He gets caught in a plash in Northumberland, crashes a fox's wedding in Devon and ponders the phenomenon of Brits-who-picnic-in-the-car, in this charming and witty celebration of our very British obsession.

188 Words for Rain

A delightfully damp tour of the British Isles, led by natural forces (an official BBC Weather book)

Zadie Smith

'Married five times. Mother. Lover. Aunt. Friend. 
She plays many roles round here. And never 
Scared to tell the whole of her truth, whether 
Or not anyone wants to hear it. Wife 
Of Willesden: pissed enough to tell her life 
Story to whoever has ears and eyes...' 
 
Zadie Smith's first play is a joyous re-imagining of Chaucer's classic, The Wife of Bath's Tale. As the crowd in a small pub on the Kilburn High Road stand up to share their stories, the Wife of Willesden is not afraid to bare it all...

The Wife of Willesden

Kingsley Amis

<a href="https://shop.penguin.co.uk/collections/book-bundles-modern-classics/?&amp;utm_source=Penguin.co.uk&amp;utm_medium=Linked_text&amp;utm_campaign=Penguin_Modern_Classics_Series_26_06">Choose 3 timeless classics for only £21 over on the Penguin Shop</a>

The King's English is Kingsley Amis's authoritative and witty guide to the use and abuse of the English language. A scourge of illiteracy and a thorn in the side of pretension, Amis provides indispensable advice about the linguistic blunders and barbarities that lie in wait for us, from danglers, four-letter words to jargon and even Welsh rarebit. If you have ever wondered whether it's acceptable to start a sentence with 'and', to boldly split an infinitive, or to cross your sevens in the French style, Amis has the answer - or a trenchant opinion. By turns reflective, acerbic and provocative, The King's English is for anyone who cares about how the English language is used.

The King's English

Samantha Ellis

'An optimistic and wryly funny book... rich with insights' OBSERVER 
'I couldn’t put it down’ RUKMINI IYER 
‘I loved this book so much... Think: The Body Keeps the Score in practice not theory’ ELLA RISBRIDGER 
 
Samantha’s mother tongue is dying out. An urgent need to find out more becomes an expansive investigation into how to keep hold of her culture – and when to let it go 
 
The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that’s now on the verge of extinction. 
 
The realisation that she won’t be able to tell her son he’s ‘living in the days of the aubergines’ or ‘chopping onions on my heart’ opens the floodgates. The questions keep coming. How can she pass on the stories without passing on the trauma of displacement? Will her son ever love mango pickle? 
 
In her search for answers Samantha encounters demon bowls, the perils of kohl and the unexpected joys of fusion food. Her journey transports us from the clamour of Noah’s Ark to the calm of the British Museum, from the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages to the banks of the River Tigris. As Samantha considers what we lose and keep, she also asks what we might need to let go of to preserve our culture and ourselves. 
 
This is a life-affirming memoir about resilience and repair, and the healing power of dancing to our ancestors’ music, cooking up their recipes and sharing their stories. 
 
‘A moving and resonant lament for the past but also a thought-provoking siren call for the future' ANNE SEBBA 
'Urgent, alive, propulsive. I adored it' MARINA BENJAMIN

Chopping Onions on My Heart

On Losing and Preserving Culture

Jean Findlay

C. K. Scott Moncrieff’s celebrated translation of Proust’s A La Recherche du Temps Perdu was first published in 1922 and was a work which would exhaust and consume the translator, leading to his early death at the age of just forty. Joseph Conrad told him, ‘I was more interested and fascinated by your rendering than by Proust’s creation’: some literary figures even felt it was an improvement on the original. 
 
From the outside an enigma, Scott Moncrieff left a trail of writings that describe a man expert at living a paradoxical life: fervent Catholic convert and homosexual, gregarious party-goer and deeply lonely, interwar spy in Mussolini’s Italy and public man of letters – a man for whom honour was the most abiding principle. He was a decorated war hero, and his letters home are an unusually light take on day-to-day life on the front. Described as ‘offensively brave’, he was severely injured in 1917 and, convalescing in London, became a lynchpin of literary society – friends with Robert Graves and Noel Coward, enemies with Siegfried Sassoon and in love with Wilfred Owen. 
 
Written by Scott Moncrieff’s great-great-niece, Jean Findlay, with exclusive access to the family archive, Chasing Lost Time is a portrait of a man hurled into war, through an era when the world was changing fast and forever, who brought us the greatest epic of time and memory that has ever been written.

Chasing Lost Time

The Life of C.K. Scott Moncrieff: Soldier, Spy and Translator

Julia Cresswell

A fascinating, thematic exploration of clich&eacute;s from as the actress said to the bishop to zero hour, explaining what they are and where they&rsquo;ve come from. Julia Cresswell has taken her best-selling dictionary of clich&eacute;s (&lsquo;Sumptuous&hellip; A mine of information.&rsquo; Guardian) back to the drawing board and has created a book, packed with famous (and infamous) quotations and memorable information, that will change the way you see English.

The Cat's Pyjamas

The Penguin Book of Clichés

Isabella Dorta

'these letters thus far have remained unsent, i want you to change that for me.' 
 
Embrace honesty and heal beautifully. 
 
In the letters i will never send, TikTok poet Isabella Dorta urges you to leave nothing unsaid and take comfort in moving poems on love, heartbreak, mental health and self-discovery. 
 
With beautiful line illustrations and over 100 poems written in the form of confessional letters addressed to the most influential figures in your life: 
 
Your younger self 
Your future self 
Your lover 
Your body 
Your family 
and more 
 
Take the ultimate step. Read, rip out, burn or send the letters out into the world. Write your own and share them with the people in your life. Just don't hold back!

The Letters I Will Never Send

poems to read, to write and to share

Roland Barthes

‘May be the most detailed, painstaking anatomy of desire that we are ever likely to see or need again... An ecstatic celebration of love and language’ Washington Post 
 
The language we use when we are in love is not a language we speak. It is a language addressed to ourselves and to our imaginary beloved. It is a language of solitude, of mythology, of what Barthes calls an 'image repertoire'. 
 
Reviving the notion of the amorous subject beyond psychological or clinical enterprises, Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse is a book for everyone who has ever been in love, or indeed, thought themselves to be immune to its power.

A Lover's Discourse

Fragments

In the century since its birth, the crossword has evolved into the world's most popular intellectual pastime: a unique form of wordplay, the codes and conventions of which are open to anyone masochistic enough to get addicted. In Two Girls, One on Each Knee, Alan Connor celebrates the wit, ingenuity and frustration of setting and solving puzzles. From the beaches of D-Day to the imaginary worlds of three-dimensional crosswords, to the British school teachers and journalists who turned the form into the fiendish sport it is today, encompassing the most challenging clues, particular tricks, the world's greatest setters and famous solvers, PG Wodehouse and the torturers of the Spanish Inquisition, this is an ingenious book for lovers of this very particular form of wordplay.

Two Girls, One on Each Knee

The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword

Albert Jack

Mr Jack has been nimble and he's been quick, searching through the history of nursery rhymes and he's found out all kind of plum tales, just like little Jack Horner. He's unearthed the answers to some very curious questions... 
 
Who were Mary Quite Contrary and Georgie Porgie? How could Hey Diddle Diddle offer an essential astronomy lesson? And if Ring a Ring a Roses isn't about catching the plague, then what is it really about? This ingenious book delves into the hidden meanings of the nursery rhymes and songs we all know so well and discovers all kinds of strange tales ranging from Viking raids to firewalking and from political rebellion to slaves being smuggled to freedom. 
 
Full of vivid illustrations and with each verse reproduced, here are a multitude of surprising stories you won't be able to resist passing on to everyone you know. Your childhood songs and rhymes will never sound the same again.

Pop Goes the Weasel

The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes

Gretchen McCulloch

THE ACCLAIMED NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. 
 
Have you ever puzzled over how to punctuate a text message? Wondered where memes came from? Fret no more: Because Internet is the perfect book for understanding how the internet is changing the English language, why that's a good thing, and what our online interactions reveal about who we are. 
 
'McCulloch is such a disarming writer - lucid, friendly, unequivocally excited about her subject - that I began to marvel at the flexibility of the online language she describes, with its numerous shades of subtlety.' New York Times

Because Internet

Understanding how language is changing

Yomi Sode

In poems exploring family, survival, generational trauma and the complexities of belonging, Manorism is an examination of the lives of Black British men and boys. At the heart of the book is the ongoing pressure of code-switching - changing one's behaviour and language to suit radically different cultural contexts and environments. The violence of artists such as Caravaggio in seventeenth-century Rome and modern-day commentary by the likes of David Starkey and Piers Morgan provide a lens for considering differences of impunity afforded to white and Black people. Snippets of Yoruba interweave with English, and a moving final sequence - adapted for the Almeida stage in June 2021 to glowing reviews from the Guardian, Time Out and others - charts the dramatic reconciliations surrounding a death in the family. The result is a thrillingly original book that charts the vulnerabilities and rich nuances of Black masculinity in Britain.

Manorism

Dante Alighieri

A totally unique poetic treatise, La Vita Nuova is an elaborately and symbolically patterned selection of Dante's early poems, interspersed with his own incisive prose commentary. 
 
The poems themselves tell the story of his undying love for Beatrice, from their first meeting at a May Day party, through Dante's sufferings and his attempts to conceal the true object of his devotion, to his overwhelming grief at her death, and ending with the transformative vision of her in heaven. These are some of the richest love poems in literature and the movement from self-pitying lament to praise for his beloved's beauty and virtue illustrate the elevating power of love. 
 
This lucid new translation, based on the latest authoritative Italian edition and featuring the Italian on facing pages, captures the ineffable quality of a work that has inspired the likes of Charles Baudelaire, T. S. Eliot, Jorge Luis Borges and Louise Glück.

Vita Nuova

A Dual-Language Edition with Parallel Text

Robert Anwood

The English language can be very confusing. But it&rsquo;s not rocket surgery. Damp Squids and Card Sharks is a fascinating suppository of false facts and common errors, a minefield of information. Have we wetted your appetite? Peaked your interest? Are you waiting with baited breath? Or could you care less? Pull your socks together! For all intensive purposes, this is the book for you. This cute, funny book features gorgeous illustrations alongside the 50 amusing malapropisms, mixed metaphors and mondegreens. In one foul swoop you&#39;ll learn why so many people get muddled by the same phrases!

Damp Squids and Card Sharks

A Compendium of Commonly Confused Phrases and Linguistic Muddles

Elizabeth Little

What can Johnny Cash&rsquo;s lyrics teach us about the little-known Tangut dialect? Is &lsquo;tabernacle&rsquo; really a swear word in Quebecois? Which language has absolutely no verbs? What is Earth&rsquo;s politest insult? And what is biting the wax tadpole actually a translation of?* 
 
Prepare for a hilarious rollercoaster ride through hundreds of well-known, obscure, difficult, dead and even made-up languages. Elizabeth Little has waded through innumerable verb tables in every available mood and tense, untangled up to eighteen cases of noun, and wrestled with all kinds of complicated adjective, participles and glottal stops to bring you the best and most bizarre quirks of the ways people communicate all around the globe. 
 
From the language that has no different word for &lsquo;blue&rsquo; or &lsquo;green&rsquo;, to why Icelanders need official permission to name their children, from what makes a Korean TV hit to what people might think you&rsquo;re saying if you order eggs in Spain, Biting the Wax Tadpole will ensure you&rsquo;re never lost for words again. 
 
*Coca-Cola, would you believe it?

Biting the Wax Tadpole

Misadventures of an Armchair Linguist

Geoff Tibballs

Would you Adam and Eve it? Over a hundred years after it was first heard on the streets of Ye Olde London Towne, Cockney rhyming slang is still going strong, and this book contains the most comprehensive and entertaining guide yet. 
 
Presented in an easy-to-read A to Z format, it explains the meaning of hundreds of terms, from old favourites such as apples and pears (stairs) and plates of meat (feet) to the more obscure band of hope (soap) and cuts and scratches (matches) through to modern classics such as Anthea Turner (earner) and Ashley Cole (own goal), as well as providing fascinating background info and curious Cockney facts throughout. Also included are a series of language tests so that readers can brush up on their newfound knowledge on their way to becoming a true Cockney Geezer. 
 
All in all, The Ultimate Cockney Geezer's Guide to Rhyming Slang is well worth your bread and honey to have a butcher's.

The Ultimate Cockney Geezer's Guide to Rhyming Slang

Carol Atherton

How can a Victorian poem help teenagers understand YouTube misogyny? Can Jane Eyre encourage us to speak out? What can Lady Macbeth teach us about empathy? Should our expectations for our future be any greater than Pip’s? And why is it so important to make space for these conversations in the first place? 
 
In a career spanning almost three decades, English teacher Carol Atherton has taught generations of students texts that will be familiar to many of us from our own schooldays. But while the staples of exam syllabuses and reading lists remain largely unchanged, their significance – and their relevance – evolves with each class, as it encounters them for the first time. 
 
Each chapter of Reading Lessons invites us to take a fresh look at these novels, plays and poems, revealing how they have shaped our beliefs, our values, and how we interact as a society. As she recalls her own development as a teacher, Atherton emphasizes the vital, undervalued role a teacher plays, illustrates how essential reading is for developing our empathy and makes a passionate case for the enduring power of literature.

Reading Lessons

An English Teacher’s Love Letter to the Books that Shape Us

The books we read at school, the conversations they spark and why they matter

Xiaolu Guo

The new memoir from prize-winning writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo - playful, provocative and original, it's her deeply personal take on striving for a life of her own 
 
'When it comes to spinning light and shadow on the complexities of living, loving and language, Xiaolu Guo is one of the most valuable writers in the world' DEBORAH LEVY 
 
The world can seem strange and lonely when you step away from your family and everything you have tried to call your own. Yet beauty may also appear. In the autumn of 2019 Xiaolu travelled to New York to take up her position as a visiting professor for a year, leaving her child and partner behind in London. The encounter with American culture and people threatens her sense of identity and throws her into a crisis - of meaning, desire, obligation and selfhood. 
 
This is a memoir about separation - by continents, by language, and from people. It's about being an outsider and the desperate longing to connect. Xiaolu uses her exploration of language (one of the meanings of the word 'radical' is the graphic component, or root, of Chinese characters), and her own life, to create this unique text. At once a memoir, a dictionary, and an ardent love letter, it is an expression of her fascination with Western culture and her nostalgia for Eastern landscapes, and an attempt to describe the space in between. An archive of an artist's search for creative freedom, it is above all else an intimate account of her efforts to carve out a life of her own. 
 
'Radical in angle of attack, smart and brave' IAIN SINCLAIR, author of The Gold Machine

Radical

A Life of My Own

Ebury Press

The days of wooing your love with embarrassing poetry or rambling love letters are over. Here begins the new dawn in the evolution the language of love: emoji. 
 
With a wealth of emojis on offer to convey your adoration, from kissy faces and hearts-for-eyes, to saucier combinations like the lock and key, there is no end to the ways you can declare your love. And this book will guide you through each stage of your relationship with phrases for every occasion. Step back Shakespeare: wherefore are thou, aubergine? 
 
Sections include: pick-up lines, what not to say on a first date, how to say ‘I love you’, living together, the proposal, breaking up, love songs and romantic films (sure you can translate ‘Ghost’, but how would you do ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’?). A perfect gift for Valentine’s Day, you’ll never just send a boring row of hearts again.

How to Speak Emoji Love

Charlie Croker

Have you ever arrived in a hotel room and been baffled by the information provided? 
Beware of your luggage. 
In your room you will find a minibar which is filled with alcoholics. 
Do not throw urine around. 
 
Have you ever been to a restaurant and wondered what on earth to order? 
Bored Meat Stew 
Lorry Driver Soup 
Kiss Lorraine 
 
Have you ever arrived in an airport and found that the supposedly helpful signs just make you feel more lost? 
You are required to declare all sorts of private things. 
Departure. Bus stop. Car rectal. 
Please buy your ticket consciously. 
 
Charlie Croker has, and in 2006 he gathered together what he thought was the definitive collection of English language howlers for his bestselling book Lost in Translation. But he reckoned without the great British public. Not only was the book a smash hit, it also opened the floodgates to a deluge of emails and letters stuffed full of further mistranslations and mutilated phrases. From a leaflet from the Museum of Rasputin in Russia (which is apparently situated in a house that belonged a pilot fish Zubov) to a song title on a pirated Pink Floyd CD (Come Fartably Numb), the scrambled sentences just kept flooding in. At the same time Charlie has continued his travels and picked up gems of his own. With such a wealth of material, a sequel wasn't just a necessity, it was a public service, and Still Lost in Translation is even more addictive, whimsical and side-splittingly hilarious than the first book.

Still Lost in Translation

More misadventures in English abroad

Will Brooker

Have you ever thought about what it takes to become a bestselling writer? 
 
If so, The Truth About Lisa Jewell is the book for you. It is the story of how a novel is written, from before the start to after the finish; it's an in-depth analysis of how that novel fits into a bestselling author like Lisa Jewell's career and her previous work, and what her style shares with authors from James Joyce to Martin Amis. 
 
But this is more than just a study of an author at the top of her game. Like Lisa Jewell's much-loved novels, it's also the story of a relationship - between the bestselling author and the professor of cultural studies who has made her his muse - evolving slowly as the world comes gradually out of Covid. It's the story of two very different writers getting to know each other gradually through words; two complete strangers becoming something more like friends. 
 
A must-have for fans of Lisa Jewell, for aspiring authors who are interested in the path to success - and a testament to the way books can bring us together.

The Truth About Lisa Jewell

Bobette Buster

Today’s world wants to know you and the real story behind why you do what you do. 
Whether you have a product to sell, a company mission to share or an audience to entertain, people are far more likely to engage and connect if you deliver a well-crafted story with an emotional core. 
 
Bobette Buster is a lecturer and story consultant to major studios including Pixar, Disney and Sony Animation. In Do Story she teaches the art of telling powerful and engaging stories. Through profiles of activists, leaders and visionaries, she shares a variety of styles and narrative techniques to demonstrate: 
 <ul><li>The 10 principles of storytelling</li><li>How to source, structure and shape your story</li><li>The power of the 'gleaming detail'</li><li>Why an emotional connection is key</li></ul> 
With practical tips and exercises, you will soon discover how to take your own storytelling from good... to great. So, what’s your story? 
 
'Bobette is a truly fantastic teacher, a mainstay in the USC Peter Stark Program where she has made such a tremendous impact on students. No one understands story better than her.' 
Larry Turman, Director, USC Peter Stark Program and Producer of The Graduate 
 
©2013 Bobette Buster (P)2017 Do Books Audio

Do Story

How to tell your story so the world listens

Karen Van Dyck

Since the crisis hit in 2008, we have heard much about Greece's economic travails. This year, the world watched as Syriza dramatically took a stand against austerity - and, after months of attrition, finally capitulated. But this is not the whole story. As Karen Van Dyck shows in this anthology of the very best contemporary Greek poetry - much of it made available here for the first time in outstanding English translation by such trusted translators as A.E. Stallings - the last decade has also seen a remarkable flowering of new creative talent. These are poems concerned with the personal and the political; with the small pleasures of the suburban garden and the viciousness of streetfights; with bodies, love, myth, migration and economic crisis. Together, they form a unique window onto the lived experience of Greek society now.

Austerity Measures

The New Greek Poetry

Diana Gabaldon

Bestselling author Diana Gabaldon divulges the writing secrets behind the sex scenes in her wildly popular Outlander novels. 
 
“Ask me to your bed,” he said. “I shall come to ye.” 
 
In this revealing compendium, acclaimed writer Diana Gabaldon shares her invaluable lessons for creating an immersive reading experience, from evoking a mood to using the power of emotions to communicate physical intimacy. You’ll learn the difference between gratuitous sex and genuine encounters that move the story forward, and how to handle less-than-savory acts that nevertheless serve a narrative purpose. 
 
Gabaldon also notes that sex can be conveyed instead of described. With such tips as “The Rule of Three” for involving the senses, handy lists of naughty euphemisms (with instructions for use), and Gabaldon’s own examples from the Outlander novels, “I Give You My Body . . .” is a master class in writing to draw readers in and keep them riveted to the page.

I Give You My Body

Matthew Syed

Matthew Syed traces the origins and evolution of the word 'woke&rsquo; 
 
Once a watchword for African Americans in the early 1900s, 'woke' is now used as an insult across the political spectrum, and it has become synonymous with our era of angry debate. As the word has spread, what people mean by it has become less clear than ever. Award-winning journalist and author Matthew Syed is on a mission to uncover the roots of this social phenomenon and, in this series, he follows the evolution of 'woke' through five key stories. 
 
Beginning with the first ever use of 'woke', which appeared on a 1938 recording by the musician Lead Belly, Syed uncovers what the singer meant when he instructed people to &lsquo;stay woke, keep their eyes open&rsquo;. Matthew then explores one of the earliest uses of 'woke' in print, by young Black author William Melvin Kelley in 1962. He goes on to look at #StayWoke and how the use of 'woke' online exploded in 2014, following the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. 
 
Next, Matthew considers how the adoption of 'woke' at the 2017 Women's March aided the term's movement away from Black communities and into the mainstream. In the final episode, he examines the actions of Governor Ron DeSantis, tipped by some to be the next President of the United States. The politician has labelled his state of Florida as 'Where Woke Goes to Die', and introduced a 'Stop W.O.K.E.' bill aimed at reducing the spread of identity politics. 
 
Has the word become too politically charged? What relationship &ndash; if any &ndash; does the word &lsquo;woke&rsquo; have to its original sense? Syed considers its multiple meanings in this fascinating series that sheds new light on a word that is often used &ndash; and often misunderstood. 
 
Cast and credits 
Presented by Matthew Syed 
Produced by Sam Peach 
 
Episode 1 
Featuring Peggy Parks Miller and Kip Lornell 
 
Episode 2 
Featuring Jesi Kelley 
Readings by Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong 
Excerpts from &lsquo;If You're Woke You Dig It&rsquo; (New York Times, 1962) and &lsquo;Dunfords Travels Everywheres&rsquo; by William Melvin Kelley 
 
Episode 3 
Featuring Johnetta Elzie and Nicole Holliday 
 
Episode 4 
Featuring Prisca Kim and Aja Romano 
 
Episode 5 
Featuring Nicole Holliday, James O'Malley and Prof Matthew Goodwin 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 20-24 February 2023 
 
Copyright &copy; 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

Woke: The Journey of a Word

A BBC Radio 4 Series

Isabella Hammad

FROM THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION-SHORTLISTED AND RSL ENCORE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF ENTER GHOST 
 
Award-winning author of The Parisian and Enter Ghost Isabella Hammad delivered the Edward W. Said Lecture at Columbia University nine days before 7 October 2023. The text of Hammad’s seminal speech and her afterword written in the early weeks of 2024 together make up a searing appraisal of the war on Palestine during what feels like a turning point in the narrative of human history. 
 
Moving and erudite, Hammad writes from within the moment, shedding light on the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Recognising the Stranger is a brilliant melding of literary and cultural analysis by one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and a foremost writer of fiction in the world today. 
 
PRAISE FOR RECOGNISING THE STRANGER 
 
'Recognising the Stranger combines intellectual brilliance with moral clarity and profound resoluteness of purpose.' SALLY ROONEY 
 
'A pitch-perfect example of how the novelist can get to the heart of the matter better than a million argumentative articles. Hammad shows us how the Palestinian struggle is the story of humanity itself, and asks us not to look away but to see ourselves.' MAX PORTER 
 
‘Hammad’s writing burns with fierce intelligence, humane insight and righteous anger. For those at risk of despair, doubtful of the role literature has to play in times of crisis, it is a reminder of the radical potential of reading and the possibility of change.’ OLIVIA SUDJIC 
 
'Extraordinary and amazingly erudite. Hammad shows how art and especially literature can be much, much more revealing than political writing.' RASHID KHALIDI

Recognising the Stranger

On Palestine and Narrative

Sarah L. Kaufman

Verbs are the underrated stars of the English language. They hold it all together. A complete sentence cannot exist without one, yet a single verb can create complete meaning. (See?) In this glittering exploration of language, grammar, and style, Sarah L. Kaufman illuminates how all of us, professional writers and enthusiasts alike, can master the art of the verb. 
 
When she was the dance critic at The Washington Post, Kaufman was challenged to translate the dynamic language of movement into words. Verbs showed her the way. Good verbs power great storytelling; they leap off the page, fire our senses, and transform our perceptions. 
 
Verb Your Enthusiasm is a clarion call for all of us to get back to basics: to mean what we say and say what we mean. Kaufman proves how strong verbs can make your own writing ­– be it an email, a text, a report, or an ad – more efficient and effective, and she investigates theories of language that will change how you read and write. But this isn’t a grammar guide, and it surely isn’t a set of rules. Great writing comes from a mix of inspiration, passion, and intelligence—from your unique discernment and imagination. You’ll refine your voice in the company of literary greats, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Virginia Woolf and George Orwell. In the end, your quest for the right verb might even reveal something true about yourself. All that in a word. So go. Write. Breathe life into your world.

Verb Your Enthusiasm

How to Master the Art of the Verb and Transform Your Writing

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The Fall of the West

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Fight or Flight (Book 21)

The Mortons

Little Black Classics Box Set

Extracts

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

8 spirited heroes that will inspire you to be brave 

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8 spirited heroes that will inspire you to be brave

6 lessons your child will learn from Terry Pratchett books

6 lessons your child will learn from Terry Pratchett's books

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Children's reading lists

Where to start with Terry Pratchett's books

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16 books for 9 to 12-year-olds that love adventures

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32 spooky books to read this Halloween

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'At his best, Terry was a teacher': Why we love Terry Pratchett

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