Michael Symmons Roberts’s fourth book of poetry, Corpus, was the winner of the 2004 Whitbread Poetry Award, and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize, and the Griffin International Prize. His sixth collection, Drysalter, was the winner of both the Forward Prize and the Costa Poetry Prize in 2013. He collaborated with Paul Farley on Edgelands (Cape/Vintage) and will do so again in The Deaths of the Poets (Cape, 2017). He has also worked many times with the composer James MacMillan. He has published two novels, and is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Michael Symmons Roberts

PublicationStatus

Brand

Format

AgeRange

Series

Imprint

CategoryLabel

Marguerite Penrose

Marguerite Penrose's is an extraordinary story of making a great life from complicated beginnings. Marguerite was born in a Dublin mother-and-baby home in 1974, the daughter of an Irish mother and a Zambian father. Severe scoliosis indicated a future of difficult medical procedures. She was a little girl who needed a break. And she got it at three when she was fostered - and later adopted - by a young couple, Mick and Noeline, and acquired a mam, dad, sister, Ciara, and loving extended family. 
 
Growing up, Marguerite's appearance was occasionally remarked on by strangers, but it wasn't until her teens that she understood that her skin colour was a provocation for some. The progressive city that she knew was revealed to have an unpleasant undercurrent. 
 
Marguerite's story is one of facing some big questions - Who am I? How do I live in world made for people with bodies different to mine? Why does anyone care about my skin colour? - with intelligence, humour, courage and common-sense. She writes about coming to terms with the circumstances of her birth and, like so many in her position, looking for answers. About navigating the world as an active woman with a disability. About what it means to be both Irish and Black. Mostly, she writes about embracing life in a spirit of openness and positivity. Yeah, But Where Are You Really From? is a captivating, wise and inspiring memoir by a truly remarkable woman.

Yeah, But Where Are You Really From?

A story of overcoming the odds

Miriam O'Callaghan

I started writing this book as an exclusively work memoir but the work and the personal kept overlapping. I don’t know if that’s because I’m a woman or a mother or both, or none of those reasons. I just know that for my story to be authentic and truthful, I couldn’t simply focus on the work side of my life. 
Miriam O'Callaghan is one of Ireland's best-known broadcasters, covering every election, referendum, major controversy and important public event for TV, and hosting an award-winning radio show. Combining career success, high-octane glamour and being a mother-of-eight makes her a truly unique figure in Irish public life. 
 
In her absorbing memoir, Miriam shares touching stories from her personal life – from the life-changing impact of losing her beloved sister and father in a matter of months, and the end of her first marriage that same year, to the joys and challenges of bringing eight children into the world and juggling a frenetically busy life (‘give up on perfection’ is her wise advice!). 
Miriam includes fascinating insights into a career that has given her a ringside seat to a changing Ireland. Like attending Bobby Sands’ wake even before she was a journalist, and life coming full circle when she championed John Hume to be declared the greatest figure in Irish history. She describes extraordinary debates, important and heart-breaking conversations with people in the eye of a media storm, and how she goes after and prepares for the big interviews – as well as what happens when things go wrong. Miriam also addresses the recent RTÉ controversies that cast a shadow over its high-profile presenters, not least herself. 
 
Miriam is an exceptionally honest and personal memoir from one of Ireland’s most esteemed broadcasters

Miriam

Life, Work, Everything

Brian Carroll

THE NO. 1 BESTSELLER 
 
‘Extraordinary and compelling’ Pat Kenny, Newstalk 
 
 
A story of betrayal and deceit that gripped the nation 
 
When Limerick widower Jason Corbett hired a wholesome young American, Molly Martens, to care for his eighteen-month-old daughter and three and-a-half-year-old son, he could not have known that she was a troubled woman whose obsession with his children would end in his death. 
 
Three years after meeting, Jason and Molly married and settled in North Carolina. Four years later, Jason was beaten to death in their marital bedroom. Molly and her father, Tom, a former FBI agent, admitted to killing Jason but claimed self-defence. 
 
A Deadly Marriage reveals new information about this shocking case including the strange text Molly sent to Jason’s brother less than two hours after his death, how Jason told a friend he was planning to return to Ireland for good just two weeks before he died and Tom Martens’ pattern of cleaning up Molly’s mess. This is the story of how a wealthy and well-connected American family framed the victim as the aggressor in a horrific killing, blackened his name and served minimal jail time. 
 
Journalist Brian Carroll reported on the Martens’ court hearings for the Irish Times and is a co-producer of the Netflix documentary A Deadly American Marriage. He has thoroughly investigated the case, including conducting fresh reporting in North Carolina, to write the definitive account of a shattering story.

A Deadly Marriage

How Molly Martens’ obsession with her stepchildren cost her husband, Jason, his life and legacy

Leo Varadkar

Leo Varadkar shares his fascinating experience as Irish prime minister at a time of much change and turbulence, in this remarkably honest memoir. 
 
Leo Varadkar was an unlikely Taoiseach – the youngest on taking office in 2017, the first Taoiseach to be gay, and the first person of colour to be Taoiseach. 
 
Equally unlikely was his decision to bow out of politics in his mid-forties. Now, liberated from the constraints of office, he tells his fascinating story with characteristic courage and candour, and provides a unique insight into the formation and evolution of a senior politician. 
 
In Speaking My Mind Leo Varadkar shares his pride in helping to bring about transformational changes, such as marriage equality. He describes experiences that only a prime minister could have – speaking frankly to Pope Francis on the legacy of church abuses, connecting with Barack Obama about both being the ‘tall, dark guy with the funny name’, navigating challenges such as the pandemic and the fallout from Brexit. And he writes honestly about the costs that go with the immense privilege of holding high office. 
 
Speaking My Mind is a revealing, intimate and important memoir from a singular public figure.

Showing results for: ‘Michael Symmons Roberts’

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter