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

Ping Fu

Ping Fu was born on the eve of China's Cultural Revolution; aged just eight she was taken from the arms of her loving family. She suffered appalling treatment and was denied an education. For ten years she lived in bleak dormitories, while protecting her younger sister from Mao's Red Guards. 
 
She survived, even succeeding in gaining admission to university. Yet, her education brought unwanted political attention and she was forced into exile. Arriving in the United States, speaking just three words in English, she set about making her fortune ... 
 
Bend, Not Break tells the incredible personal story of a journey from imprisonment to freedom, from the dogmatic anticapitalism of Mao's China to the high-stakes world of technology start-ups in the US. It is a tribute to one woman's courage in the face of cruelty, and a valuable lesson on the enduring power of resilience.

Bend, Not Break

From Mao's China to the White House

Sharmadean Reid

‘Many self-help books will instruct women how to navigate the system as is, but Reid rallies for the ways to break it all down and start anew.’ Cosmopolitan 
 
Sharmadean Reid’s 51 methods will empower you to become the person you want to be. Instead of shrinking to fit into a system that wasn’t built for you, she wants you to know yourself better, thrive, succeed and get what you want out of every aspect of life. 
 
As a founder, creative director and mentor, Sharmadean has moved beyond ‘girlbossing’ into a new era of being unapologetically herself in work and life. Her fierce new perspectives on work, self, friendship, parenthood and relationships interweave the lessons she’s learned with a diverse range of thinkers, ideas and stories that have informed her approach. 
 
Full of practical advice on identifying what is holding you back (sometimes the system, sometimes yourself), building community, using data for decision-making and holding a vision for your future, these are the 51 tools you need to achieve the change you want.

New Methods for Women

51 Lessons for the Life You Want

49 lessons for the life you want

Christian Busch

Life is full of the unexpected: chance encounters, changing plans, delayed journeys and other mishaps. But what if we could use unpredictability to our advantage? 
 
Dr Christian Busch has spent a decade exploring how, if acted upon, unexpected encounters can enhance our worldview, expand our social circles and create new professional opportunities. In this book, Christian reveals the secrets behind the hidden force that rules our lives: serendipity. With a new chapter detailing the author's experience of Covid and a chance meeting that subsequently changed his life forever, Dr Busch shows how his own experience reflects the full potential of what can happen if you are open to coincidence. 
 
Connect the Dots is a revolutionary, well-researched exploration of an essential life skill that we can develop. By learning to see opportunities in the unexpected, we can start to make our own luck and use it as a pathway to more joyful and successful lives.

Connect the Dots

The Art and Science of Creating Good Luck

Meik Wiking

Happiness is just around the corner with this practical guide from happiness researcher Meik Wiking - author of the international bestseller The Little Book of Hygge 
 
Lykke (Luu-kah) (n): Happiness 
 
Meik Wiking understands happiness better than anyone. In his role as Founder and CEO of the world's only Happiness Research Institute, he has travelled the globe interviewing the world's happiest people to discover the key components of happiness. 
 
This captivating read features case studies from Bhutan to Australia, South Korea to Canada, France to Denmark, taking the reader on a happiness treasure hunt. Written in the same warm tone as Meik's phenomenal bestseller The Little Book of Hygge, this easy-to-understand book will change the way you think about how you relate to your neighbours, the rituals around cooking and eating dinner, and when to book your next holiday - and is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. 
 
This book is the perfect guide on how to survive and navigate the modern world with a smile on your face. 
 
'It is a happy book about happiness, written with a twinkle and packaged with Danish style' (John Helliwell, Economist and Editor of the World Happiness Report)

The Little Book of Lykke

The Danish Search for the World's Happiest People

Lily Cole

Optimism demands action. Optimism is an active choice. Optimism is not naïve and it is not impossible. 
 
 We are living in an age of turmoil, destruction and uncertainty. Global warming has reached terrifying heights of severity, human expansion has caused the extinction of countless species, and Neoliberalism has led to a destructive divide in wealth and a polarisation of mainstream politics. But, there is a constructive way to meet this challenge, there is a reason to keep on fighting and there are plenty of reasons for optimism. 
 
 Lily Cole has met with some of the millions of people around the world who are working on solutions to our biggest challenges and committed to creating a more sustainable and peaceful future for humanity. Exploring issues from fast fashion to fast food and renewable energy to gender equality, and featuring interviews with Stella McCartney and Elon Musk, to activists Extinction Rebellion co-founder Dr Gail Bradbrook and Farhana Yamin, to offer a beacon of possibility in challenging times. 
 
This book is a rousing call to action that will leave you feeling hopeful that we can make a difference. We are the ancestors of our future: a generation who will either be celebrated for its activism or blamed for its apathy. It is for us to choose optimism, to make a change and to show what is possible.

Who Cares Wins

How to Protect the Planet You Love: A thousand ways to solve the climate crisis: from tech-utopia to indigenous wisdom

Reasons For Optimism in Our Changing World

Sháá Wasmund

Have you ever dreamt of doing something new - setting up a business, getting in shape, or writing a novel - but haven't gotten round to actually doing it? Does 'now' never feel like a good time to start? The time has come. 
 
In January 2015, entrepreneur and bestselling author Sháá Wasmund made a decision: to finally get what she wanted. Years after packing in her business (and her salary) to take the plunge, life is everything she hoped it would be. As she discovered, the key to getting what you want is within reach. 
 
Building on her many years of professional experience and inspired by her own personal challenges and sh*t-fixing moments, How to Fix Your Sh*t is your pocket life coach. In this simple and systematic guide, Wasmund will empower you to conquer fear, ditch the excuses and start living your best life today.

How to Fix Your Sh*t

A Straightforward Guide to a Better Life

David L. Bradford

Carole Robin

'A practical and timely book I highly recommend' Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO, Thrive Global 
 
'Connect offers a compelling and highly accessible roadmap for building relationships that lead to professional success and personal fulfilment' Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and co-author of Blitzscaling and The Alliance 
 
David Bradford and Carole Robin taught interpersonal skills to MBA candidates for a combined seventy-five years on their legendary Stanford Graduate School of Business course, "Interpersonal Dynamics". Now, in Connect, they share their time-tested strategies for developing the interpersonal skills that have become fundamental to success at work and in our everyday lives, such as building trust, giving feedback and navigating conflict. 
 
Connect shows why relationship-building is crucial to becoming a more effective manager and leader and living a fulfilled life, from highlighting the importance of curiosity and empathy to demonstrating how to break logjams and negotiate boundaries. Filled with research-backed insights, useful concepts and thought-provoking exercises, Connect is an important resource for anyone hoping to build and sustain relationships, providing tools to make relationships robust -- and even exceptional.

Connect

Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends and Colleagues

Meik Wiking understands happiness better than anyone. In his role as Founder and CEO of the world's only Happiness Research Institute, he has travelled the globe interviewing the world's happiest people to discover the key components of happiness. 
 
In The Key to Happiness, Meik explores the hidden treasures which can improve your happiness, and divides them into the six building blocks of happiness; togetherness, money, health, kindness, trust and freedom. For each happiness block he offers practical tips: for togetherness he encourages setting up a mini-library in your apartment building or starting a tool-sharing programme in your street; for kindness he suggests leaving a surprise gift on a stranger's doorstep, helping a tourist find their way or telling someone who means a lot to you that they do. 
 
Drawing on social science, case studies and Meik's original research, this practical guide shows us that you can find happiness in a simple way of life. While Meik has travelled across the globe to discover the secrets of the world's happiest people, this book shows us that you can be just as happy where you are. 
 
This book is the perfect guide on how to survive and navigate the modern world with a smile on your face.

The Key to Happiness

How to Find Purpose by Unlocking the Secrets of the World's Happiest People

Amy Smilovic

'Almost Reckless isn't just a book, it's a permission slip. It's about the courage it takes to step off the algorithm's path, the clarity that comes from defining your own principles, and the joy of building something that feels unmistakably yours.' Will Guidara, bestselling author of Unreasonable HospitalityAmy Smilovic's cult fashion brand, Tibi, was a thriving $70 million dollar business when she realized she was working towards someone else's idea of success. So she threw out the rulebook of how things should be done and went with her gut instead. 
 
Today Tibi is more successful than ever, and all on Smilovic's groundbreaking entrepreneurial terms.In Almost Reckless, she invites you to get comfortable with embracing smart risks in pursuit of your own vision. Sharing her story and drawing on her years of helping others identify their values and principles, Smilovic teaches you to hone your gut, and your trust in it.With humour and practicality she coaches you in how to determine what success means to you, including: 
<ul><li>why you don’t have to listen to the data guys</li><li>why you should be a Creative Pragmatist</li><li>why sticking to your principles isn’t incompatible with success</li><li>why work/life balance is bullshit</li></ul>Almost Reckless is the essential blueprint for entrepreneurs, leaders, creatives and for anyone who wants a working life that feels aligned with who they truly are.

Almost Reckless

A Creative and Pragmatic Approach to Taking Risks

Charlotte Mensah

An essential, practical guide to caring for Afro, textured and curly hair. 
 
In 2018, award-winning British-Ghanaian hairstylist and salon owner Charlotte Mensah was the first black woman to be inducted into the British Hairdressing Hall of Fame. Having spent three decades styling thousands of people, she has now written the first guide to loving and caring for your curls. 
 
Featuring case studies of clients who came to her looking for a 'hair fix', and informed by her own story from apprentice to business-owner, this book will dispel common hair myths and give you the knowledge and tools to attain good hair health. 
 
Good Hair is the ultimate guide on how to: 
 
- identify and understand your curl texture(s) 
- promote hair growth and find good products 
- choose the right protective styles 
- overcome hair loss, itchiness or dryness 
- do styles such as cornrows, locs and bantu knots 
- devise your own tailored hair care routine 
 
Packed with expert advice, nourishing recipes and top maintenance tips, this is a celebration of the unique beauty and history of black hair.

Good Hair

The Essential Guide to Afro, Textured and Curly Hair

Edward de Bono

THE classic work about improving creativity from world-renowned writer and philosopher Edward de Bono 
 
In schools we are taught to meet problems head-on: what Edward de Bono calls 'vertical thinking'. This works well in simple situations - but we are at a loss when this approach fails. Lateral thinking is all about freeing up your imagination. 
 
Through a series of special techniques, in groups or working alone, Edward de Bono shows us how to look at problems from a variety of angles and in so doing offer up solutions that are as ingenious as they are effective. After reading this book you will become a much more productive and formidable thinker.

Lateral Thinking

A Textbook of Creativity

Laura Huang

What sets the most successful people apart? While hard work is certainly a factor, Professor Laura Huang's extensive research – spanning entrepreneurs, investors, Olympic athletes and Pulitzer Prize winners – reveals that their greatest asset is something less tangible: intuition. That instinctive ‘gut feeling’ often determines who seizes opportunities and who misses them. 
 
In You Already Know, Laura breaks down the science behind intuition, explaining how it is formed from external data, accumulated wisdom and the subconscious insights we don’t even realise we have. What follows is a gut feeling, which shifts our perspective and drives us to act. 
 
Grounded in Huang’s pioneering research and enriched with insights from hundreds of illuminating interviews, this book offers a practical model for becoming better at recognising, understanding and enhancing your intuition to accomplish your most ambitious goals. What’s stopping you from unlocking your full potential? You already know.

You Already Know

The Science of Mastering Your Intuition

From confusing manuals to uninterpretable jargon and bureaucratic red-tape, modern life can be highly complicated and frustrating. For many of us it is almost impossible to make sense of. 
 
In Simplicity, lateral-thinking guru Edward de Bono shows us how to bring clarity into our increasingly complicated lives. Through his ten rules of simplicity, he encourages us to be creative and break down the complex into manageable and recognisable parts. By making the complicated simple, you will free up time, reduce stress and make better decisions.

Simplicity

Cassie Holmes

Money is often thought of as the secret to a good life and the ultimate metric of success, yet research suggests a whole other story: time is the true yardstick of our lives. Organising our time can lead to huge benefits and a happier life, even amidst the many pressures of the modern world. 
 
Drawing on her hugely popular MBA course at UCLA, as well as psychology, behavioural science and management thinking, Professor of Decision Making Cassie Holmes is here to help you make the most of your hours, weeks, months and years. Learn the difference between meaningful and wasteful uses of time; piece your hours together to make happier weeks; make even dull tasks like chores or commuting pass more easily. Whether you're looking to engage more with your family, avoid burnout, increase your productivity or simply feel less time-starved, this is your personal, practical guide for how best to invest your time.

Happier Hour

How to Spend Your Time for a Better, More Meaningful Life

Jennifer Petriglieri

Every couple wants a happy relationship and a meaningful career but how do we balance both at the same time? 
 
In Couples that Work, Professor Jennifer Petriglieri shifts away from the language of sacrifice and trade-offs and focuses on how couples can successfully tackle the challenges they will face throughout their lives--together. The book explores key questions like: 
 
Can you and your partner have equally important careers or must you prioritise one over the other? 
How can you juggle children or family commitments without sacrificing your work? 
Does every decision require compromise or can you find solutions that benefit you both? 
 
Identifying common triggers and traps working couples face, and offering resolution and reflection through tools and engaging exercises, this book will help every couple design their own unique way to combine love and work at every stage of their journey. 
 
Finding fulfilment in both love and work may just be easier than you think.

Couples That Work

How To Thrive in Love and at Work

Schuyler Bailar

Gender is a human experience, not just a trans experience. Every single one of us has a relationship to gender, so how can we change the way we talk about it, challenge misconceptions, and become better allies? 
 
Schuyler Bailar is the first transgender athlete to compete on the Harvard University Swim team. His difficult choice - to transition while potentially giving up the prospect of being a national champion - was historic. HE/SHE/THEY will provide readers with essential trans and gender literacy through empowering and informative stories from his own experiences, and those of other trans and non-binary individuals around the world. This urgent, hopeful guide will cover everything from understanding what gender is and how to talk about it, to gender in the world and how to be a better ally. 
 
HE/SHE/THEY will provide readers - no matter age or gender - with the language, education, and tools needed to help make the world a better, kinder, and safer place for all trans and gender diverse people. 2020 and 2021 saw record-breaking instances of anti-trans legislation worldwide - and the highest rates of anti-trans violence on record. HE/SHE/THEY will inspire much-needed positive change and encourage and enable personal reflection and exploration so that every human can be the most compassionate, most authentic version of themselves - and importantly, become better trans allies in the process.

Showing results for: ‘Michael Symmons Roberts’

Filters

Category

Publication Date

Format

Imprint

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter