Summary
‘A collection that constantly defies expectation… superb, substantial and intricately varied.’ - Kate Kellaway, Observer
Shortlisted for the 2017 T. S. Eliot Prize PBS Autumn Recommendation
Mancunia is both a real and an unreal city. In part, it is rooted in Manchester, but it is an imagined city too, a fallen utopia viewed from formal tracks, as from the train in the background of De Chirico’s paintings. In these poems we encounter a Victorian diorama, a bar where a merchant …
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781911214298 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1911214292 |
| Author: | Michael Symmons Roberts |
| Publisher: | Vintage Publishing |
| Imprint: | Jonathan Cape |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 88 |
| Release Date: | 15 August 2017 |
| Weight: | 107g |
| Dimensions: | 8mm x 129mm x 198mm |
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Critics Review
Enchanting.
Superb, substantial and intricately varied… One of the wonderful things about Symmons Roberts is his way of pushing poems – and himself with them – in a direction you were not expecting. He constantly reconstitutes the world… Symmons Roberts reminds us of how easy it is to see human extremity without seeing it – a moving feat in what is a first-rate collection. – Kate Kellaway * Observer *
There is pleasing variety here… Articulate and well-achieved… Symmons Roberts’s voice reverberates the most. – Declan Ryan * Literary Review *
Enchanting. – Tristram Fane Saunders * Daily Telegraph *
It is a book for our times, hopeful yet grounded, and not above its subject. – Rory Waterman * The Times Literary Supplement *
A powerful and nuanced portrait of one of England’s most dynamic and fascinating cities…a must-read. * I Love MCR *
Michael Symmons Roberts
Michael Symmons Roberts
Michael Symmons Roberts was born in Preston, Lancashire. He has published eight collections of poetry, receiving accolades such as the Forward Prize, the Costa Poetry Award, and the Whitbread Poetry Prize. His Selected Poems was published in 2016.
As a librettist, his work has been performed internationally in concert halls and opera houses. He is also an award-winning broadcaster and dramatist.
Roberts is Professor of Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His book Quartet for the End of Time: On Music, Grief and Birdsong was published in 2025.
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