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Books by Ken Smith

Ken Smith (1938-2003) was a major voice in world poetry, a writer whose work shifted territory with time, from land to city, from Yorkshire, America and London to war-ravaged Eastern Europe. He was called 'the godfather of the new poetry' because his politically edgy, cuttingly colloquial, muscular poetry influenced a whole generation of younger British poets, from Simon Armitage to Carol Ann Duffy. Ken Smith was born in Rudston, East Yorkshire, the son of an itinerant farm labourer. He worked in Britain and America as a teacher, freelance writer, barman, magazine editor, potato picker, BBC reader and creative writing fellow, and was writer-in-residence at Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1985-87. He received America's highly prestigious Lannan Literary Award for Poetry in 1997, and a Cholmondeley Award in 1998. Ken Smith was the first poet to be published by Bloodaxe, with his pamphlet Tristan Crazy in 1978. Smith's first book, The Pity, was published by Jonathan Cape in 1967, and his second, Work, distances/poems, by Swallow Press, Chicago, in 1972. His early books span a transition from his preoccupation with land and myth (when he lived in Yorkshire, Devon and America) to his later engagement with urban Britain and the politics of radical disaffection (when he lived in East London). The Poet Reclining: Selected Poems 1962-1980 (Bloodaxe, 1982; reissued 1989) covers the first half of his writing career. In 1986 Ken Smith's collection Terra was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award. In 1987 Bloodaxe published his collected prose, A Book of Chinese Whispers. Four of his collections, Terra (1986), Wormwood (1987), The heart, the border (1990) and Tender to the Queen of Spain (1993), were Poetry Book Society Recommendations. His last separate collection, Wild Root (1998), a Poetry Book Society Choice, was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. All these collections are included in his second Bloodaxe compilation, Shed: Poems 1980-2001 (2002), the sequel to The Poet Reclining. In 1989 Harrap published Inside Time, Ken Smith's book about imprisonment, about Wormwood Scrubs and the men he met there. This was published in paperback by Mandarin in 1990. Ken Smith was working in Berlin when the Wall came down, writing a book about East and West Berlin: this turned into Berlin: Coming in from the Cold (Hamish Hamilton, 1990; Penguin paperback, 1991. He edited Klaonica: poems for Bosnia (Bloodaxe Books, 1993) with Judi Benson, and with Matthew Sweeney co-edited Beyond Bedlam (Anvil Press Poetry, 1997), a book of poems by mentally ill people. He died on 27 June 2003 from a hospital infection caught while being treated for Legionnaires' Disease, which he had contracted months earlier in Cuba. His last poems were published in You Again: last poems & other words (Bloodaxe Books, 2004) along with other uncollected work, tributes from other poets, photographs, a biographical portrait and interviews covering the whole range of his life and work. His Collected Poems was published by Bloodaxe in October 2018, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the publication of Bloodaxe's first title, Ken Smith's Tristan Crazy (1978), and with what would have been his 80th birthday.
Terra By Ken Smith
Terraby Ken Smith
Good
$11.99
inc. GST
Swans of the Tyne By Ken Smith
Swans of the Tyneby Ken Smith
Very Good
$21.49
inc. GST
Mental Hygiene By Ken Smith
Mental Hygieneby Ken Smith
Good
$32.99
inc. GST
Klaonica By Ken Smith
Klaonicaby Ken Smith
Very Good
$13.69
inc. GST
The Breeding Birds of Hertfordshire By Ken Smith
The Breeding Birds of Hertfordshireby Ken Smith
Very Good
$22.49
inc. GST
Wild Root By Ken Smith
Wild Rootby Ken Smith
Like New
$14.49
inc. GST
Free is Cheaper By Ken Smith
Free is Cheaperby Ken Smith
Very Good
$26.99
inc. GST
Mr. Merch and Other Stories By Ken Smith
Mr. Merch and Other Storiesby Ken Smith
Very Good
$20.49
inc. GST
A Book of Chinese Whispers By Ken Smith
A Book of Chinese Whispersby Ken Smith
Good
$13.69
inc. GST
Ken Smith By Ken Smith
Ken Smithby Ken Smith
Very Good
$63.99
inc. GST
Virgin Sailors By Ken Smith
Virgin Sailorsby Ken Smith
Very Good
$19.49
inc. GST
Going Down By Ken Smith
Going Downby Ken Smith
Very Good
$13.69
inc. GST
Luck! By Ken Smith
Luck!by Ken Smith
New
$51.19
inc. GST
Collage By Ken Smith
Collageby Ken Smith
New
$40.59
inc. GST
A History of Disaster By Ken Smith
A History of Disasterby Ken Smith
New
$38.79
inc. GST
Emperor of Industry By Ken Smith
Emperor of Industryby Ken Smith
Very Good
$11.99
inc. GST
Tender to the Queen of Spain By Ken Smith
Tender to the Queen of Spainby Ken Smith
Very Good
$14.49
inc. GST
Popular British Freshwater Fish By Ken Smith
Popular British Freshwater Fishby Ken Smith
Very Good
$11.99
inc. GST
Active Mathematics By Ken Smith
Active Mathematicsby Ken Smith
Very Good
$237.99
inc. GST
Berlin By Ken Smith
Berlinby Ken Smith
Well Read
$18.99
inc. GST
Communication in Leadership Redux By Ken Smith
Communication in Leadership Reduxby Ken Smith
New
$94.09
inc. GST