In Feminine Gospels, Carol Ann Duffy draws on the historical, the archetypal, the biblical and the fantastical to create various visions - and revisions - of female identity. Simultaneously stripping women bare and revealing them in all their guises and disguises, these poems tell tall stories as though they were true confessions, and spin modern myths from real women seen in every aspect - as bodies and corpses, writers and workers, shoppers and slimmers, fairytale royals or girls-next-door. 'Part of Duffy's talent - besides her ear for ordinary eloquence, her gorgeous, powerful, throwaway lines, her subtlety - is her ventriloquism . . . From verbal nuances to mind-expanding imaginative leaps, her words seem freshly plucked from the minds of non-poets - that is, she makes it look easy' Charlotte Mendelson, Observer

This unique collection of poems from the Poet Laureate, filled with her characteristic wit, is a feminist classic and a modern take on age-old mythology. Who? Him. The Husband. Hero. Hunk. The Boy Next Door. The Paramour. The Je t'adore. Behind every famous man is a great woman - and from the quick-tongued Mrs Darwin to the lascivious Frau Freud, from the adoring Queen Kong to the long-suffering wife of the Devil himself, each one steps from her counterpart's shadow to tell her side of the story in this irresistible collection. Original, subversive, full of imagination and quicksilver wit, The World's Wife is Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy at her beguiling best.

Whether writing of longing or seduction, of passion, adultery, or simple, everyday acts of love, Carol Ann Duffy perfectly captures the truth of each experience. Love Poems contains some of her most popular poems and, always imaginative, heartfelt and direct, displays all the eloquence and skill that have made her one of the foremost poets of her time.

'Carol Ann Duffy is the most humane and accessible poet of our time' - Guardian In this stunning anthology of ninety nine modern and classic poems, Carol Ann Duffy delves into the powerful and unique bond between parent and child. Empty Nest contemplates growing old, the love of a parent, the everyday of family life, as well as poems that explore darker terrains - grief, loss and estrangement. Some of our favourite poets are collected here, such as Elizabeth Bishop, Jackie Kay, Simon Armitage, Shakespeare, Imtiaz Dharker, Seamus Heaney and Don Paterson. These poems are by turns wry, moving, profound, funny, melancholic and wise; they will console and comfort those suddenly facing a house that may be much cleaner, but is also much quieter, than it once was. There is something here for every reader to treasure. 'Wonderful . . . a poet alert to every sound and shape of language' - Telegraph

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and her friends across the country offer poems in praise of the magic of reading.

In Off the Shelf: A Celebration of Bookshops in Verse, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has commissioned a selection of the UK's most loved and lauded poets to each write a poem in celebration of books and bookshops - the worlds they hold, the freedoms they promise, and the memories they evoke. From a basement of forgotten books to the shelves of a cramped Welsh arcade, from the poetry corner of the local bookstore to the last bookshop standing in a post-apocalyptic world, these are poems that pay tribute to all the places that house the stories we treasure.

With poems from Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish Makar Jackie Kay, National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, as well as Clive James, Michael Longley, Don Paterson, Patience Agbabi and many more, this beautiful anthology is a heart-warming reminder of how books nourish us, save us, and inspire us.

One of those rare books that is immediately enjoyable yet will repay many re-readings' Poetry Review Carol Ann Duffy's highly praised second collection, for which she was given the Somerset Maughan Award, showcases the Poet Laureate's skill even at the very start of her career. Within are poems that reveal the full range of her interests: from the dramatic monologues, to meditations on death and art, to poems of protest and poems of love. Throughout it all, though, is a resounding determination to give voices to those who are usually voiceless, and always apparent is her inimitable wit, wisdom and imagination. At once tender and sharp, moving and humourous, Selling Manhattan has dazzled both readers and critics ever since it was first published in 1987.

Carol Ann Duffy, appointed Poet Laureate in 2009, has chosen her favourite poems for children for this stunning collection of classic and modern verse, exquisitely illustrated by multi-award-winning illustrator Emily Gravett. Featuring such classic poems as 'The Owl and the Pussycat' by Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll's 'Jabberwocky' alongside Edwin Morgan's 'The Loch Ness Monster's Song' and 'Balloons' by Sylvia Plath, 101 Poems for Children Chosen by Carol Ann Duffy: A Laureate's Choice is a delight for children of all ages and a pleasure to read aloud.

In Off the Shelf: A Celebration of Bookshops in Verse, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy has commissioned a selection of the UK's most loved and lauded poets to each write a poem in celebration of books and bookshops - the worlds they hold, the freedoms they promise, and the memories they evoke. From a basement of forgotten books to the shelves of a cramped Welsh arcade, from the poetry corner of the local bookstore to the last bookshop standing in a post-apocalyptic world, these are poems that pay tribute to all the places that house the stories we treasure. With poems from Carol Ann Duffy, Scottish Makar Jackie Kay, National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke, as well as Clive James, Michael Longley, Don Paterson, Patience Agbabi and many more, this beautiful anthology is a heart-warming reminder of how books nourish us, save us, and inspire us.

One of the English language's best-loved living poets arrays before us here, in chronological order, her favourites among her poems on the theme of love, drawing on work written over four decades, and she adds to her selection one new poem. It makes for a sequence that is sensual, stimulating, irresistible.

One of the English language's best-loved living poets, in Red: Politics - one of four themed collections - Carol Ann Duffy presents us with her favourites among her political poetry. Drawing on work written over four decades and arranged chronologically, Duffy also adds to the selection her poem written for Danny Boyle's Pages of the Sea memorial for The Great War. It makes for a sequence that is searching, memorializing, healing.

This beautifully illustrated collection brings together, for the first time, Carol Ann Duffy's much-celebrated festive poems. For a decade, while she was Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy gifted her thousands of readers an illustrated poem every Christmas, transporting them in one year to a seventeenth-century festival on the frozen Thames, in another to Western Front to witness the famous 1914 truce, then to a sweet winter's night in the South of France with Pablo Picasso and his small dog. Christmas Poems showcases Duffy's bold and innovative voice, alongside gorgeous artwork from Rob Ryan, David De Las Heras and Lara Hawthorne, amongst others. These ten much-loved poems are gathered together for the first time in this compendium to make a perfect gift for old friends celebrating a decade's tradition or those experiencing the magic of Duffy's festive verse for the first time.

In her prize-winning fourth collection, Mean Time, Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy dramatizes scenes from childhood, adolescence and adulthood, finding moments of grace or consolation in memory, love and language amid the complexities of life. These are powerful poems of loss, betrayal and desire.

It is a cold day in Ireland, the 26th of December; frost lies thick on the blackthorn. A man walks the just-waking village, banging on every door, summoning the boys. Today is St. Stephen's Day, when legend has it that the Saint was betrayed by a wren's call, and the boys are off to the forest where they hope to find the traitorous bird and capture it by nightfall. But what will they do if their prey escapes them? Inspired by the many myths of the wren and the Irish tradition of hunting it, Carol Ann Duffy's beautiful new Christmas poem takes us on a chase through a snowy, rural landscape and ends with a merry celebration. With gorgeous full-colour illustrations by Dermot Flynn throughout, The Wren-Boys will make a perfect stocking-filler this festive season.

Down at the Front, on a cold winter's night in 1914, amidst the worst war the world had ever seen, an inexplicable silence spread from man to man. Belief was in the air. Then the soldiers ceased fire and the magic of Christmas took hold . . . Carol Ann Duffy's brilliant poem celebrates the miraculous truce between the trenches, when enemy shook hands with enemy, shared songs, swapped gifts, even played football, and peace found a place in No Man's Land. With gorgeous colour illustrations by David Roberts, this special, full size edition of The Christmas Truce is a Christmas gift to treasure.

'A sweet winter light blushed

as Pablo Picasso walked his dog

under the cypress trees

and the bell of the old chapel guessed at the hour.

It was Christmas Eve.'

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy's new Christmas poem, Pablo Picasso's Noel follows the famous painter as he moves through a small town in the south of France on Christmas Eve, drawing the residents and the festive scenes he encounters. Accompanied by his small dog, he brings delight as he sketches wherever he goes. A wonderful, moving new poem capturing both the magic of Christmas and artistic inspiration.

Beautifully illustrated and produced in a gorgeous small format, this is an irresistible festive gift and Christmas stocking must-have for all book lovers.

It is Christmas Eve, 1799, and Dorothy Wordsworth is awake in the dead of night. She stands outside in the winter cold, waiting patiently. When the new day breaks it will bring family and friends to Dorothy's door. For tomorrow is a double joy: tomorrow is her Christmas Birthday. Carol Ann Duffy's wonderful poem Dorothy Wordsworth's Christmas Birthday takes us to the frozen landscape of the Lake District, where a merry celebration is about to begin in the Wordsworths' cottage. Gorgeously illustrated by Tom Duxbury, this festive poem evokes the snowy Lake District as Dorothy celebrates her birthday with her brother William Wordsworth and fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

In a gorgeous pocket-sized hardback, Another Night Before Christmas is Carol Ann Duffy's magical contemporary reworking of the famous poem by Clement C. Moore. Beautifully presented, this wonderful festive poem, illustrated with Rob Ryan's paper cut artwork, is the perfect Christmas gift. On the night before Christmas, A child in a house, As the whole family slept, Behaved just like a mouse . . . It's the night before Christmas and a young girl creeps down the stairs, determined to find out for certain whether Santa is real . . . But try as she might, she can't keep awake and is soon fast asleep. She doesn't stir, even when Santa and his reindeer land on her roof-top - but then, when he bursts out of her fireplace, she wakes to a room filled with magic. As she watches him fly off into the night, she knows that she will never forget this sight because, at Christmas, the best gift of all is belief.

Her final collection as Poet Laureate, a frank, disarming and deeply moving exploration of loss and remembrance in their many forms. Presented in a beautiful, foiled package, this will be the poetry book of the year.

Mrs Scrooge is a delightful Christmas poem from Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy. Published as a small hardback and filled with bright illustrations by Posy Simmonds, this modern take on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens makes a perfect Christmas gift. With her husband, Ebenezer, now 'doornail dead', the coldest Christmas Eve on record finds Mrs Scrooge outside the supermarket, protesting against consumerism and waste. 'Spoilsport!' shout the passersby as they load up their shopping carts with Christmas goodies. Just as Ebenezer did, Mrs Scrooge keeps to her frugal ways . . . but with the current state of the world, perhaps Mrs Scrooge has the right idea. That night, alone in her bed with Catchit the cat beside her, Mrs Scrooge is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. As each in succession takes her by the hand and sweeps through the scenes of her life, Mrs Scrooge learns not only what the 'Christmas Spirit' really means, but the nature of the real gifts we give and receive.

The Other Country was Carol Ann Duffy's third collection, and as with her later books, takes its readers on journeys that seem initially similar - but soon prove anything but. This book leads our imagination to places our minds could not have suspected were there, or would not have dared to go alone. Some of its voices are disarmingly direct, while others blur the lines between fantasy and reality, confession and self-delusion, forcing us to re-examine everything we thought we knew about some of our most basic human drives and emotions. Deeply intelligent, unflinchingly honest, with a deftness of touch and tone, and openness all the more moving for its lack of sentimentality, The Other Country is as remarkable a collection today as it was on its first publication.

One of the English language's best-loved living poets arrays before us here, in chronological order, her favourites among her poems on death, drawing on work written over four decades, and adds to her selection one wholly new poem. It makes for a sequence that is warm, vibrant, alive.

In this enchantingly illustrated Christmas poem, Carol Ann Duffy invites readers to open the windows on Advent Street. In each one is a gift. You may find yourself back-straight watching a ballerina, poised to begin, or catch your lips moving in time with a festive song that drifts out into the night. Whatever the surprise, when the curtains draw back and the lights sharpen, Duffy's beguiling words, paired with captivating illustrations from Yelena Bryksenkova, call you inside to feel the warmth.

Carol Ann Duffy's outstanding first collection, Standing Female Nude, introduced readers to all they would come to love about her poetry. From lovers to wives to war photographers, the poems it contains range from the delicately poignant to the fiercely political, exploring memory, gender, childhood and place. Within it are also some of her best-known poems, including 'Education for Leisure', as well as, of course, the poem from which the collection takes its title. First published in 1985 to widespread critical acclaim, Standing Female Nude is a work of startling originality and the starting point of the Poet Laureate's dazzling poetic career.