When night falls my bed is an air balloon. I sail through the slipsiverse, close by the moon. I float above treetops where the nub-nubs are sleeping and flowering hills where the whifflepigs go creeping; ponds strung with starlight that glitter like glass, a floog with its velvet nose bent to the grass. Such treasures I count on. My bed in the trees swings me up high, like a circus trapeze. Now the cool, night-rustling air slips through my finger-gaps, ripples my hair; now we glide over water, the moon's silver light blown by a cloudpuff into the bight, adrift on the sea where the dream-shapes float; when night falls my bed is a sailing boat. When night falls my bed is a sailing boat adrift on the sea where the dream-shapes float, blown by a cloudpuff into the bight. Now we slide over water; the moon's silver light laps at my finger-gaps, ripples my hair; now the cool, night-rustling air swings me up high, like a circus trapeze. Such treasures I count on my bed in the trees - a floog with its velvet nose bent to the grass, ponds strung with starlight that glitter like glass and flowering hills where the whifflepigs go creeping. I float above treetops where the nub-nubs are sleeping; I sail through the slipsiverse, close by the moon. When night falls my bed is an air balloon. A beautifully presented picture book with two front covers, the text can be read from front to back and vice versa. The mirror form poem meets in the middle in a stunning centrepiece image as the two children in the story (twins, one in an air balloon, the other a sailing boat) meet in the clouds!

The first comprehensive biography of this undervalued writer, who was considered 'far and away the best living woman poet' in her day. Andrew Motion's Spectator Book of the Year. 'One of the many achievements of This Rare Spirit is its rejection of that tired view of the poet as mouse that barely roared in favour of a true sense of a spikily modern woman, bound by various obligations but resilient, headstrong, and poetically inventive . . . Copus's diligent, scholarly, sensitive work should help Mew's pipe play on for years to come.' Declan Ryan, Los Angeles Review of Books '[A] supreme biography . . . It is hard to do justice to the breadth of research Copus has done here, or the compassionate, detailed conjuring of Mew and her milieu . . . An essential book, a classic work of literary biography.' Sean Hewitt, Irish Times '[K]eenly intelligent, fascinating and nuanced biography . . . Save Charlotte Mew! And read this book.' Joanna Kavenna, Literary Review 'An exquisitely told account of the life of a half-forgotten London poet whose work was admired by Hardy, Sassoon and Virginia Woolf. Julia Copus does her justice at last.' Claire Tomalin 'This Rare Spirit is a classic - the biography of Mew we have all been waiting for.' Fiona Benson The British poet Charlotte Mew (1869-1928) was regarded as one of the best poets of her age by fellow writers, including Virginia Woolf, Siegfried Sasson, Walter de la Mare and Marianne Moore. She has since been neglected, but her star is beginning to rise again, all the more since her 150th anniversary in 2019. This is the first comprehensive biography, from cradle to grave, and is written by fellow poet Julia Copus, who recently unveiled a blue plaque on Mew's childhood house in Doughty Street and was the editor of the Selected Poetry and Prose (2019). Mew was a curious mix of New Woman and stalwart Victorian. Her poems speak to us strongly today, in these strangely mixed times of exposure and seclusion: they reveal the private agony of an isolated being who was forced to keep secret the tragedies of her personal life while being at the same time propelled by her work into the public arena. Her poetry transfigures that very private suffering into art that has a universal resonance.

When night falls my bed is an air balloon. I sail through the slipsiverse, close by the moon. I float above treetops where fluttertufts are sleeping And flowering hills where the whifflepigs go creeping; Ponds strung with starlight that glitter like glass, A floog with her velvet nose bent to the grass. Such treasures I spy on! My bed in the trees Swings me up high, like a circus trapeze. Now the cool, night-rustling air Slips through my finger-gaps, ripples my hair; Now we glide over water, the moon's silver light Blown by a cloudpuff into the bight, Adrift on the sea where the dream-shapes float; When night falls my bed is a sailing boat. A beautifully presented picture book with two front covers, the text can be read from front to back and vice versa. The mirror form poem meets in the middle in a stunning centrepiece image as the two children in the story (twins, one in an air balloon, the other a sailing boat) meet in the clouds!

WINNER OF THE DEREK WALCOTT PRIZE FOR POETRY Julia Copus's new collection, Girlhood, is a book of transgressed boundaries and seductive veneers. Restlessly inquisitive, it exposes the shifting power balance between things on the verge of becoming and the forces that threaten to destroy them. Reading these poems, we have the sense of encountering a series of filmic installations arranged by episode in a gallery. Lost, censored or disparaged voices speak out from secluded spaces and moments of hidden history: from within a professor's office and a deserted department store; from kitchens, bedrooms, hallways and upstairs windows; through changing weathers, fidgety shadows and the witching hour. Girlhood concludes with a sequence set in a psychiatric hospital that reimagines Jacques Lacan's treatment of his most famous case study, Marguerite Pantaine. This dramatic meeting of minds has us questioning who is the more delusional - doctor or patient: like other victims in this exhilarating new collection, Marguerite may initially appear vanquished, but a closer look reveals how little of herself she has really surrendered.

It was night in the village - a still, dark night - and Harry the Hog was sleeping tight. In her house at the foot of Piggyback Hill, also asleep, was Candy Stripe Lil. The second Harry and Lil story from acclaimed Faber poet Julia Copus, who has recently turned her hand to picture books for the first time! The tale of a hog - and his friend Candy Stripe Lil - kept awake by mysterious noises in the night is sure to delight adults and children alike.

The British poet Charlotte Mew - whose 150th anniversary falls in 2019 - was regarded as one of the best poets of her age by fellow writers. She has since been neglected, but her star is beginning to rise again. This Selected Poetry and Prose is edited by Faber poet Julia Copus, who recently unveiled a blue plaque on Mew's childhood house in Doughty Street and is writing her biography. Mew was a curious mix of New Woman and stalwart Victorian. Her poems speak to us strongly today, in these strangely mixed times of exposure and seclusion: they reveal the private agony of an isolated being who was forced to keep secret the tragedies of her personal life while being at the same time propelled by her work into the public arena. Her poetry transfigures that very private suffering into art that has a universal resonance.

Julia Copus's poems bring humanity and light to some of our most intimate and solitary moments, repeatedly breathing life into loss. In two previous collections, she has been feted as among the most compelling poets to have emerged in recent years; now, in The World's Two Smallest Humans, she is writing at her most captivating yet. These finely tuned poems are the fruit of her upbringing in a musical family, an affinity with the Classics, a fascination with the arc of time, and an unflinching scrutiny of love and personal relationships. Born out of a powerful sense of place, the poems navigate through a beguiling sequence of interior and exterior landscapes, whether revisiting Ovid, negotiating the perils of one composer's attempt to step into the shoes of another or describing, from shifting perspectives, a young girl's escape from suburban ennui. The book concludes with a moving arrangement of pieces that explore the author's experience of IVF: poems written with wry humour and with grace, which celebrate the mysteries of conception alongside the sometimes surreal business of medical intervention. The World's Two Smallest Humans is an unforgettable read.

These carefully selected poems will offer solace; provide an escape from the constant chatter of everyday thought; help make space for the unexpected; enable us to reinvent ourselves within the chaotic landscape of our lives. Some will be old favourites; others less well-known; all the poems will have the power to surprise or move.

A deeper, more lasting comfort comes from art that makes us sit up and listen, that reawakens the senses and offers new ways of looking - this is poetry that, in the best sense, unsettles us, in order to reconnect us with the world around us and bring us to a place of greater clarity.

The anthology will be divided into the following sections: The deep heart's core (poems about places of sanctuary); As a boy I stood before it for hours (poems that remind us to place our focus 'out there'; that show us how to be mindful); A world in a grain of sand (poems that play with the notion of scale, so that the tiny becomes large and the large tiny - putting things in perspective); Stilll life (poems about focusing on a specific moment); and Another Self (poems on friendship/companionship; a sense of everyone being in the same boat).

One Saturday, in the middle of June, one bright and windy afternoon, all the creatures by Piggyback Wood were getting ready - as fast as they could. There was only a short time left to prepare for the birthday party at Badger's lair. Badger's having a birthday party and Harry and Lil are getting ready, but just as Lil is getting her favourite hat off the washing line to wear, it blows away. Harry says it's gone for good, but Lil says you should never say never "if birds can fly, shrews can, too" An umbrella doesn't work, nor does a fan... but then Deer comes along with a big green balloon!

Packed with top tips on grammar, structure and style, this handy guide provides succinct and practical guidance on students' most common writing concerns. Each tip is accompanied by authentic examples of student writing, suggested rewrites and useful exercises. Lively illustrations help students to understand and remember essential principles of grammar and punctuation, and end-of-chapter checklists help them to develop effective proofreading skills. This compact and concise book is a must-have for students of all levels, and a valuable resource for teachers needing no-nonsense explanations of key punctuation and grammar points.

The first comprehensive biography of this undervalued writer, who was considered 'far and away the best living woman poet' in her day. Andrew Motion's Spectator Book of the Year. 'One of the many achievements of This Rare Spirit is its rejection of that tired view of the poet as mouse that barely roared in favour of a true sense of a spikily modern woman, bound by various obligations but resilient, headstrong, and poetically inventive . . . Copus's diligent, scholarly, sensitive work should help Mew's pipe play on for years to come.' Declan Ryan, Los Angeles Review of Books '[A] supreme biography . . . It is hard to do justice to the breadth of research Copus has done here, or the compassionate, detailed conjuring of Mew and her milieu . . . An essential book, a classic work of literary biography.' Sean Hewitt, Irish Times '[K]eenly intelligent, fascinating and nuanced biography . . . Save Charlotte Mew! And read this book.' Joanna Kavenna, Literary Review 'An exquisitely told account of the life of a half-forgotten London poet whose work was admired by Hardy, Sassoon and Virginia Woolf. Julia Copus does her justice at last.' Claire Tomalin 'This Rare Spirit is a classic - the biography of Mew we have all been waiting for.' Fiona Benson The British poet Charlotte Mew (1869-1928) was regarded as one of the best poets of her age by fellow writers, including Virginia Woolf, Siegfried Sasson, Walter de la Mare and Marianne Moore. She has since been neglected, but her star is beginning to rise again, all the more since her 150th anniversary in 2019. This is the first comprehensive biography, from cradle to grave, and is written by fellow poet Julia Copus, who recently unveiled a blue plaque on Mew's childhood house in Doughty Street and was the editor of the Selected Poetry and Prose (2019). Mew was a curious mix of New Woman and stalwart Victorian. Her poems speak to us strongly today, in these strangely mixed times of exposure and seclusion: they reveal the private agony of an isolated being who was forced to keep secret the tragedies of her personal life while being at the same time propelled by her work into the public arena. Her poetry transfigures that very private suffering into art that has a universal resonance.