Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award The 'English' of this novel are a particular kind of family. Their ailing patriarch is Phillip Prys, the once-famous writer unexpectedly eclipsed first by voguish Salman Rushdie, and second by a massive stroke. His third wife, Shirin, pads through their house in Hampstead, resolute in the face of Myfanwy, first spouse, who returns with all the subtlety of a stormy weather front to manage Phillip's care. Their children, Jake and Celia, have each retreated towards drugs and food, their already strained relationship with their father unable to bear this latest rupture. And to cap it all, it's the hottest summer anyone can remember. Enter Struan. Built like a heron, fresh from Scotland, he is thrust -- quite literally -- into the bosom of the family as Phillip's 17-year-old nurse. He's had experience of death, but not of London. It's a foreign country, with foreign food and foreign customs. But it also has a kind of magic. As he comes under the influence of each Prys, his life begins to change in ways he could never have imagined. And so, in the meantime, do theirs. . .

Rooted in place, slipping between worlds - a rich collection of unnerving ghosts and sinister histories. Eight authors were given the freedom of their chosen English Heritage site, from medieval castles to a Cold War nuclear bunker. Immersed in the past and chilled by rumours of hauntings, they channelled their darker imaginings into a series of extraordinary new ghost stories. Also includes a gazetteer of English Heritage properties which are said to be haunted.

‘An absolutely wonderful book’ - Deborah Moggach One morning in London, two neighbours start to chat over the heads of their children. Kate Clanchy is a writer, privileged and sheltered. Antigona is a refugee from Kosovo. On instinct, Kate offers Antigona a job as a nanny, and Antigona accepts. Over the next five years and a thousand cups of coffee Antigona’s extraordinary story slowly emerges. She has escaped from a war, she has divorced a violent husband, but can she escape the harsh code she was brought up with, the Kanun of Lek? At the kitchen table where anything can be said, the women discover they have everything, as well as nothing, in common.

Do you want to write a poem? This book will show you ‘how to grow your own poem’… Kate Clanchy has been teaching people to write poetry for more than twenty years. Some were old, some were young; some were fluent English speakers, some were not. None of them were confident to start with, but a surprising number went to win prizes and every one finished up with a poem they were proud of, a poem that only they could have written – their own poem. Kate’s big secret is a simple one: to share other poems. She believes poetry is like singing or dancing and the best way to learn is to follow someone else. In this book, Kate shares the poems she has found provoke the richest responses, the exercises that help to shape those responses into new poems, and the advice that most often helps new writers build their own writing practice. If you have never written a poem before, this book will get you started. If you have written poems before, this book will help you to write more fluently and confidently, more as yourself. This book not like other creative writing books. It doesn’t ask you to set out on your own, but to join in. Your invitation is inside.

With a new afterword. 'The best book on teachers and children and writing that I've ever read. No-one has said better so much of what so badly needs saying' - Philip Pullman Kate Clanchy wants to change the world and thinks school is an excellent place to do it. She invites you to meet some of the kids she has taught in her thirty-year career. Join her as she explains everything about sex to a classroom of thirteen-year-olds. As she works in the school 'Inclusion Unit', trying to improve the fortunes of kids excluded from regular lessons because of their terrifying power to end learning in an instant. Or as she nurtures her multicultural poetry group, full of migrants and refugees, watches them find their voice and produce work of heartbreaking brilliance. While Clanchy doesn't deny stinging humiliations or hide painful accidents, she celebrates this most creative, passionate and practically useful of jobs. Teaching today is all too often demeaned, diminished and drastically under-resourced. Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me will show you why it shouldn't be. Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2020

Where do we find the words to greet a new arrival? In this celebratory book, poet Kate Clanchy has made an inspired choice of poems that speak powerfully of the wonder, joy, bewilderment and mystery that new life brings, from conception through to the first years of parenthood. The Picador Book of Birth Poems is an essential source of inspiration for anyone looking to welcome the new child to the world, and the perfect gift for every new parent - as well as a wonderfully moving literary journey in its own right.

Here are poems about love, loss, mothers, fathers, God, rain and growing up. About all the things that poems are always about, in fact, with one crucial difference. Instead of being remembered from an adult distance, these poems were written by a diverse group of teenagers direct from their own experience. So as well as being clever, funny and moving, they are also immediate – they go straight to the heart like a text from a friend. Most of these poems are by pupils from a single multicultural comprehensive school, Oxford Spires Academy. Many have already been social media sensations: some students' poems, for instance, have been retweeted over 100,000 times.

Eight authors were given after hours freedom at their chosen English heritage site. Immersed in the history, atmosphere and rumours of hauntings, they channelled their darker imaginings into a series of extraordinary new ghost stories. Sarah Perry's intense tale of possession at the Jacobean country house Audley End is a work of psychological terror, while Andrew Michael Hurley's story brings an unforgettably shocking slant to the history of Carlisle Castle. Within the walls of these historic buildings each author has found inspiration to deliver a new interpretation of the classic ghost story. Relish the imagined terrors at these exhilarating locations: Kate Clanchy, Housesteads Roman Fort | Stuart Evers, Dover Castle | Mark Haddon, York Cold War Bunker | Andrew Michael Hurley, Carlisle Castle | Sarah Perry, Audley End | Max Porter Eltham Palace | Kamila Shamsie, Kenilworth Castle | Jeanette Winterson, Pendennis Castle

This anthology draws out and distills science's love of narrative from a wide range of scientific disciplines, weaving theory into very human stories and delving into the humanity of theorists and experimenters as they stood on the brink of significant discoveries. From Archimedes' bath to Newton's apple, these vivid accounts of scientific discovery explore the principles behind each theory and add to the larger narrative of how the universe works. Including Joseph Swan's original lightbulb moment, Einstein's revelation on a Bern tram, and Pavlov's identification of personality types thanks to a freak flood in his St. Petersburg lab, this record brings these eureka moments to life and explains the science behind them to the general reader. Contributors include Kate Clanchy, Stelly Duffy, Maggie Gee, Sarah Hall, Alison MacLeod, Sara Maitland, Sean O'Brien, Prof. Jim al-Khalili, Jane Rogers, and more.

Nothing transforms our lives like parenthood -- and Kate Clanchy's intimate, daring sequence of poems maps the switchback ride of human emotions from conception through to the first years of a new life. Clanchy's most powerful and accomplished book of poetry to date, Newborn will delight her many admirers. This frank but ultimately celebratory account of the most extraordinary event in our shared experience is a must for parents -- and parents-to-be -- everywhere. 'A sparkling, tender, totally unsentimental study' Financial Times

There is no way more appropriate to mark a new arrival than with poetry - and in this profoundly celebratory book, poet and columnist Kate Clanchy has made an inspired choice of poems that speak powerfully of the wonder, joy, bewilderment and mystery that new life brings. Charting the whole process from conception through to pregnancy and birth, "All The Poems You Need to Say Hello" is perfect for expectant parents - and an ideal gift for new parents. Poems from across the centuries by men and women - from Sharon Olds, Sylvia Plath and Helen Dunmore to Seamus Heaney, Hugo Williams and William Blake - chart the whole experience, mirroring the ups and downs and moments of despair and joy.