Here are the selection of books and CDs of poetry available from participating London libraries.
Click on the ISBN to find out which library stocks the London Libraries recommend titles and contact the library to check its availability.
Books indicated with
are available in accessible formats; check with
Revealweb
for further details.
 Adoption papers - Jackie Kay ISBN: 185224156X As indicated by the cover this poetry touches on the notion of nature/nurture and the theme of family and of the effect of the people around us as we grow up |
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Antiquity - Adisa Andwele ISBN: 1900715724 A poetic celebration of Black history from Africa via Barbados from one of our prominent contemporary performance poets |
 Arrival of Brighteye and other poems - Jean Binta Breeze ISBN: 1852245387 Jean "Binta" Breeze studied drama at the Jamaican School of Drama before coming to the UK and becoming involved in the dub poetry scene of the early 80s. You can listen to Jean "Binta" Breeze reciting the title poem at the Poetry Archive - visit the links page |
 Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry - Karen McCarthy (ed.) ISBN: 0704346079 An anthology first published to coincide with Black History Month in 1998 |
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Caribbean passion - Opal Palmer Adisa ISBN: 1900715929 A collection of poetry reflecting on diferent aspects of life, its joys and complications |
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Chase - John Figueroa ISBN: 0948833521 Through The Chase, John Figuerola reflects on his life, his passions and preoccupations. This work explores the poet's desire to bring together ideas of spirit and flesh, Caribbean and European. |
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Children of the Morning - Faustin Charles ISBN: 1900715988 A collection of new and older works from this Trinidadian poet, whose writing explores separation and the forging of new connections. The collection includes "Stephen's song" |
 City Psalms - Benjamin Zephaniah ISBN: 1852242302 Benjamin Zephaniah's fourth poetry collection from a writer who reflect the Black British experience in his writing. |
 Complete Collected Poems - Maya Angelou ISBN: 1844082237 The inspirational Maya Angelou, known for her autobiographical writing as well as her poetry. |
 Connecting Medium - Dorothea Smartt ISBN: 1900715503 A collection of poems which as the title suggests are about connections: the past to the present, one generation to another, one place to another.... |
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Different Drums (CD) - Lemn Sissay ISBN: 1899021078 Hear poet and playwright Lemn Sissay perform old favourites as well as newer verse.... |
 Fat Black woman's poems - Grace Nichols ISBN: 0860686353 The Fat Black Woman's Poems (1984), is perhaps Nichol's most popular book, and one which sees new element emerging. The fat black woman is a funny, relaxed and a fleshly challenge to all that is thin and mean in western society. |
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First poems and the next poems - Mutabaruka ISBN: 0976610713 Mutabaruka is a pioneer of radical dub poetry. This collection combines his work of the 1970s, with a new anthology of his later poems written between 1980 and 2002. |
 Fourteen Two: Twenty Eight Love Poems - Various ISBN: 0954224795 This collection of love poems by seven brilliant new writers showcases work by Flipped Eye Publishers. |
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Healing Pool (CD) - Zena Edwards ISBN: . Listen to Zena Edwards, Tottenham's own, recite in her distinctive style - poetry with humour and poignancy |
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Hot Earth Cold Earth - James Berry ISBN: 1852243309 James Berry is one of Britain's leading poets and cultural activists. This large collection of poems tackles notions of roots, destructiveness, and celebration of the outsider. |
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Imaginary Origins: Selected Poems - Cyril Dabydeen ISBN: 1900715945 Dabydeen has selected poems from 30 years of writing which reflect his journeys across numerous boundaries during his life, in an approachable, conversational style. |
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Inevitable mystique(CD) - Phenzwaan ISBN: . Listen this timeless classic by the award-winning performance poet & internationally recognised spoken word artist, Phenzwaan. |
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Kin: commemorative tour anthology (CD) - . ISBN: . KIN, a tour of writers, DJs and musicians toured to thirty venues around the UK in 2003/04. This collection features work by the poets who participated. |
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Lagahoo Poems - James Aboud ISBN: 1900715848 The Lagahoo, the werewolf-like creature of Trinidadian legend, is the subject of this book of poems by James Aboud. |
 Life for Us - Choman Hardi ISBN: 1852246448 Choman's work examines her life in Iraq and in Britain. Her poems tell of exile, displacement, fear and the oppression of women, as well as survival and love. |
 Life Mask - Jackie Kay ISBN: 185224691X Young British poet Jackie Kay brings us this book of witty, warm and tough poems that focus on ideas of honesty, mistaken identity and secrets. |
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London Open House (CD) - . ISBN: . Listen to this collection from London-based prose, poetry and spoken word agency, Renaissance One. |
 Mangoes and bullets - John Agard ISBN: 185242124X John Agard is a wordsmith whose poetry is for children and adults alike. This anthology includes some of his earlier works and reflects his personal history of life in the Caribbean and the UK. |
 Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poems - Linton Kwesi Johnson ISBN: 0141186984 Linton Kwesi Johnson is one of only three living poets to feature in the Penguin Modern Classics series. This book features a selection of his work written over three decades. |
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Modern Love (CD and Book collection) - . ISBN: . Thirteen artists use the theme of love as a starting point for their reflections, poetry and prose in this collection from Renaissance One. |
 Morning Breaks in the Elevator - Lemn Sissay ISBN: 0862418380 Uplifting writing from one of Britain's foremost poets. |
 Propa Propaganda - Benjamin Zephaniah ISBN: 1852243724 White Comedy (from 'Propa Propaganda') "I waz whitemailed/By a white witch,/Wid white magic/An white lies,/Branded by a white sheep/I slaved as a whitesmith/Near a white spot/Where I suffered whitewater fever./Whitelisted as a whiteleg/ I waz in de white book/ As a master of white art,/ It waz like white death." |
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Reggae Head (CD) - Benjamin Zephaniah ISBN: 1899021051 This release represents the broadest & deepest sampling of Benjamin's spoken-works to date, but with a strong emphasis on the new - with poems from the most recent books, poems heard only on radio & poems committed to the air for the very first time. |
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Riding on de Riddym (CD) - Jean Binta Breeze ISBN: 1899021094 This is a collection of Jean 'Binta' Breeze's most well-known work, her poetry covering both themes of both a politcal and personal nature. |
 Samarkand and Other Markets I Have Known - Wole Soyinka ISBN: 0413772551 Nobel Prize-winning author Soyinka presents his thoughts on the end of the twentieth century. This work was written during a period of enforced exile from Nigeria, his native country. |
 Scandalize My Name: Selected Poems - Yusef Komunyakaa ISBN: 0330490788 This is the first British collection of this American poet's work, which is primarily preoccupied with time and history. |
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Selected Poems - Kwame Dawes ISBN: 1900715708 Kwame presents his ideas of family and personal trauma in this selection of poems taken from his eight collections of writing. |
 Selected Poems - Wole Soyinka ISBN: 0413764605 This work comprises three of Soyinka's books: Idanre; A Shuttle in the Crypt; and Mandela's Earth. |
 Selected Poetry - Derek Walcott ISBN: 043591197X Read the collected poems of Derek Walcott, St Lucian-born poet and playwright who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1992. |
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Shook Foil: Poetry Walking the Bass Line - Kwame Dawes ISBN: 1900715147 Kwame Dawes' poetry rises to new heights in these psalms of confession and celebrations of reggae's power to prophesy, to seek after righteousness and seduce the body and mind. |
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Thief With Leaf - Brian Chan ISBN: 094883322X This collection of 140 poems, Brian Chan's first book, won the Guyana Prize in 1989. |
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Tings an' times: selected poems (audio book) - Linton Kwesi Johnson ISBN: 1852244461 A selection of the original dub poet's work in audio form. |
 Transformatrix - Patience Agbabi ISBN: 0862419417 This collection of poems takes inspiration from the everyday life, with Patience writing in the voices of women from around the world. |
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Wheel and Come Again: Anthology of Reggae Poetry - Kwame Dawes (ed.) ISBN: 1900715139 This collection features poems from almost 40 writers of Caribbean origin including Kamau Brathwaite, Lorna Goodison, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Edward Baugh and John Agard. |