Bøker av Brendan Kennelly

New book of satirical poetry from Ireland's most popular poet featuring Guff, Devil's advocate and self critic, everyman and every writer consumed by self-doubt and self-questioning.

A collection of poems that are inspired by an autumn sojourn in America where the author would sit by the edge of a reservoir, trying to cope with loneliness by contemplating black swans, blue waves, seagulls, trees and rocks.

Addresses the question: What is 'now'? This book takes us on a journey through a dark night of the soul, through the thoughts and feelings of various kinds of people struggling to survive and find meaning in their lives. It focuses on women whose lives are torn apart by war, family conflict and despotic regimes.

This playful poet is alive and kicking. He is a satirist trying to define generosity, happiness and love, with scurrilous candor and piercing clarity in brief punchy poems. But no matter how savage his attacks, he is always playful and compassionate. He is a sharp, visionary writer who knows the world about him and is in touch with the world within himself, at once bewildered, attentive, and bitingly articulate. It's a perfect match--Kennelly and Martial. One of Ireland's most popular poets, Brendan Kennelly's previous books include Cromwell and Book of Judas. His recently published The Little Book of Judas was chosen by Booklist as one of the "Top 10 Poetry Books" of the last year.

This selection of Brendan Kennelly's critical writing is as illuminating in what it says about his own ideas and methods as it is about the writers whose work he discusses. The book contains his essays on the major Irish writers of the 20th century.

Published on his 75th birthday, this new selection presents just over a hundred of Brendan Kennelly's most essential poems, accompanied by an audio CD of his own readings drawn from two classic recordings.

This compilation brings together Brendan Kennelly's modern versions of three Greek tragedies: Antigone by Sophocles and Euripides' Medea and The Trojan Women. All three plays dramatise timeless human dilemmas as relevant now as they were in ancient times. All focus on women whose lives are torn apart by war, family conflict and despotic regimes

In a frantic world, the momentary glimpse can spark a sudden flash of insight. This resonating glimpse-caught on the move-ripples through the mind, illuminating past and present, fast-forwarding in a split second to reveal future possibilities. But in an instant it is gone, lost in the bustle of everyday life. In Glimpses, Brendan Kennelly opens his eyes-and ours-to the world and times we rush through without looking. With their quick fire wit and timeless wisdom, his glimpse-poems are in the tradition of riddles, epigrams, and proverbs. Sublime or profane, joyous or crazily raucous, Kennelly's vivid glimpses have a life of their own, leaping beyond the words used to summon them up on the page. When lightning flashes, the graveyard dances.

Familiar Strangers is Brendan Kennelly's own selection from over 20 poetry books written over five decades. This landmark volume replaces his earlier selections A Time for Voices, Breathing Spaces and Begin.

Buff├║n is wracked by the living nightmare of Irish history. His torments are surreal but no less frightening than the awful truth. When Oliver Cromwell turns up, the hapless buffoon can''t cope. This Cromwell is a cocky tyrant who wants to run a football team, or start a taxi business. Enter the Belly, the IRA, an Irish giant, and Billy of the Boyne: ''William of Orange is polishing pianos / In convents and other delicate territories, / His nose purple from sipping turpentine.'' Kennelly''s Cromwell delighted and scandalised readers in Ireland when it was first published in 1983. This extraordinary, extravagantly Irish act of revenge has retained its power to shock.