World Poetry

African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of enslaved people narratives, African-American literature was dominated by autobiographical spiritual narratives. The genre known as slave narratives in the 19th century were accounts by people who had generally escaped from slavery, about their journeys to freedom and ways they claimed their lives.

Serafina has a secret dream. She wants to go to school and become a doctor with her best friend, Julie Marie. But in their rural village outside Port-au-Prince, Haiti, many obstacles stand in Serafina's way - little money, never-ending chores, and Manman's worries. More powerful even than all of these are the heavy rains and the shaking earth that test Serafina's resolve in ways she never dreamed. At once heartbreaking and hopeful, this exquisitely crafted story will leave a lasting impression on your heart.

Following the innovative collection Spill, Alexis Pauline Gumbs's M Archive - the second book in a planned experimental triptych - is a series of poetic artifacts that speculatively documents the persistence of Black life following a worldwide cataclysm.

World Tales of Wisdom and Wonder is a collection of folktales told in a weave of poetry, prose, original melody, and guitar. Drawn from cultures around the globe, these colorful tales offer a leap into fantasy and some homespun wisdom passed down through the oral tradition.

From the moment war broke out across Europe in 1914, the world entered a new, unparalleled era of modern warfare. Soldiers faced relentless machine gun shelling, incredible artillery power, flame throwers, and gas attacks. Within the first four months of the war, the British Army recorded the nervous collapse of ten percent of its officers; the loss of such manpower to mental illness left the army unable to fill its ranks. Soldiers Don't Go Mad tells for the first time the story of the soldiers and doctors who struggled with the effects of industrial warfare on the human psyche.

One of the most revered poets of the twentieth century, Czeslaw Milosz famously bore witness to its violence in his native Poland and in the war’s aftermath from exile in Europe and the United States. Immediately after the war, he lived in Washington, D.C., working as a diplomatic official, having left behind an old world stained by bloodshed and still in the throes of ideological conflict as he sought to find his bearings in a new world.

The remarkable Gertrude Bell, one of the great scholars/adventurers of the late 19th and early 20th century, translated the poems of Hafiz of Persia and introduced the English world to one of the great minds of the 15th century. This is her work in an inexpensive and highly understandable new edition.

This poetry collection delves into the theme of overcoming life's challenges. Life is filled with various obstacles, including economic hardships, serious illnesses, family issues, and political unrest. How individuals confront these challenges reveals a great deal about their character and identity. The fifty poems in this book reflect on these struggles, aiming to provide strength and inspiration to readers. It is the hope that these poems will offer insight and help people realize that they are not alone in their difficulties and that they can overcome their challenges.

1879, Mississippi. Young dreamer Lettie may have her head in the stars, but her body is on a covered wagon heading westward. Her father, Thomas, promises that Nebraska will be everything the family needs: an opportunity to claim the independence they’ve strived for over generations on their very own plot of land. But Thomas’ hopes—and mouth—are bigger than his ability to follow through. With few supplies and even less money, the only thing that feels certain is danger.

The moving true story of how young Ukrainian Jewish piano prodigies Zhanna (alias “Anna”) and her sister Frina outplayed their pursuers while hiding in plain sight during the Holocaust. A middle grade nonfiction novel-in-verse by award-winning author Susan Hood with Greg Dawson (Zhanna’s son).

Discover the remarkable journey of Sigal Magen, where creativity and AI collide to forge new paths. From reimagining biblical tales to composing songs and teaching poetry through AI visuals, Sigal’s story highlights the powerful synergy between art and technology. As a visionary author, painter and composer, Sigal bridges the worlds of innovation and imagination, inspiring others to explore the limitless possibilities of AI. Bridging Worlds is a call to embrace creativity, connect with technology, and craft a future fueled by human ingenuity.

Sophisticated wit and intense emotion, religious fervor and erotic sensuality, delight in life’s pleasures and fascination with death, are all to be found in the paradoxical poetry of John Donne. One of the foremost metaphysical poets, Donne’s ingenious metaphors and inspired use of language has earned him affection and reverence in near equal measure to Shakespeare.

101 Famous Poems, compiled by Roy J. Cook and first published in 1916, is a collection of one familiar poem each by the best-known poets in the English language, including Alfred Tennyson, William Shakespeare, Robert Frost, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Milton, Elizabeth Barret Browning, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walt Whitman, Lord Byron, Emily Dickinson and William Wordsworth. The anthology is indexed by title, author and first line.

At times playful, at times heartbreaking, When One World Ends, Another Begins is a raw, honest look at how it feels to be alive. On the surface, these poems are an examination of what it is to be human. Underneath, they’re an exploration of body image, fear, faith, and the ways life runs in circles. They exist to peel back the tough layers and expose the softness inside.

A rich and varied collection of contemporary short stories, extracts from novels, and poetry that will go a long way toward informing the English-speaking world of the latest developments in Iranian literature. This sampling - or to use the Farsi term golchine, a bouquet - provides a window onto an important but sorely neglected segment of world culture. We hope it will also serve to awaken further interest in the work and in translations of Iranian novelists and poets.

The prolific writings of Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet, continue to inspire a devoted international following and have transformed modern Arabic literature. In this volume of early writings, Gibran’s simple yet lyrical style crosses from prose to poetry and yields insight into his dedication and inner vision of beauty, including the tale of a strange hermit in “The Tempest”, the discovery of love lost to war in “The Mermaids”, and the long voyage of sea and soul in the prose poem “Between Night and Morn”.

John Keats was largely unappreciated during his lifetime and died in Rome at the age of 26. Most of his 150 poems were written in just nine extraordinary months in 1819. This selection contains some of his finest works, including the principal "Odes", "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", "Old Meg", and "Much Have I Travelled".

The Knight's Tale of medieval wars and chivalry is the first tale told to the pilgrims as they set out to Canterbury. It concerns Theseus, returning from fighting at Thebes, and two brother knights Palamon and Arcite, imprisoned but yearning for their loves. But the real hero of this recording is Richard Bebb who, with the help of Professor Derek Brewer, the leading expert on Chaucerian pronunciation, make the original Middle English not only comprehensible to the modern ear, but exciting.

Vampire Alley, by bestselling mystery and paranormal author J.R. Rain, is a spine-tingling, micro-story in a poem about a boy who comes face-to-face with dangerous creatures of the night... In Vampire Alley, a free-verse poem set in the world of Samantha Moon, a boy obeys a compelling urge to leave the safety of his bedroom and wander his neighborhood at night. In a dream-like state, he finds himself in a dark alley—but he’s not alone. Indeed, the boy becomes the sole eyewitness to a crime in progress, a despicable and horrific attack. He doesn’t believe in monsters or vampires. So ...

Ozar is the first book in the pentalogy, The World in Nowhereness. The book's first part, titled OZAR, is the voyage toward God, but the voyage starts with the journey inward through the mystical traveler himself. After the mystical traveler encounters Homer and speaks to him, Homer advises him to continue his voyage in the direction of Shakespeare. Thus, the book's second part, Shakespeare in Cosmos, continues this voyage. The travelers in a cosmic ship land on Planet Zena, where children of 10 years are more intelligent than the most outstanding geniuses on Earth. Eventually, they meet ...