There is no question but that the American beggar is the finest in his country; but in that land of many nationalities he has a number of old-country beggars to contend with. Perhaps it would interest-it certainly should-a number of people to know how well or ill their own nation is represented by beggars in that most important country; whether England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and other countries have cause to be proud or ashamed of their representatives.

Sebastian is a Londoner through and through. Apart from a few trips as a child, he's never left the city. If he had his way, he never would. But then, on his 24th birthday, a group of friends challenge him to prove he's a real man by travelling to Devon to live and work on a smallholding for a whole week. Lovers of 'Darling Buds of May' or the James Herriot vet books will enjoy following Sebastian's life-changing adventures in the village of Steepleford.

William Henry Davies was born in the Pillgwenlly district of Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, a busy port on July 3rd, 1871. Davies seemed to find childhood difficult. By the age of 13 he was arrested, part of a gang of five schoolmates, and charged with stealing handbags. He was given twelve strokes of the birch. The following year, 1885, Davies wrote his first poem; "Death." His yearning was to travel. In a half dozen years, he crossed the Atlantic at least annually by working on cattle ships. He travelled through many of the states, sometimes begging, sometimes taking seasonal work, but would often spend any savings on a drinking spree with a fellow traveller. In London, he came across a newspaper story about the riches to be made in the Klondike and immediately set off to make his fortune in Canada. Attempting to jump a freight train at Renfrew, Ontario, on March 20th, 1899, he lost his footing and his right foot was crushed under the wheels of the train. The leg later had to be amputated below the knee and he wore a wooden prosthetic leg thereafter. On October 12th, 1905 Davies met the poet Edward Thomas, then the literary critic for the Daily Chronicle. Thomas rented for Davies a nearby tiny two-roomed cottage. Thomas now adopted the role of protective guardian as he helped Davies to develop his career. In 1907, the manuscript of The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp drew the attention of George Bernard Shaw, who agreed to write a preface. In 1911, Davies was awarded a Civil List Pension of 50, which later increased to 100 and then to 150. The Georgian poetry publisher Edward Marsh introduced him, in 1913, to DH Lawrence who was captivated by Davies and later invited him to Germany. Despite this early enthusiasm, Lawrence's opinion waned and he noted the newer verses seemed "so thin, one can hardly feel them." On February 5th, 1923, Davies married 23-year-old Helen Matilda Payne, at the Registry Office in East Grinstead in Sussex. His book Young Emma chronicles the relationship in a very frank and revealing way. Having second thoughts he retrieved the book from the publishers and it was only published after Helens death. He had met her near Marble Arch decanting from a bus wearing a "saucy-looking little velvet cap with tassels." At the time Helen was unmarried and pregnant. While living with Davies in London, before their marriage, Helen suffered an almost fatal miscarriage. Davies made over a dozen broadcasts for the BBC, reading his own work, between 1924 and 1940. Davies returned to Newport, in September 1938, for the unveiling of a plaque in his honour, and with an address given by the Poet Laureate John Masefield. His health had now deteriorated, and this proved to be his last public appearance. W. H. Davies' health continued to worsen and he died, on September 26th, 1940, at the age of 69.

William Henry Davies (1871- 1940) was a Welsh poet and writer. He was also a traveller and adventurer, often living on his wits as a tramp and itinerant labourer. After a serious accident while attempting to board a train in eastern Canada while on the way to the Klondike Gold Fields he returned to London and began to write. He would become one of the most popular poets of his time with his work championed by both Edward Thomas and George Bernard Shaw. Famous for his prose memoir The Autiobiography of a Super-tramp, he is best-known as a poet for ' Leisure' , a hymn to living slow and having ' time to stand and stare' . Saints and Lodgers offers an introduction to the wide range of Davies' s poetry which lies beyond his famous reputation. Here are hymns to the beauty of his native south Wales and to the natural world, poems in praise of lives lived on the margins and on the streets, drinking songs and songs of the sea. More than anything, as Newport poet Jonathan Edwards argues in his compelling introduction, Davies emerges as a poet of people, who never turns away from the suffering or the beauty of the saints and lodgers among whom he lives.

Sometimes only a poem will do. These poetic prescriptions and wise words of advice offer comfort, delight and inspiration for all; a space for reflection, and that precious realization - I'm not the only one who feels like this. In the years since he first had the idea of prescribing short, powerful poems for all manner of spiritual ailments, William Sieghart has taken his Poetry Pharmacy around the length and breadth of Britain, into the pages of the Guardian, onto BBC Radio 4 and onto the television, honing his prescriptions all the time. This pocket-sized book presents the most essential poems in his dispensary- those which, again and again, have really shown themselves to work. Whether you are suffering from loneliness, lack of courage, heartbreak, hopelessness, or even from an excess of ego, there is something here to ease your pain.

This beautiful and moving poem, by an unknown author, was left by a soldier killed in Ulster "to all my loved ones". This special edition, sensitively illustrated with delicate drawings by Paul Saunders, is intended as a lasting keepsake for those mourning a loved one.

Winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, and the Pura Belpré Award! Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her story with blazing words and powerful truth. Xiomara Batista feels unheard and unable to hide in her Harlem neighborhood. Ever since her body grew into curves, she has learned to let her fists and her fierceness do the talking. But Xiomara has plenty she wants to say, and she pours all her frustration and passion onto the pages of a leather notebook, reciting the words to herself like prayers—especially after she catches feelings for a boy in her bio class named Aman, who her family can never know about. With Mami’s determination to force her daughter to obey the laws of the church, Xiomara understands that her thoughts are best kept to herself. So when she is invited to join her school’s slam poetry club, she doesn’t know how she could ever attend without her mami finding out. But she still can’t stop thinking about performing her poems. Because in the face of a world that may not want to hear her, Xiomara refuses to be silent. “Crackles with energy and snaps with authenticity and voice.” —Justina Ireland, author of Dread Nation “An incredibly potent debut.” —Jason Reynolds, author of the National Book Award Finalist Ghost “Acevedo has amplified the voices of girls en el barrio who are equal parts goddess, saint, warrior, and hero.” —Ibi Zoboi, author of American Street This young adult novel, a selection of the Schomburg Center's Black Liberation Reading List, is an excellent choice for accelerated tween readers in grades 6 to 8. Plus don't miss Elizabeth Acevedo's With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land!

At the age of fifty, towards the end of the First World War, W. H. Davies decided that he must marry. Spurning London society and the literary circles where he had been lionised since the publication of his Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, he set about looking for the right partner on the streets of London. Young Emma is a moving and revealing memoir told with disarming honesty and humour. Davies records his life with three women: from his affair with Bella, the wife of a Sergeant Major, to his year-long liaison with the gentle Louise, to the turbulent brushes with a society woman who fears for her own life at his hands. He finally meets Emma, then pregnant, at a bus-stop on the Edgware Road. This is the story of their love affair.