John's second collection consolidates his reputation as one of the most unusual and intelligent imaginations now at work, and will build on the astonishing success of Panoramic Lounge-Bar, winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. It's a mature book, with more lyricism and allusion than PLB, but no less witty for it; powerful, moving and sometimes disturbing, it's a journey through a labyrinth of memory, history and strange anecdote, written in Stammers's trademark style -- literary yet hip and immediate, with a real steetwise vibe, often English in its forms but transatlantic in its voice, and never less than wholly rivetting.

Author Biography

John Stammers read philosophy at King's College London and is an Associate of Kings' College. His first collection, Panoramic Lounge-bar, was awarded the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2001, shortlisted for the Whitbread Poetry Award 2001 and a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. He was appointed Judith E. Wilson Fellow at the University of Cambridge in 2002. He is a creative writing tutor and freelance writer. He lives in Islington, London where he was born.