Emma Dai'an Wright – illustratör

In a new home, relationships shift, and ties fray. Bound: A Memoir of Making and Remaking is a collection of essays about sewing and knowing who you are.Each chapter in this sewist's diary charts the crafting of a different garment. From a lining embroidered with the Cantonese names of her female ancestors to a dressing gown holding the body of a beloved friend, Maddie Ballard navigates love, personal connections, and self-care, drafting her own patterns for ways of living.Lyrical, probing, soothing and wise, Bound is a strikingly original debut and a quiet celebration of the remarkable, everyday process of making and re-making: of cloth, of clothing, and of ourselves.

The debut pamphlet by Rachel Piercey, 2008 winner of the prestigious Newdigate Prize, previously won by Oscar Wilde, James Fenton and Andrew Motion.'Piercey's oscillations between lover's ecstasy and love poet's objectivity are so deft that her analytical lens becomes as much a fascination as the amorous perspective which it focuses. […] Wright's drawings are exuberant throughout, by turns cartoonish and painterly, playful and simple in the manner of Quentin Blake.' – Andrew Wynn Owen, the Oxonian Review.A charming collection of love poems by Rachel Piercey, containing her unique reflections on love, heartbreak and relationships. Romantic but never sentimental, Piercey brings her characteristic emotional and linguistic clarity to her treatment of this universal human experience and across the twelve poems builds up a nuanced study of love, passion, heartache and bitterness. The poems are illustrated with line drawings which complement the text and offers the reader a way into the poems via Wright's personal response.

Fathers consider their children and children consider their fathers in this powerful, nuanced book about masculinity, legacy and distance. Poems depict the joy of new parenthood, casting a poignant light on poems depicting estrangement between poets and fathers. Silence dominates, as poets explore words unspoken and feelings suppressed, but reconciliations also emerge from unlikely places: through wearing a father''s gloves; through ghostly meetings in pubs and train stations; and at the bottom of the garden by the shed. This is a deeply moving, honest and truthful book about fatherhood.

How does it feel to be a foreigner? Can you choose where you call home? What if you reject your home or your home rejects you? Homesickness and Exile is a fascinating collection of poems about the fundamental human need to belong to a place, as poets from across the world provide profound and moving insights into the emotional pull of countries and cities. Poems about homecoming, departure and both voluntary and involuntary exile provoke reflections on alienation and identity, and a recurring theme is the yearning for a sense of belonging and acceptance by a place. This anthology is inspired by the Tristia, a collection of poems written by the Roman poet Ovid after he was banished from Rome by the Emperor for an unknown misdemeanour. Homesickness and Exile expands on Ovid''s themes and considers spiritual as well as physical exile in the modern world, with poets writing about rootlessness and geographical ennui.

The Emma Press Anthology of Dance is a celebration of dance and the role it plays in people's lives. This lively collection considers the formal occasions where dancing is expected – weddings, school discos and office parties – as well as the impromptu moments where dancing is drawn from us on a more primal level. Flirting in the kitchen that becomes a shuffle choreographed by intimacy; a weary couple who find solace in a drunken half-stumble half-jig. What makes us start dancing? Why do we ever stop? This anthology examines the defiance and drama of dancing both on stage and off, capturing the passion and exhilaration of rhythmic motion to music.

Campaign in Poetry is a powerful collection of poems about political and social issues in the UK. The poems have been written by contemporary poets in the months leading up to the UK General Election, reflecting current concerns and developing events in this country as well as more global trends. Some of the sharpest minds writing today offer up shrewd, provocative thoughts on nationalism, climate change, immigration, political apathy amongst voters, arts funding and feminism in the digital age. This anthology is a statement against disaffection, providing an alternative perspective on the political landscape of the UK.

Falling Out Of The Sky is a treasury of poems which retell classic myths, legends and fairytales from across the world. Hansel and Gretel''s witch takes us behind the scenes of the construction of her gingerbread cottage, and Medusa explains how the snakes on her head rule out a lot of options in everyday life – wearing a hat, for example. Full of alternate viewpoints and spirited new versions of old stories, Falling Out The Sky is a friendly introduction to poetry as well as the joy of literature. In tales about the beginning of time to the end of the world, poets and characters speak directly to the readers, revelling in the possibilities of storytelling. These are poems which parents can read aloud to younger children, and which older children can read to themselves, delighting in the mischief and invention of the poets.

We''re all ageing, all of the time. As a society we''re getting even older, but we seldom seem to stop and think about the huge mental and physical changes that happen to us as we get old, or what it''s like to live as an old person. The Emma Press Anthology of Age is a collection of poems which challenge, celebrate and give age a voice, finding humour amidst the heartbreak and comfort within the pain.

In rural Wales, wandering the dunes west of Pwllheli, John Fuller has composed a letter on the subject of travel: warning against it, wondering about people''s presences and absences, and serenely admiring ''the Wales of sheep and song''. His correspondent, young Andrew Wynn Owen, replies with friendly enthusiasm, matching John''s poetic form while flouting his advice and hopping from gallery to garret via Luxembourg and Venice. Between them, they consider: is it better to risk seeming ''stay-at-home, | A stick in mud'' or ''to pass life scared | Of stillnesses'' AWOL is an infinitely charming collaboration between the eminent poet John Fuller, with a career spanning over 50 years, and bright young poet Andrew Wynn Owen, whose first pamphlet was published in 2014. Beautifully produced in a large square format, this book is illustrated throughout in full-colour with watercolours and line drawings by Emma Wright. The epistolary poems are composed in terza rima in tetrameter lines, reflecting both poets'' love of metre and formal challenges.

Malkin is a vivid evocation of the trials of the Pendle Witches in 1612. The sequence of poems is delivered in the form of epitaphic monologues, with the accused men and women eerily addressing the reader with their confessions and pleas. Strikingly, Camille Ralphs has employed unorthodox spelling throughout the monologues, bringing out new meanings in familiar words and encouraging the reader to immerse themselves in the world of the poems. Fully illustrated with woodcut-style drawings from Emma Wright.

We’re all ageing, all of the time. As a society we’re getting even older, but we seldom seem to stop and think about the huge mental and physical changes that happen to us as we get old, or what it’s like to live as an old person. The Emma Press Anthology of Age is a collection of poems which challenge, celebrate and give age a voice, finding humour amidst the heartbreak and comfort within the pain.

Malkin is a vivid evocation of the trials of the Pendle Witches in 1612. The sequence of poems is delivered in the form of epitaphic monologues, with the accused men and women eerily addressing the reader with their confessions and pleas. Strikingly, Camille Ralphs has employed unorthodox spelling throughout the monologues, bringing out new meanings in familiar words and encouraging the reader to immerse themselves in the world of the poems. Fully illustrated with woodcut-style drawings from Emma Wright.

In The Emma Press Anthology of Love, that familiar four-letter word takes on a world of meanings. Love is written across the sky for the whole world to see, and whispered to a partner at the bus stop in the rain. Love is transcendent and love is everyday, found equally in steamy texts and shopping lists, and the only reliable thing about it is that it's never where you expected to find it. Building on the success of 2015's Mildly Erotic Verse, this book explores the diversity of modern romance. Often awkward, never perfect, romantic encounters and relationships are rooted in our own contemporary world of Tinder, Twitter and TV dinners. But they are also part of an enduring tradition: the cornerstone of our common humanity. In this book, thirty fresh, diverse and original voices speak to what love means right here, right now, bridging the gap between Hollywood imagery and modern lived experience.

How big is the universe? Are there dogs in space? What if your friend – or your granddad – was an alien? Join the poets in wondering in Watcher of the Skies, a sparkling collection of poems about the outermost possibilities of space, life and our imaginations. Fully illustrated by Emma Wright and accompanied with helpful facts from space scientist Rachel Cochrane (Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh) and ideas for writing poems from Rachel Piercey, this is the perfect companion for any budding stargazer or astronaut.

How big is the universe? Are there dogs in space? What if your friend – or your granddad – was an alien? Join the poets in wondering in Watcher of the Skies, a sparkling collection of poems about the outermost possibilities of space, life and our imaginations. Fully illustrated by Emma Wright and accompanied with helpful facts from space scientist Rachel Cochrane (Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh) and ideas for writing poems from Rachel Piercey, this is the perfect companion for any budding stargazer or astronaut.

In The Emma Press Anthology of the Sea, poets ask how the human mind can fathom the ocean''s depths. The sea emerges as at once strange and familiar, bearing witness to storms, naval history, ocean creatures and the human desire for freedom. As the poets embark on voyages of self-discovery, the sea laps at the boundaries of language, offering both mystery and solace to the reader.

In The Emma Press Anthology of Love, that familiar four-letter word takes on a world of meanings. Love is written across the sky for the whole world to see, and whispered to a partner at the bus stop in the rain. Love is transcendent and love is everyday, found equally in steamy texts and shopping lists, and the only reliable thing about it is that it's never where you expected to find it. Building on the success of 2015's Mildly Erotic Verse, this book explores the diversity of modern romance. Often awkward, never perfect, romantic encounters and relationships are rooted in our own contemporary world of Tinder, Twitter and TV dinners. But they are also part of an enduring tradition: the cornerstone of our common humanity. In this book, thirty fresh, diverse and original voices speak to what love means right here, right now, bridging the gap between Hollywood imagery and modern lived experience.

This Is Not Your Final Form showcases the best of Birmingham: a rich, varied and vibrant city capable of inspiring a range of contemporary poetic responses. This anthology, bringing together entries from the inaugural Verve Poetry Festival Competition, depicts a second city which is no longer content to play second fiddle. Poets take on the area''s musical past, its complex industrial history, its unique blend of architectural styles and the experiences of its many immigrant communities. Writers celebrate the lives of significant figures, from Matthew Boulton to Benjamin Zephaniah, and ordinary Brummies alike. Ranging from spoken word-inspired pieces to more traditional styles, much of the work collected here channels the energy and the political anger that runs like a seam through centuries of Birmingham history. Taken together, This Is Not Your Final Form is a tough, unsentimental love letter to the Midlands metropolis, which finds beauty in concrete and unity in contradiction.

In Carol Rumens's Bezdelki, small things like the English meaning of her Russian title help to shore up the memory of a life. These elegies for a late partner, written in memory of Yuri Drobyshev, explore the principle that death, even for atheists, isn''t purely loss. Instead, a kind of conversation between two people can be continued through willed acts of memory, whether by rooting through incidental artefacts found in a toolbox ('defiant old metals, coupled/irrefutably and awkwardly for life') or by revisiting works of Russian literature that both members of the couple admired. In Rumens's pamphlet, translations and imitations of Osip Mandelstam share space with fragments of Egyptian mythology and 'a wardrobe of old sweat-shirts' to convey the powerful, and moving, impulse to 'live with your death unburied at my core'.

In an island kingdom, Don Armando dreams of a dragon-slaying adventure like heroes used to perform. And in a laboratory in a gleaming city, scientist Haplo Nous tinkers towards an atom bomb. Past, present and future collide in Andrew Wynn Owen''s rip-roaring tale, full of rhythmical fireworks and joyous anachronism. This is a clash between chivalric heroics and modern scientific enquiry, and a shaggy-dog story taking in farmers, fisherpeople, flying machines and general derring-do.

The Emma Press Book of Beasts rustles and roars with the voices of animals and humans, co-existing on Earth with varying degrees of harmony. A scorpion appears in a shower; a deer jumps in front of a car. A swarm of snowfleas seethes through leaf litter; children bait a gorilla at the zoo. The poems in this anthology examine hierarchy, herds, power, and the price we pay for belonging.

The Emma Press Book of Beasts rustles and roars with the voices of animals and humans, co-existing on Earth with varying degrees of harmony. A scorpion appears in a shower; a deer jumps in front of a car. A swarm of snowfleas seethes through leaf litter; children bait a gorilla at the zoo. The poems in this anthology examine hierarchy, herds, power, and the price we pay for belonging.

At one remove from parental authority, aunts play a crucial role in the upbringing of children across the world. This anthology puts these women in the spotlight and explores what it means to be – and feels like to have – an aunt, historically and today. Some aunts are biological, some are chosen, but all have an impact on the way we learn to move through the world. Poets in this volume tell stories of glamorous confidants, akin to older siblings, and of older women, tough and worldly-wise, who offer their nieces and nephews a different perspective on life. Above all, the book restores their centrality to young people''s development and to family life.

Second Place Rosette is a calendar of the customs, rituals and practices that make up life in modern Britain. The poems take in maypole dancing, mehndi painting, and medical prescriptions. Some events, like the Jewish Sabbath, happen every week; some, like the putting away of Christmas decorations, thankfully come only once a year. The subjects range from the universal to the personal: every family might have its own ritual, and each culture its own important figures to remember and commemorate. In the introduction, co-editor Emma Wright notes how, as the daughter of a refugee, she felt ''deeply disturbed by current discourse about Britishness and how it seems impossible to separate talk of national identity and pride from talk of exclusion and isolation.'' Against that divisive rhetoric, Wright and co-editor Richard O''Brien have assembled a refreshingly inclusive take on national identity. Poets from different cultural backgrounds speak to their sense of what Britain means through their own daily lived experience, through what they care about on a grass-roots level. The nation which emerges from the poems is a patchwork quilt of betting tips and TV dinners, nights out on Bold Street and strolls in the park. While the years pass, the seasons cycle, and the people who make up the country change, these poets reveal how much stays the same. In Britain, there will always be a man running late who really should have been allowed to get the bus, and a warm spot by the fire in a pub in December. Much of the book displays an ambivalence towards the land and its rituals, but there is also love, affection and pride. Mixed feelings: what could be more British than that?

ROAR! Now I’ve got your attention, can I interest you in a book of poems about dinosaurs? Though they went extinct 65 million years ago, dinosaurs are still everywhere. They’re on TV in The Land Before Time, in classrooms and museum collections, but it might still be hard to believe that dinosaurs walked here once. The poets in this anthology bring dinosaurs out of their display cases and into your home, and ask them politely to be careful with the carpet. Dragons of the Prime is an anthology for children which tackles the big questions about these larger-than-life creatures: what would a baby diplodocus pray for, and just how big is a dinosaur’s egg? Along the way it takes in fossil-finders – like the pioneering Mary Anning – T-Rex’s gym routine, and chickens who dream at night of their dino ancestors’ ‘dagger teeth’. There are poems about dinosaurs in their Jurassic heyday, poems about new discoveries and the latest scientific knowledge, and poems about the history of how humans have imagined these amazing beasts.

ROAR! Now I''ve got your attention, can I interest you in a book of poems about dinosaurs?Though they went extinct 65 million years ago, dinosaurs are still everywhere. They''re on TV in The Land Before Time, in classrooms and museum collections, but it might still be hard to believe that dinosaurs walked here once. The poets in this anthology bring dinosaurs out of their display cases and into your home, and ask them politely to be careful with the carpet.Dragons of the Prime is an anthology for children which tackles the big questions about these larger-than-life creatures: what would a baby diplodocus pray for, and just how big is a dinosaur''s egg? Along the way it takes in fossil-finders – like the pioneering Mary Anning – T-Rex''s gym routine, and chickens who dream at night of their dino ancestors'' ''dagger teeth''. There are poems about dinosaurs in their Jurassic heyday, poems about new discoveries and the latest scientific knowledge, and poems about the history of how humans have imagined these amazing beasts.

Can you imagine a world without bees? Did you know that dung beetles are awesome recyclers? Insects pollinate, recycle and are an important food source for many animals – they’re tiny but mighty superheroes of the animal kingdom. This is an anthology of wild and wonderful children’s poems which will educate and excite youngsters about the fascinating world of insects. With factual notes alongside the poems, and black line illustrations.

Can you imagine a world without bees? Did you know that dung beetles are awesome recyclers? Insects pollinate, recycle and are an important food source for many animals – they''re tiny but mighty superheroes of the animal kingdom. This is an anthology of wild and wonderful children''s poems which will educate and excite youngsters about the fascinating world of insects.With factual notes alongside the poems, and black line illustrations.

The Goldfish is a sumptuous, surreal exploration of femininity. The poet inhabits the voice of a goldfish through a series of linguistically experimental poems which plunge us into the glass bowl and invite us to gaze out. The poems are in turn sensual, spiky, and queasy, as the poet satirizes the patriarchy and issues a rallying cry for women broken down by society. Halfway through the book, the scope opens out to the world beyond the goldfish bowl, via the story of a free spirit passing through customs, a paean "to our white husbands", and a letter which heals old wounds.