I'll be boarding a plane next week for solo time with me, myself and I! So, opening my inbox this morning to find this piece of news from Faber and Faber regarding their posting of an exclusive reading by poet, playwright, and Oxford Professor of Poetry Simon Armitage's poem 'Thank You for Waiting' seemed rather serendipitous.

'Thank You for Waiting' is one of the poems that appears in Armitage's new book 'The Unaccompanied', published by Faber & Faber. It will have anyone who's ever flown anywhere nodding their head in complete understanding! Here is a free exclusive reading of the poem on the Faber & Faber website.

'The Unaccompanied' documents a world on the brink, a world of unreliable seasons and unstable coordinates, where Odysseus stalks the aisles of cut-price supermarkets in search of direction, where the star of Bethlehem rises over industrial Yorkshire, and where alarm bells for ailing communities go unheeded or unheard. Looking for certainty the mind gravitates to recollections of upbringing and family, only to encounter more unrecoverable worlds, shaped as ever through Armitage's gifts for clarity and detail as well as his characteristic dead-pan wit.

​Insightful, relevant and empathetic, these poems confirm 'The Unaccompanied' as a bold new statement of intent by one of our most respected and recognised living poets.

'Stay With Me' by Ayobami Adebayo
'The Power' by Naomi Alderman
'Hag-Seed' by Margaret Atwood
'Little Deaths' by Emma Flint
'The Mare' by Mary Gaitskill
'The Dark Circle' by Linda Grant
'The Lesser Bohemians' by Eimear McBride
'Midwinter' by Fiona Melrose
'The Sport of Kings' by C.E. Morgan
'The Woman Next Door' by  Yewande Omotoso
'The Lonely Hearts Hotel' by Heather O’Neill
'The Essex Serpent' by Sarah Perry
'Barkskins' by Annie Proulx
'First Love' by Gwendoline Riley
'Do Not Say We Have Nothing' by Madeleine Thien
'The Gustav Sonata' by Rose Tremain

This year’s recipients of one of the world’s richest literature prizes, The Windham-Campbell Prizes, for the first time include poets, alongside writers of fiction, non fiction, and drama. The awards will be conferred in September at an international literary festival at Yale, celebrating the honoured writers and introducing them to new audiences. They will each receive $165,000 to support their writing.

Established in 2013 with a gift from the late Donald Windham in memory of his partner of forty years, Sandy M. Campbell, the Prizes are celebrating their fifth year of existence. English language writers from anywhere in the world are eligible. Prize recipients are nominated confidentially and judged anonymously. The call that Prize recipients receive from program director Michael Kelleher is the first time that they have learned of their consideration.

This year’s Windham-Campbell Prize recipients are:

In Fiction: André Alexis and Erna Brodber.
In Non Fiction: Maya Jasanoff and Ashleigh Young
In poetry: Ali Cobby Eckermann and Carolyn Forché
In drama: Marina Carr and Ike Holter.

The Windham-Campbell Festival will take place from September 13-15, 2017 at Yale, and begins with an awards ceremony and an invited speaker who gives a talk entitled, “Why I Write.” This year’s keynote will be delivered by Karl Ove Knausgård. Yale’s campus is in New Haven, Connecticut, two hours by train from both New York and Boston, and all events are free and open to the public.