bone

Description

A new voice - honest and stark, raw and beautiful - emerges in this breakthrough work (previously self-published) from Instagram star Yrsa Daley-Ward 'You will come away bruised. You will come away bruised but this will give you poetry.' Global star Yrsa Daley-Ward's collection bone is something unique and beautiful. Visceral, revealing, and unrelenting, Yrsa's poetry ranges from brief glimpses of stark emotional reality that have won her tens of thousands of Instagram followers to longer, often autobiographical poems that delve deep into her Afro-Caribbean heritage, mental health, and sexuality. This fearless collection from an unflinchingly strong new voice cements Yrsa as one of the most exciting young poets of the day.

Known for her large online presence and talks at global speaking events including TED x, Yrsa Daley-Ward is a writer, actor and model of Jamaican and Nigerian heritage. Yrsa was raised by her devout Seventh Day Adventist grandparents in the small town of Chorley in the North of England and now lives and works in New York City. Yrsa recently appeared in Peter Bowker's adrenalized, emotionally gripping BBC drama WORLD ON FIRE following the "intertwining fates" of ordinary people from Britain, Poland, France and Germany during the first year of the Second World War. She played working-class, opinionated jazz piano player and singer 'Connie Knight'. Yrsa starred alongside Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt, Sean Bean and Lesley Manville. In her writing, Yrsa tackles issues dealing with all parts of the human condition, particularly those 'we don't tend to speak of.' Issues of social awareness such as mental health, sexuality, love, grief and addiction. "If you are afraid to write it, that's a good sign." As an author, she is best known for her debut collection Bone (2017) and her critically acclaimed poetic memoir The Terrible (2018), both published by Penguin. Yrsa can be found on Instagram @YrsaDaleyWard.

Honest, unflinching and unforgettable . . . one of Britain's best writers an expert storyteller. of the rarest. and purest kind--daley-ward is uncannily attentive and in tune to the things beneath life. beneath the skin. beneath the weather of the everyday. Yrsa's work is like holding the truth in your hands. It sweats and breathes before you. A glorious living thing You may think poetry is not for you, but please push yourself a little, go out of your comfort zone and buy bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward ... You will thank us for it * BBC Radio 5 Live * [bone] will hit you like a gut punch ... Some poems had me weeping; I printed others to pin to my wall for daily inspiration * Elle * [Yrsa Daley-Ward] is at the realm of a new wave of contemporary poets who inspire an unprecedented level of empathy and accessibility through their honest and raw approach . . . [A] powerful collection of a woman facing tumultuous inner and external battles head on, delivered with a hard-hitting directness, yet with inflections of optimism throughout that are bound to touch readers to their core * i-D Magazine * One of the must-reads of the year * Evening Standard * Another stunning excavator of human heat and light, Yrsa Daley-Ward goes straight to the messy beating heart of animal attraction with bone, mesmerizing poems that strip bare the pain and beauty of negotiating longing, sex and love * Huffington Post * Beautiful ... Moving ... Touching