Collected Poems

When Michael Donaghy died in 2004 - unexpectedly at the tragically young age of 50, of a brain aneurism - the UK lost one of its best-loved poets. Michael was not only a brilliant, prize-laden poet and performer of his own work, but a great teacher and inspirer of others. Coverage of his death was unprecedented. Picador published his final book a year later, and it met with great critical acclaim. Now we have collected together all his mature work, including around twenty previously unpublished pieces. Published together with his Collected Prose, this as a major literary event. We have commissioned a major critical essay from pre-eminent poetry critic, Sean O'Brien. This is a hugely important book by a writer who will come to be regarded as a late-modern metaphysical, and one of the representative voices of the age. Michael Donaghy was exceptionally talented in the simple business of the composition of verses. His books are full of wonderful stories, immensely readable and entertaining the first time round; and all reveal, through subsequent readings, astonishing and often dark layers.