Red, Cherry Red

A powerful poetry collection full of the drama, musicality and lyricism that Jackie Kay is famed for.

Exploring the themes of identity and age, this collection includes poems about the old days and the new days, and the places associated with an older generation, who often live dreamlike, isolated existences – not only geographically, but also in the memory.

Nature and the elements play a big role too: trees, the moon, the sea, fire. Jackie Kay's style is one moment witty, the next melancholic, or gently surreal – and in this brilliant reissued collection, her poems are infused with warmth and colour: in particular, the colour RED.

Perfect for fans of The Gift by Carol Ann Duffy and Rob Ryan, this gorgeous new gift edition is a must-have for any poetry fan.

About the Author

Jackie Kay is an award-winning writer of fiction, poetry and plays, whose subtle investigation into the complexities of identity have been informed by her own life. Born in Edinburgh to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father, she was adopted as a baby by a white couple. Kay's awareness of her different heritages inspired her first book of poetry, The Adoption Papers, which won the Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year and a commendation from the Forward Poetry Prize judges.

Subsequent collections have gone on to win numerous awards, and her first novel, Trumpet, won the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1998. Jackie has also written three collections for children: Three Has Gone and Two's Company, both published by Puffin, and The Frog Who Dreamed She Was an Opera Singer, published by Bloomsbury in 1998 and winner of the Signal Poetry Award. In 2006 Jackie was awarded an MBE. In 2007 she picked up the decibel Writer of the Year prize as part of the British Book Awards. Her plays include Chiarascuro and Twice Through the Heart.

She currently lives in Manchester.