All Points North: the bestselling memoir from the new Poet Laureate

(Paperback)

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A revised and expanded reissue of Simon Armitages universally acclaimed bestselling memoir about growing up in the north of England All Points North is part-memoir and part-excursion. Charting the rugged and uneven terrain of a writer's formative years - from tax problems to probation to American tours, football to family to running away to Iceland - Simon Armitage explores growing up and being Northern. It's about humour, language, writing, film, houses, homes, time wasters, one loose tyre, you, me and all points in-between.

Reviews

A joy. Celebrates the real world and revels in its mad glory -- Sue Townsend * Sunday Times *
I was irresistibly reminded of Alan Bennett - there is the same wry humour, wonderfully telling selection of detail or remark . . . a fine balance of humour and poignancy * The Times *
The salty prose of an original poetic voice -- Melvyn Bragg * Observer *
A thoughtful, witty combination of travel writing, autobiography and Alan Bennett-style diary -- John-Paul Flintoff * Daily Telegraph *
Laugh-out-loud funny . . . has all the resonant precision of a poet's ear and eye * Independent *
An original and talented writer . . . highly entertaining and there are flashes of wit and moments of tenderness and brilliantly accurate observation -- Vernon Scannell * Sunday Telegraph *
The best book I have read in a long time on what he insists is the true North of England -- Geoffrey Moorhouse * Daily Telegraph *
I was irresistibly reminded of Alan Bennett - there is the same wry humour, wonderfully telling selection of detail or remark... a fine balance of humour and poignancy * The Times *
The salty prose of an original poetic voice -- Melvyn Bragg * Observer *
Laugh-out-loud funny... has all the resonant precision of a poet's ear and eye * Independent *
A delight - high-spirited, light-footed, very funny and wickedly observamt -- Jonathan Raban * The Times Literary Supplement *
A joy. Celebrates the real world and revels in its mad glory -- Sue Townsend * Sunday Times *

Author Bio

Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire in 1963. In 1992 he won one of the first Forward Prizes for poetry, and a year later was the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. His Selected Poems appeared in 2001, and in 2007 he published a highly praised translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He received an Ivor Novello Award for his song lyrics in the BAFTA-winning film Feltham Sings. Simon Armitage works as a freelance writer, broadcaster and playwright, and has written extensively for radio and television. He was made Poet Laureate in 2019.