Books
"Poetry transports us and forces us to imagine what it might be like to be someone or somewhere completely different"
Allie Esiri
in The Pool, 6 September, 2017
"Time’s the king of men;
he’s both their parent, and he is their grave,
and gives them what he will, not what they crave"
-Shakespeare
"[Shakespeare] is not of an age, but for all time"
Ben Johnson
1623
"[Shakespeare For Every Day of the Year] is not just for Christmas, but for all time"
Helena Bonham Carter
2019
Shakespeare For Every Day of the Year is Allie's latest collection, published in 2019 by Macmillan in ebook, audiobook and hardcover formats.
Each page contains an introductory paragraph and an extract, which might be a famous poem, speech or scene, matched to the date.
Tickets are available for Allie's events:
Cheltenham Literature Festival on 13 October. See
the festival's website for details.
National Theatre on Monday 11 November can be found on the
National Theatre website.
This is a really fine family anthology: just leave it around in the house and see how often everyone, not just the children, turns to it.
The Guardian, top 10 Poetry Anthologies
not only is it a thing of beauty, it also offers an accessible, informative, bitesize approach to poetry
The Daily Mail
30 November 2017
This eclectic collection of 366 poems bring us one to share on every day of the year; how about making a daily poem part of your family bedtime routine?. ... a comprehensive anthology for home libraries.
Parents in Touch
I'd recommend it to everyone
Jonathan Ross,
BBC Arts
A Poem for Every Day of the Year was published by Macmillan on 7 September 2017. It is available in hardback and audiobook.
A Poem for Every Day of the Year launched at the National Theatre in 2017 - joining Esiri on stage were actors Adjoa Andoh, Simon Russell Beale, Joanna Lumley, Stephen Mangan, Helen McCrory and Samuel West.
A Poem for Every Day of the Year was in The Observer, the Times and the New Statesmen books of the year. The Guardian recently chose it as one of their top ten poetry books.
The audiobook for A Poem for Every Day of the Year is read by Helena Bonham Carter and Simon Russell Beale
Winner of the 2017 IBW Award for Best Children's Book
top-selling new poetry title of 2016
A Poem For Every Night of the Year was published by Macmillan in 2016.
Allie launched this book at the National Theatre by hosting a show on 25 November 2016, featuring poems read by Samuel West, Hattie Morahan, Giles Terera and Kate Duchene. Allie has since done many similar events at The Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Oxford Literary Festival and Bath Festivals with such diverse talents as Tony Robinson, Sophie Turner, Ronni Ancona, Alexander Armstrong, Beatie Edney, Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory, Gina Bellman, Hugh Ross, Nathaniel Parker, Alison Steadman and Harry Enfield.
A beautifully illustrated anthology for children of all ages
Absolutely Notting Hill
One of the best poetry books of 2012
The Times
A beautiful book . . . It addresses a gamut of universal subjects that we all grapple with at one point or another in our lives
Red Online
There is little that is as deeply satisfying than the apt poem. It's like chocolate for the soul. Except less fattening. It resolves the nervous system, captures the elusive experience of being alive so we may always have it and never lose it. Give your child an appetite for poems and they will never be bored
Helena Bonham Carter on iF Poems
The iF anthology of poems - both beautiful and useful. What more could anyone want?
Erica Wagner The Times
The thing I really like about it is that I really like everything about it. An absolutely brilliant collection. I'm continually telling people to have some poetry in their lives. iF has made it a little easier for them
Benjamin Zephaniah
Beautifully illustrated . . . it's properly cool
Luciana Bellini, Tatler
A book full of old friends and some new surprises
Quentin Blake
A Rare Treat
Pavlova Diaries.co.uk
We love the app and now we love the book just as much. A poetry primer for kids that adults can enjoy too, organized thematically with poetry by Coleridge and Keats, Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, and many, many more. With artful illustrations by the super cool Natasha Law.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Goop
In this magical collection of over 150 of our best-loved poems, selected and introduced with informative paragraphs by the creators of the bestselling iF Poems app, discover the joy, solace and beauty of poetry with your family. Whether you're after a poem that is charming, funny, sad, silly, magical, sleepy, long or short, there's something in here for everyone. From Lear's The Owl and the Pussycat to Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade to Eliot's Macavity the Mystery Cat, these are poems to pass down the generations. A favourite poem will stay with you for life, and this beautifully illustrated collection for children aged 0 to 90 is sure to delight and entertain for years to come.
If you need cheering up...
If you need guidance...
If you want to laugh...
If you need courage...
Sometimes only a poem will do.
The Love Book:
Classic and Contemporary Poems, Letters and Prose on the Wonderful (But Troublesome) Theme of Love
Buy It Now
A sumptuous collection of poetry and prose
Herald
If you're looking for a Valentine's Day gift, you can't do better than this
Mail on Sunday
Filled with stories, poems and letters about the L word, it'll make you feel all warm and fuzzy
Sainsbury's Magazine
An inspired selection of classic and contemporary poetry and prose on amatory themes, in a beautifully designed cloth-bound volume
Juanita Coulson Lady
This is not just another collection, this is an Esiri collection – a reverently considered and gracefully realised book that allows the greatest loves of all time to live on in its pages
Georgia Mizen The Upcoming
An indispensable collection for anyone who’s ever had a heart.
The book to go with
the app, published by Random House, 2014.
THE LOVE BOOK presents a new anthology of writings about love. There’s true love, unrequited love, erotic love, platonic love, thwarted love, comic love, mourned love and just about every other type of love, explored here in poetry, prose, letters and lyrics from the greatest writers in the English language.
In one fabulously comprehensive volume, Allie brings together texts ancient and modern, from William Shakespeare to Sharon Olds, Catullus to Carol Ann Duffy, the bible to Bob Dylan.