I’m pretty excited about the arrival of these books. First, there are three poetry collections:

• The World’s Wife by Carol Ann Duffy. I won this book in a giveaway held by Andrew Blackman. It is a World Book Night 2011 edition which Andrew picked up for free and then decided to pass on.  Carol Ann Duffy was appointed poet laureate of Britain in 2009.  From Richard’s review:  “It’s a collection of poems all on the same theme of overturning male-centred history, literature and myth, and looking at familiar stories from the neglected wife’s perspective”.
• Being Human, edited by Neil Astley.  I won this in The Parrish Lantern’s giveaway during the Literary Giveaway Blog Hop.  The book’s cover says the anthology is companion to both Staying Alive and Being Alive poetry collections.  There are hundreds of poem and poets represented in this anthology.
• The Place We Call Home and Other Poems by Kofi Anyidoho.  The publisher, ayebia, sent this to me.  Kofi Anyidoho is one of Ghana’s foremost poets.  The book includes an audio recording of all the poems read by the poet. Yummy!

Also received from ayebia are the following:

•  Claudia Jones: Beyond Containment, edited by Carole Boyce Davies.  The Trinidad-born Jones was a political activist and active communist.  She was deported from the United States in the 1950s.  She settled permanently in the UK where she is remembered as the “mother of the Notting Hill Carnival”. The book includes “autobiographical essay, reflections and poems”.
• And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night: a memoir by Jack Mapanje.  The prison memior chronicles the author’s unlawful detainment by the Malawian state.

Thanks to the *givers* :). I will be talking about each of these books in due course.