May Day

At the core of this vital and wonderful book are Jackie’s activist parents, and the book is filled with marches, demos, protests, dreams of Peggy Seeger and memories of Hugh MacDiarmid pushing a pram. Here’s a beautiful writer at the top of her game and if I ran Britain I would give out copies on the NHS. It’s a sublime, joyous, pot-banging volume of genius -- Andrew O'Hagan, author of <i>Mayflies</i> and <i>Caledonian Road</i> * Guardian * Jackie Kay is a distinctively Scottish voice in British poetry. In her new collection, May Day, accessible and gratifying, the personal and the political are seamlessly interwoven. -- Linton Kwesi Johnson, dub poet, activist and author of <i>Mi Revalueshanary Fren</i> and <i>Time Come</i> Jackie Kay is the people‘s poet because she puts language where it starts - in our mouths, and holds it where it belongs - in our hearts -- Jeanette Winterson, author of <i>Frankissstein</i> and <i>Oranges Are not the Only Fruit</i> What a timely reminder, as our right to peaceful protest is under threat, of the sense of community that comes from raising our voices together against war, injustice and oppression, of the power of protest, and of the joy of resistance. And threading these poems together, as always in Jackie's work, is love. Love of family, of friends and lovers, of art & music, of nature, of words, love for the world. This book made me want to fight harder, shout louder, stand taller and love better. -- Julie Hesmondhalgh, actress and star of <i> Coronation Street</i>, <i>Happy Valley</i> and <i>Broadchurch</i> May Day is a page-turner. This collection presents her signature mixture of close-up scrutiny and wide coverage of past and present, short and long, personal and political, colloquial and literary, humorous and outrageous . . . May Day is a banquet, with interesting company on your left and right, especially the left. Dozens of dog-eared pages await my next return – most likely tomorrow. -- Peggy Seeger Jackie’s poetry exudes warmth and generosity, while simultaneously inclined towards poetry as an ethical undertaking, something that impels the spirit while protective of the vulnerable. Jackie’s direct style has always tugged at the heart and soul, and the ethical mind of her readers . . . the most forgiving of analytical songsters currently at work. -- Fred D'Aguiar, poet and author of <i> Letters to America </i> and <i> For the Unnamed </i> Kay's impeccable musicality is a delight -- Rishi Dastidar * Guardian *