{"title":"Two Rivers Press","description":"\u003chr\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFounded in 1994 by Reading artist Peter Hay, Two Rivers Press is an informal, not-for-profit collective which has published over 70 titles. It has been described by Keiren Phelan as “one of the most characterful small presses in the country”.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eStrongly rooted in its local community, Two Rivers was the recipient of a Pride of Reading award in 2008 for its contributions to the city's culture, through local groups, including the University and the local Poets' Café. \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTwo Rivers is interested in new writing from Reading and the Thames Valley, focusing on local poets, local history, and new editions of classic poems, especially those with a Reading connection: for example, Oscar Wilde’s \u003cem\u003eThe Ballad of Reading Gaol\u003c\/em\u003e. Bold illustration and striking design are important elements of its work, which has been featured in exhibitions in local museums. Poets published by Two Rivers include Adrian Blamires, Jane Draycott, A.F. Harrold, Kate Noakes, Peter Robinson and Susan Utting.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eCreative entrepreneur Suzanne Stallard describes a Two Rivers book as having \"little works of art in your hand\".  \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003ctable style=\"width: 472px; height: 100px;\" border=\"0\" align=\"center\"\u003e\r\n\u003ctbody\u003e\r\n\u003ctr\u003e\r\n\u003ctd style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTwo Rivers Press\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e7 Denmark Road\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReading\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBerks\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRG1 5PA\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e \u003c\/td\u003e\r\n\u003ctd\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTel: +44 (0)118 987 1452\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehttp:\/\/www.tworiverspress.com\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\r\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\r\n\u003c\/tbody\u003e\r\n\u003c\/table\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003chr\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"hearthstone","title":"Hearthstone","description":"Blacksmith poet, \u003cb\u003eJoseph Butler\u003c\/b\u003e, was born in Oxford in 1962. He has earned his living as a farmer, teacher, and boatbuilder as well as blacksmithing. These poems grew out of working with a family of 3 generations of blacksmiths in an Oxfordshire forge, they are linked up with the Greek myth of \u003ci\u003eHera\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eHephaistos\u003c\/i\u003e, the crippled god of fire and metalworking, and patron of craftsmen, and bound up with his own family drama. This is his first, exhilarating poetry collection. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"Joseph Butler’s first full collection Hearthstone is stunning. It keeps to its themes of violence and transformation, both human and material, with an unbending clarity of vision and linguistic exactness. These poems are all crafted things, with the stalwartness and grace of perfect ironwork. They mark without question the appearance of a major talent.\"\u003c\/i\u003e — Bernard O’Donoghue\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"A striking new talent, he bring the skills of is craftsmanship to his poems. In just a few words he unlocks a new world. 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They are verbally scrupulous, exact and minutely observant. These poems are the real thing: serious about being human and being at home in the world.\"\u003cbr\u003eBernard O'Donoghue\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The poems in this collection wear their scholarship lightly, often with a formal dexterity that is deeply satisfying. AF Harrold doesn't censor his extraordinary and generous imagination; he enters the territory between this world and whatever comes after it, writing so clearly and tenderly about death, memory and love that I felt both bruised and stroked. Of course he cannot drive - and makes the most eloquent and delightful case for the poet as passenger: he is too busy observing, taking notes, with accuracy and compassion, never missing a trick, and very much enjoying the ride.\"\u003cbr\u003eCatherine Smith\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The title poem of A.F. Harrold’s second collection presents with acute attention to detail the things most do not think of: the fate of fish after a flood, for instance, or the meaning behind a broken watch. Harrold is a recognised stand-up poet, but although still amusing at times, this collection shows less reliance on humour than in his performances.  He plays witness to a mix of the comedic and the tragic, perhaps epitomized in a poem where the he expresses his discontent with receiving impersonal letters on Valentine’s Day... ‘Knot’ presents a similarly familiar setting, a party in which there are ‘little knots of memory and people – too sober to meet strangers, too drunk to let things be’.  Most of these poems are written in free verse, with plenty of rhythm; but another stand-out poem, ‘Keep on Keeping On’, is the only one which actively bridges the gap between page and stage poetry.  Another favourite is ‘Grace’, the last in a sequence of love poems, which is a touching account of lost love through the image of a fingertip. The collection is observant, thoughtful and imaginative, the perfect page companion to A.F. Harrold’s stage performances.\"\u003cbr\u003eCarmina Masoliver-Marlow, \u003ci\u003eHand+Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Two Rivers Press","offers":[{"title":"Book","offer_id":1040931396,"sku":"9781901677706","price":8.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7369\/products\/2_2_0435b6a0-a0f4-49bd-a77e-9cb375defeb8.jpeg?v=1752237105"},{"product_id":"down-by-the-river-the-thames-and-kennet-in-reading","title":"Down by the River: the Thames and Kennet in Reading","description":"The book is attractively designed, thoroughly researched, and generously provided with maps, drawings, and contemporary photographs, many not seen before.\u003cbr\u003eThe author writes with local people in mind and her book will be of interest to local and family historians, as well as those with an interest in river activities.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book tells the stories of those who worked on the rivers: millers, bargemasters, lock-keepers, fishermen and boat-builders. And later when the rivers became places of recreation the focus is again on local people enjoying swimming, angling and rowing, individually and in galas, competitions and regattas. \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Two Rivers Press","offers":[{"title":"Book","offer_id":1040932844,"sku":"9781901677584","price":16.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7369\/products\/2_2_0e13bc15-e981-4570-8948-987e6cfc772c.jpeg?v=1752238178"},{"product_id":"cat-jeoffry","title":"Cat Jeoffry","description":"\u003ci\u003eCat Jeoffry\u003c\/i\u003e is a self-contained passage from Christopher Smart’s much longer work Jubilate Agno (Rejoice in the Lamb), and one of the most famous pieces of poetry ever written about a cat. This new edition retains the original Peter Hay illustrations, using his rubber stamps and linocuts, and adds Tom Woodman’s informative commentary to place \u003ci\u003eCat Jeoffry\u003c\/i\u003e in the context of Smart’s life and works.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristopher Smart\u003c\/b\u003e (1722-1771) was born in Shipbourne, Kent. A Cambridge graduate, he spent over ten years of his life in mental institutions, suffering from a form of religious hysteria. In 1936 W.B. Yeats singled out Smart’s \u003ci\u003eA Song to David\u003c\/i\u003e in the introduction to \u003ci\u003eThe Oxford Book of Modern Verse\u003c\/i\u003e as the inaugural poem of the Romantic period; Dante Gabriel Rossetti pronounced it “the only accomplished poem of the last century”. 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With each successive poem, Sublime Lungs expands the scope of how this condition affects one’s experience of the world in poems by turns witty and moving. This is poetry that attunes us to the nuances of our own embodiment.’ — CARRIE ETTER\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Two Rivers Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":55515823440257,"sku":"9781915048318","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7369\/files\/9781915048318.jpg?v=1783605482"},{"product_id":"the-kind-hosts-of-willie-wimmera","title":"The Kind Hosts of Willie Wimmera","description":"\u003cp\u003eWillie Wimmera, an Aboriginal boy, was ten years old when clergyman Lloyd Chase brought him from Melbourne to Reading in 1851. Tragically, he became ill and died only a few months after his arrival. He is buried in Reading Old Cemetery, his grave marked ‘An Australian boy’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA member of the Wotjobaluk People from the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia, Willie couldn’t have been further from home – or in a place more different. What was he doing here? Who knew him and where did he live?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA contemporary memoir, republished here for the first time, provides the starting point for this investigation. With information gleaned from the 1851 UK Census and other primary sources, Mary Chambers paints a fascinating picture of Willie Wimmera – creative, curious, affectionate, and sometimes rebellious – and his ‘kind hosts’, the people closest to him during the short time he spent in England.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Two Rivers Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":55896461803905,"sku":"9781915048363","price":12.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0441\/7369\/files\/9781915048363.jpg?v=1783604352"}],"url":"https:\/\/inpressbooks.co.uk\/collections\/two-rivers-press-1\/mary-chambers.oembed","provider":"Inpress Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}