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Synopsis

Poets Pick Their Favourite Poems.

Set your sights and keep them fixed
Set your sights on high
Let no-one steal your dreams
Your only limit is the sky.

Let No-One Steal Your Dreams is Paul Cookson's favourite poem. Jez Alborough chooses his poem about an irrepressible cough, Stewart Henderson is on a flight from Ecuador to Mars, Valerie Bloom shivers from 'de cold' and Angela Topping follows a witch in the supermarket, buying toad ice cream.

A hundred and one poets have each chosen on of their own poems, and in this varied and very personal collection, they explain why the poems are important and special to them.

There are poems that will make you laugh out loud, poems which make you think and others that are highly-charged and emotional. Each poet gives their reasons for choosing their favourite, and this fabulous collection offers a fascinating insight into the minds of some our best contemporary poets, such as John Agard, Wendy Cope, Roger McGough, Gareth Owen, Michael Rosen and Kevin Crossley-Holland.

One hundred and one favourite poems. Which one will be yours?

About the Author

John Foster was born in Carlisle, and educated at Denstone college in Staffordshire and Brasenose College, Oxford. For over twenty years he taught English in comprehensive schools, worked part-time as an advisory English teacher and lectured in teacher training at Westminster College, Oxford. He began his career as an author writing school text books and is well-known for his English course books and three best-selling personal Social Education books for secondary schools.

In 1979 he compiled his first anthology and is now the country's leading poetry anthologist for children with over one hundred collections of poetry for OUP. Among his best-known books are A First Poetry Book and his titles with Korky Paul.

John has written nine collections of his own poetry, including Four O'Clock Friday, which was in Children's Books of the Year 1991. He is much in demand as a performance poet, and has given over five hundred performances in schools and libraries. He regularly takes part in book festivals, and has performed in schools in Europe, the Middle East and the West Indies.

John is married and lives in Oxfordshire. He has two grown-up sons and two grandchildren. Evie and Louis. His hobbies include gardening, swimming and skiing and he is a passionate supporter of Carlisle United.