Archipelago : A Reader ed by Nicholas Allen & Fiona Stafford
Trade paperback format.
Archipelago is one of the most important and influential literary magazines of the last twenty years. Running to twelve editions, it was edited by Andrew McNeillie, with the assistance later of James McDonald Lockhart, and began as an attempt to reimagine the relationships between the islands of Ireland and Britain. Archipelago has brought together established and emerging artists in creative conversations that have transformed the study of islands, coasts and waterways. It journeys from the Shetlands to Cornwall, from the Aran Islands to the coast of Yorkshire, tracing the cultures of diverse zones through some of the best in contemporary writing about place and people.
This collection gathers poetry, prose, visual art and newly commissioned work in clusters grouped around the Irish and British archipelago, with contributions from an array of significant artists.
With 50 contributors, Archipelago: A Reader includes writings from:
- Moya Cannon
- Deirdre Ní Chonghaile
- Tim Dee
- David Douglas
- Seamus Heaney
- Kathleen Jamie
- Michael Longley
- Robert Macfarlane
- Derek Mahon
- Andrew McNeillie
- Sinéad Morrissey
- Richard Murphy
- James MacDonald Lockhart
- Alice Oswald
- and many more!
‘A hefty reminder of everything that was good about what McNeillie & co produced over the magazine’s twelve editions.’ – Times Literary Supplement
‘Archipelago: A Reader includes a remarkable abundance of good writing and poems.’ – Michael Viney, The Irish Times
‘Archipelago is a vast, commodious and engrossing accumulation of a wealth of environmental and topographical observation and appraisal. A slow accumulation, for the pieces gathered here are all reflective and discerning, and sometimes elegiac or idiosyncratic.’ – Patricia Craig, Dublin Review of Books
‘This book is thrilling: it leaves the reader scrambling for ground: Is every possible interpretation or nuance about archipelagoes contained here? The possibility enthrals. Within the compendium individual writers reveal their own sources so the effect is like a Russian doll of mysteries within mysteries. The editors are to be praised for uniting these threads into a rare and colourful garment.’ – Dan MacCarthy, Irish Examiner