An authoritative collection of poems from other cultures for the 21st century. Poets included range from Valerie Bloom, Jackie Kay, Benjamin Zephaniah, Lemn Sissay, Meiling Jin, Tao Lang Pee and Bekleen Leong to Rabrindranath Tagore, Monica Alvi and Chuang Tzu. Comprising over 100 contributions there is a balance of poets in ethnicity and gender, and of poems in content, form and style. Themes covered include: Food, festivals and festivities; Race, culture and identity; Families and friends; Language and nonsense; The animal world; Nature and environment; School and play; and Mystery, myth and magic.

 

There are 160 pages in this book. This book was published 2004 by Hachette Children's Group .

Debjani Chatterjee was born in India and came to Britain at nineteen. She attended seven schools and four universities, worked in the steel industry, education and community relations, and is now a full-time writer. She chairs the National Association of Writers in Education, contributes to the Poetry Society's poetryclass website and is a founder member of The Bengali Women's Support Group. The author of thirty-five books, Debjani has been called 'a voice of rare originality' (David Morley) and 'a poet full of wit and charm' (Andrew Motion). Her poetry has won major prizes. Debjani Chatterjee and Bashabi Fraser are Indian-born writers who live in Sheffield and Edinburgh. Debjani went to school and university in India, Japan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Egypt and England. She has worked in the steel industry and in community relations, and been a teacher and lecturer. She is now a full time writer/storyteller who enjoys working with children. She has written, edited and translated over 30 books. Bashabi moved between India and Britain for her school and university education. She teaches English Literature in two British universities. She has written, translated and edited poems, stories and articles for several books. She loves doing poetry and dance workshops and storytelling sessions with children.