Amanda Hall

Chrysanthemum Fire: 500 Haiku is written in English and translated into French. The four seasons, the transition from winter to spring, birds, bees, wildflowers and trees are juxtaposed with bird-boxes and cardinals, coyotes and their howl. Best enjoyed with tea, cookies, and a dog that does not yowl.

Winner of the 2025 British Association for Irish Studies Book Prize As the United Kingdom continues to grapple with the aftermath of Brexit, one corner of the Union has remained caught in the crosshairs. Northern Ireland has been the subject of renewed scrutiny since 2016, as efforts to leave the European Union come up against the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and threaten the region’s hard-won peace. The reasons for these challenges can be traced back to the Agreement itself, as the negotiated settlement and its immediate aftermath set in place a strained peace. This book examines the function – and dysfunction – of peace after 1998 to explain why its endurance cannot be taken for granted. Strained peace stands apart from the traditional peace/violence binary. Structures of conflict and patterns of division are reiterated in the structures of peace. Tensions might relax just as they might be inflamed by new challenges, but the threat of a return to violence is never fully gone. This book explores how such a condition developed between Good Friday and Brexit, addressing variations in the quality of peace in the insecurity of official structures at Stormont, the shifting role of community groups and the third sector, and the adaptation of culture as a “culture war” replaced physical violence on the streets.

Raven has flown down from his world above the sky and has filled the Earth with creatures. But when he sees that the people have forgotten to respect what he has created, Raven angrily rips the shining sun from its place in the sky, leaving the Earth to freeze with just the moon for light. Life becomes hard for the people below. Little Darkness is an ordinary Inuit boy, except that he has been born with a special gift. But he will only discover it when he finds a strange object on the ice and hears the haunting lullaby his mother sang to him when he was a little baby. In deciding to pick up the object, his adventure will begin, taking him into a vast world beyond imagining. His journey will change him, the Earth, and all its inhabitants forever. Song of the Raven offers an Inuit message of hope and healing for children, parents, teachers, and anyone who wants to cherish and sustain our beautiful Earth.

Making Tutus is a practical guide to making these traditional costumes for classical ballet dancers. As with the tutu itself, the book approaches the task in three parts – the tutu plate, the bodice and the decorative sections. It shares the secrets of a leading costume-maker as it explains the challenging task of, on the one hand, creating a light and beautiful ballet outfit suitable for performance and, on the other, making a comfortable and hardwearing costume that suits a character. In doing so, it reveals the extraordinary talent and techniques required by the costume-maker.

This book is a full calendar of meditations, aphorisms and witticisms to greet the day with, or to take in at night.

Despite homelessness, an author presses on with poetry designed to save her and her husband's soul.

This is the collection of three children's stories, told in poetry, that are now being collected for the first time: The Evening Conference of Kung-Fu Kitty, Kung-Fu Kitty in the Kitchen, and Kung-Fu Kitty at Eastern Poetry.

At dawn of her wedding day, horsewoman Jacqueline Knoll leaves her sleeping fianc to slip out for an early morning ride. Alone on the country road, she relishes the past year of her engagement, and anticipates a future which looks as open and welcoming as the terrain she travels with her Morgan horse, Fig. A sharp bend in the road leads to an unexpected encounter with a pack of savage beasts who do not share Jacqueline's spirit, or care at all for humanity . . . .

All about living as an artist--that is the quest underlying the scenes you'll read. Can artists actually be artists? Is it too intense for the faint-of-heart? Cheer Authur on as he fights stereotypes and cheapness, in favor of individual expression and quality.

The Morality Plays X: Roots of Wisdom In the final of ten Classical Dialogues, Wisdom and Trickery use their sorcery to impart their respective Dragon's Passion or Spider's Anemia, upon the realm of professional modeling. In poetry of envelope-rhymed and blank verse, Sapphic Stanzas and Chinese Fu, the Virtue and Vice seek to influence the course of aesthetics: Is a beautiful fashion model a cool. pretty exterior, or a three-dimensional being of Beauty in Mind and Soul, as well as Body? The Chorus of Graces presents the Question at Issue and Judgment, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

The Morality Plays IX: All the Shame In the ninth of ten Classical Dialogues, Pride and Shamelessness watch over two males discussing gifts for their girlfriends. In poetry of envelope-rhymed and blank verse, the Virtue and Vice offer advice about gift-giving: Should one be proud of knowing a partner's soul and speaking to it, or spending a great deal of money in ostentatious proof of material earnings? The Chorus of Furies presents the Conflict and Resolution, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

The Morality Plays VIII: Glutton for Moderation In the eighth of ten Classical Dialogues, Moderation and Gluttony create a commedia dell'arte scene at a banquet for film-star award winners. In envelope-rhymed and blank verse, the Virtue and Vice seek to encourage balance or clowning: Should an actress struggling financially give in to the lowbrow productions that would pay, yet violate her conscious aestheticism? The Chorus of Graces presents the Question at Issue and Judgment, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

The Morality Plays VII: Greens of Envy In the seventh of ten Classical Dialogues, Fairness and Envy cast an aura about two women, with opposite views as to the nature of fairness. Is what one person has-of material, spiritual or intellectual states-that which is taken away from another's body, soul or mind?-or do circumstances pertaining to material, spiritual or intellectual goods exist as a result of an individual's cultivation of them? Will tearing down a beautiful woman raise another woman up? The Chorus of Furies presents the Conflict and Resolution, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

The Morality Plays VI: Peace of Mind In the sixth of ten Classical Dialogues, Serenity and Wrath cast their spells over the gathering at a beach-front restaurant. With promptings in envelope-rhymed and blank verse, they tempt and warn: Should a caf owner subjected to the raging of an irate customer give in to the angry emotions she could reciprocate? The Chorus of Graces poses the Question and Judgment, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

The Morality Plays V: Busy Bees In the fifth of ten Classical Dialogues, Industry and Sloth preside over a homemaker's kitchen in which the industrious beekeeper is harassed by her neighbor, of fashionable debt-spending patterns. With aphoristic quips in envelope-rhymed and blank verse, the Virtue and Vice remark upon the situation: Should one fired from her job and in a financial bind be granted a job by the homemaker of opposite approach to skill-development and earning a living? The Chorus of Furies poses the Conflict and Resolution, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

The Morality Plays IV: Order Up In the fourth of ten Classical Dialogues, Order and Chaos seek to impart their influence on a young man with little interest in finishing his thesis on time or tidying his room. Entreating in envelope-rhymed and blank verse, the Virtue and Vice weigh the merits of the case: Is neatness of environment and thought a needless artifice? The Chorus of Graces presents the Question at Issue, and Resolution, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.

The Morality Plays III: A Generous Helping In the third of ten Classical Dialogues, Generosity and Greed evaluate the behaviors of two merchants with very different approaches to the marketplace; in envelope-rhymed and blank verse, they act to dissuade or goad: Should vendors participate in gossip about competitors, to acquire more in sales? The Chorus of Furies poses the Question and Judgment, in Strophe, Antistrophe and Epode.