Simon Mundy

Simon Mundy's new collection of poems is inspired by the landscapes of Powys, Italy, and a number of islands all over the world – Grenada, Jamaica, Shetland. And as the title suggests, More for Helen of Troy is concerned with desire: for the ideal of a beautiful woman in 'Mermaid'; for the vision of a pristine country and seaside, as in 'Radnor Songs' and 'Aspects of Sea'. As in the Trojan title sequence, these poems are both poignantly lyrical in depicting our pursuit of lofty ideals, and keenly satirical of life's inevitable disappointments. Helen proves to be an imago for women from all times: pursued, desired, lonely, restless, she haunts the poet's imagination throughout."The poems are always entertaining for their formal play and their lively lingo. Mundy can be cheeky, he can be rueful but he is always passionate." Daljit NagraSimon Mundy has broadcast for over thirty years on BBC Radio 3 and 4, and was the founder of the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (now Culture Action Europe). He has written three poetry collections, three novels (two as James Eno) – most recently Silent Movements (2008) – and several biographies of classical musicians, including Elgar, Purcell and Tchaikovsky. He has read his work all over the world, from the Hay Festival to Brisbane. He lives in the border hills of Wales.

Simon Mundy's Selected Poems is a monumental collection that brings together work published in five collections, across five decades, including the critically acclaimed By Fax to Alice Springs and More for Helen of Troy, as well as the more recent Waiting for Music, which included many of his collaborations with composers. Published to coincide with the poet's seventieth birthday, this selection of Mundy's work draws on his deep and enduring love of the arts and travel, and paints portraits of people, land and seascapes the world over.

The Café Franck in Brussels' Place Flagey puts people at their ease – artists with European politicians and their assistants, tousled intellectuals with bar staff, twenty-somethings in need of a job with thirty-somethings who have one. Set in 2013, Flagey in Winter is a comedy of manners that takes place in the European Parliament itself, in bars where love and politics rub shoulders, and in the Italian Dolomites.

Stories surrounding the legendary King Arthur have been told since time immemorial, and every generation has a new take on the tale. The Fragile Land approaches the legend from a radical angle, setting it firmly in the post-Roman world of late fifth-century Europe, when the language of Britannia was still Brythonic and the Saxons had not yet superimposed their own place names. The Fragile Land chronicles the crucial years of Arthur's life, from the age of fifteen into his early thirties, as he comes to the fore as elected Overlord, empowered to confront the Barbarian threat and to keep the factious leaders of the island's kingdoms in some sort of political alliance. Enhanced by a beautifully illustrated map by the artist Kate Milsom, Simon Mundy's cunningly woven tale of an island in unrest draws subtle parallels with contemporary cultural disputes and casts the legend in a whole new light.

As featured on CNN’s Amanpour & Company and BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week with Andrew Marr One of the Financial Times’ best books of 2021 In this compelling journey through twenty-six countries, Simon Mundy traces how the struggle to respond to the climate crisis is rapidly reshaping the modern world – shattering communities, shaking global business and propelling waves of cutting-edge innovation. Telling unforgettable human stories, meeting scientists and business tycoons, activists and political leaders, this is an account of disaster and survival, of frantic adaptation and groundbreaking innovation, of hope, and of the forces that will define our future. More praise ‘Urgent reading … A truly global journey’ SOPHY ROBERTS ‘Vivid and informed’ ADAM NICOLSON ‘I took a great sense of hope’ RICHARD POWERS ‘Reads like a thriller’ MARK LYNAS ‘An inspiring piece of work’ MICHAEL E. MANN ‘Utterly unlike any book yet written in this field’ ANAND MAHINDRA ‘Gripping … A must-read for every concerned global citizen’ NANDAN NILEKANI

'Utterly unlike any book yet written in this field. Packed with vivid human stories, from the most desperately challenged communities to the highest levels of global business and politics, it's an essential guide' ANAND MAHINDRA

As featured on CNN's AmanpourCompany and BBC Radio 4's Start the Week with Andrew MarrOne of the Financial Times' best books of 2021

Waiting for Music is the fifth collection of poetry from the acclaimed writer Simon Mundy. A great champion of the arts, his relationships with musicians, visual artists and dancers are the main driving force behind his poetry, and this book sets out a playlist that stems from music, visual art and dance – from Brahms' late piano works to a scene for soprano and dancers, written to be set by Roxanna Panufnik, that was inspired by a 16th century picture in the National Gallery. Published after a year spent waiting for music to appear on our landscape once more, Waiting for Music collects the voices of an array of composers, cultures and forms, set against backdrops ranging from Valparaiso to the Veneto, and celebrates the sounds and stages that have been missing from our lives this silent year.

By Fax to Alice Springs was Simon Mundy's second book of poems, including work from 1987 to 1995. As the title implies, the poems were written all over the world – North Carolina to Italy, Moravia to Australia – as well as in Mundy's home territory on the borders of Wales. They reflect his intense sense of the spirit of place as well as his wry approach to politics and bittersweet relationship with women.