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As Angela Leighton wrote in the Times Literary Supplement, Peter Robinson 'has been a generous promoter of contemporary poetry for decades, and this collection of essays bears witness to his dedication and energy.' What she had to say then of Twentieth Century Poetry: Selves and Situations (2005) could not be truer for The Personal Art, a new and comprehensive gathering of Robinson's critical writings on Anglophone poets from Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand. Here are essays and reviews of collections by poets he has admired and followed over some forty-five years. Veronica Forrest-Thomson, Elizabeth Bishop, Douglas Oliver, John James, Peter Riley, Sinead Morrissey, Peter Sirr, Derek Walcott and Bill Manhire are among the many writers whose work he addresses. To these have been added some memoirs on his childhood and youth in Liverpool, his becoming a reader, on the Cambridge Poetry Festival, the events around his diagnosis and operation for a benign brain tumour, and the importance of Roy Fisher as example and mentor. Robinson 'writes with an unformulaic enthusiasm,' Leighton observed, 'moving easily from biographical, political and poetic contexts to the nitty gritty of close reading, while also striking an easy, readable tone.' The Personal Art is an essential guide to the poetry that has shaped and fed the imagination of a distinctive and original poet. As with everything Robinson writes this is a beautifully crafted piece of work which, as much as his poetry, provides scope for repeated reading. It is a deeply personal book drawing on his literary, critical and philosophical passions -Belinda Cooke on Poetry & Translation: The Art of the Impossible in Agenda.

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Peter Robinson was born in Salford, Lancashire, in 1953 and grew up mainly in Liverpool. He is an internationally appreciated poet, whose Collected Poems was published by Shearsman Books in 2017, and has been awarded the Cheltenham Prize, the John Florio Prize, and two Poetry Book Society Recommendations for volumes of his poetry and translations. The Salt Companion to Peter Robinson, edited by Adam Piette and Katy Price, appeared in 2007 and a new volume of critical studies edited by Tom Phillips, Peter Robinson: A Portrait of his Work, was published by Shearsman Books simultaneously with this volume. He has also published aphorisms, short stories, literary fiction, and his six volumes of literary criticism are in print from the university presses of Oxford, Cambridge, and Liverpool. Two Rivers Press has published two of his collaborations with artists: English Nettles (with Sally Castle, 2010), and Bonjour Mr Inshaw, (with David Inshaw, 2020). Two Rivers Press also publishes Foreigners, Drunks and Babies: Eleven Stories (2013) and his second novel, The Constitutionals (2019). Peter Robinson is Professor of English and American Literature at the University of Reading.

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