Sunshine is the new collection from Next Generation Poet Melissa Lee-Houghton. A writer of startling confession, her poems inhabit the lonely hotel rooms, psych wards and deserted lanes of austerity Britain.

Sunshine combines acute social observation with a dark, surreal humour born of first-hand experience. Abuse, addiction and mental health are all subject to Lee-Houghton’s poetic eye. But these are also poems of extravagance, hope and desire, that stake new ground for the Romantic lyric in an age of social media and internet porn. In this new book of poems, Melissa Lee-Houghton shines a light on human ecstasy and sadness with blinding precision.

Includes ‘i am very precious’ – Shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem 2016.

WINNER, SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD
SHORTLISTED, COSTA BOOK AWARDS
SHORTLISTED, TED HUGHES AWARD
SHORTLISTED, FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST SINGLE POEM
BEST POETRY BOOKS OF 2016, THE GUARDIAN