From punk to mod to New Romantic, and eventually to acclaimed poet, Simon Armitage writes about a life where music and poetry have been core.

In Simon Armitage's work, there has always been a territory he identifies as 'a twilight zone' where poetry and song lyric converge. He has explored it through numerous enterprises - most recently with the 'ambient post-rock' band Land Yacht Regatta. Many of the lyrics collected here were written for LYR. Others are drawn from Armitage's days with the DIY indie band The Scaremongers, various film and theatre productions including 'Songbirds' and the...

Not content with walking the Pennine Way as a modern day troubadour, an experience recounted in his bestseller and prize-wining 'Walking Home', Simon Armitage has followed up that journey with a walk of the same distance but through the very opposite terrain and direction far from home. In 'Walking Away', he swaps the moorland uplands of the north for the coastal fringes of Britain's south west, once again giving readings every night, but this time...