'Lines off' is a term used for lines spoken from the wings of a theatre, or off-camera in a film. It was while Hugo Williams was out of circulation following transplant surgery that he wrote the poems for this new collection - the first since I Knew the Bride (2014), shortlisted for the Forward and T. S. Eliot prizes. From youthful days 'upside down in the Crazy Room, / rising and falling on the Haunted Swing', he takes us to distant countries, both actual and metaphorical; participates in the 'mortal pantomime' of the hospital ward with humorous frankness; and offers a percipient account of growing older, with all its attendant doubts and disturbances. Autobiographical, psychological, remedial, Lines Off heralds the return of this acclaimed poet, back to the stage of the page, offering us 'the performance of a lifetime'.
- ISBN10 0571349757
- ISBN13 9780571349753
- Publish Date 6 June 2019 (first published 4 June 2019)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 18 March 2024
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Faber & Faber
- Edition Main
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 80
- Language English