This book will be released on October 1st 2026.
Pre-orders are charged at time of order and the book will be posted to you as soon as it becomes available.
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Introduced by Susie Wild
‘Abse has earned the reputation of being among the finest and most widely appreciated poets of the last century, and this century.’ – PN Review
‘Delighting in our flaws and fleeting moments – how they impacted on our days and decisions, whether in work or marriage, health and aging, family and friendship, or heritage and faith – Abse showed us the magic of being alive and the joy of the unexpected.’ – Susie Wild
Ask the Moon collates a lifetime’s work from one of Britain’s best-loved poets. Drawing on his Jewish and Welsh heritage, on his relationships and on his medical experience, this final, definitive collection is by turns lyrical, wry, disturbing and compassionate yet always full of clarity, love and wonder.
Dannie Abse (1923-2014) was born in Cardiff. He began his medical studies at the Welsh National School of Medicine and qualified as a doctor from Westminster Hospital, London in 1950. While still a student, Abse’s first book of poems was published and his first play performed. Further poetry volumes followed over the decades, culminating in his final collection Speak, Old Parrot in 2013 (shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize) and Ask the Moon: New and Collected Poems 1948-2014. His first novel, Ash on a Young Man’s Sleeve, appeared in 1954 and his most recent, the Booker longlisted The Strange Case of Dr Simmonds and Dr Glas in 2002. Three prize-winning plays were collected in The View from Row G (1990) and his autobiography, Goodbye, Twentieth Century, was published in 2001. Recognised internationally as a poet, Abse was President of the Poetry Society and of the Welsh Academy of Letters, and among his awards were the Wales Book of the Year for The Presence, the Wilfred Owen Award and the Roland Mathias Prize. He was appointed a CBE in 2012.