WHATBOOK..? ALLIE ESIRI

Writer and poetry anthologist

. ..are you reading now?

THE Road, by Cormac McCarthy, a father-andson journey by foot across a burnt-out America, heading for the coast. The relationship between the two is profoundly tender. I am haunted by every page.

...would you take to a desert island?

MIDDLEMARCH, by George Eliot. I’ve read it only once and my memory is so atrocious that I think I could take it to an island and love it as new all over again.

...first gave you the reading bug?

TALES From Shakespeare, by Charles and Mary Lamb — my tenth birthday present. I was struck by the fact the authors were brother and sister. It’s probably not a coincidence that I compile anthologies now — though my brother, alas, is not at all interested!

. ..left you cold?

THE Trumpet-Major, by Thomas Hardy. This was forced on me as a school text when I was too young for it. Hardy’s poems are much more accessible.

A Poem For every Night of The Year, edited by Allie esiri, is the winner of the children’s category for the Independent Bookshop Week Book Award 2017.