Editors Don Paterson and Charles Simic hope that, with the introduction of this keen, carefully selected group of poets and poems, American readers will become as familiar with British poetry as British readers are with American poetry.

In curating this book of thirty-six poets, the editors followed two rules: the poets must have been born after 1945, and should have at least two books of poems published in Britain. As one would expect from a book with Paterson and Simic as editors, the poems are witty, intelligent, imaginative, and often irreverent. American readers who expect restraint or traditionalism from poetry originating in the British Isles will be awakened to the vibrance and originality of contemporary British authors.

With a range of established masters and emerging talents, this anthology will help reinforce the influences of authors such as Andrew Motion, James Fenton, Glyn Maxwell, Robin Robertson, Carol Anne Duffy, Paul Farley, Selima Hill, Alice Oswald, and Christopher Reid.