In Tree Hunting, Paul Wood seeks out the best individual trees – the most charismatic, quirky or downright spectacular – that grow in Britain and Ireland’s towns, cities and villages (and, in one case, from the crack in a church steeple). From a stumpy sycamore in Shetland, contorted by wind and hard weather, to the shining jewel in Brighton’s unlikely treasure trove of elms, Paul travels on a quest from north to south rooting out the legends and tall tales behind these marvellous specimens. As he delves into this rich ecosystem, he reveals how trees are inextricably bound to the story of our towns and cities: they have always meant a great deal to those that live near them, and they continue to shape the fabric of urban life in deep, and often surprising ways.

Including sumptuous maps, grid references and charming travel notes so you can plan adventures of your own, Tree Hunting will help you unlock the secrets of Britain and Ireland’s urban forests.

Our dependence on cars is damaging our health – and the planet’s. The Dutch seem to have the right idea, with thousands of bike highways, but even then, what happens to pedestrians or people who want to cycle at a more leisurely pace? What about children playing outside their homes? Or wildlife, which enriches our local areas? Why do we prioritise traffic above all else?

Making our communities safer, cleaner, and greener starts with asking the fundamental questions: who do our streets belong to, what do we use them for, and who gets to decide?

Join journalist Thalia Verkade and urban mobility expert Marco te Brömmelstroet as they confront their own underlying beliefs and challenge us to rethink our way of life to put people at the centre of urban design. But be warned: you will never look at the street outside your front door in the same way again.

There is no such thing as the wrong step; every time we walk we are going somewhere. In a series of riveting intellectual rambles, Matthew Beaumont retraces a history of the walker from Charles Dicken’s insomniac night rambles to wandering through the faceless, windswept monuments of the neoliberal city including Edgar Allen Poe, Andrew Breton, H G Wells, Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys and Ray Bradbury. As the author shows, the act of walking is one of escape, self-discovery, disappearances and potential revolution, and explores the relationship between the metropolis and its pedestrian life.

From Charles Dicken’s insomniac night rambles to wandering through the faceless, windswept monuments of the neoliberal city, the act of walking is one of escape, self-discovery, disappearances and potential revolution. Pacing stride for stride alongside such literary amblers and thinkers as Edgar Allen Poe, Andrew Breton, H G Wells, Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys and Ray Bradbury, Matthew Beaumont explores the relationship between the metropolis and its pedestrian life. He asks can you get lost in a crowd? It is polite to stare at people walking past on the street? What differentiates the city of daylight and the nocturnal metropolis? What connects walking, philosophy and the big toe? Can we save the city – or ourselves – by taking the pavement?

Shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize
Longlisted for the Jhalak Prize

‘Restlessly inventive, brutally graceful, startlingly beautiful … a landmark debut’ Guardian
‘Oh my God, he’s just stirring me. Destroying me’ Michaela Coel
‘A poet of truth and rage, heartbreak and joy’ Max Porter
‘Takes us into new literary territory … impressive’ Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman (Books of the Year)
‘It’s simply stunning. Every image is a revelation’ Terrance Hayes

What is it like to grow up in a place where the same police officer who told your primary school class they were special stops and searches you at 13 because ‘you fit the description of a man’ – and where it is possible to walk two and a half miles through an estate of 1,444 homes without ever touching the ground?

In Poor, Caleb Femi combines poetry and original photography to explore the trials, tribulations, dreams and joys of young Black boys in twenty-first century Peckham. He contemplates the ways in which they are informed by the built environment of concrete walls and gentrifying neighbourhoods that form their stage, writes a coded, near-mythical history of the personalities and sagas of his South London youth, and pays tribute to the rappers and artists who spoke to their lives.

Above all, this is a tribute to the world that shaped a poet, and to the people forging difficult lives and finding magic within it. As Femi writes in one of the final poems of this book: ‘I have never loved anything the way I love the endz.’

‘However well you think you know London, you will discover something new on virtually every page, and the things you know well will be seen completely differently. Highly recommended’ – The London Society

Curiocity is a new A to Z exploring every aspect of life in London. Its 26 chapters weave together the city’s stories with striking reflections, practical ideas and itineraries, and contributions from London voices such as Monica Ali and Iain Sinclair. The book is illustrated by artists including Chris Riddell, Isabel Greenberg and Steven Appleby, and at the heart of each chapter is an original hand-drawn map, charting everything from the city’s international communities, underground spaces and children’s dreams, to its unrealised plans, erogenous zones and dystopian futures. Curiocity is a unique guide that will transform the way you see and experience London.