Pig's Ear, Dog's Dinner

Written daily throughout the UK’s restrictions to combat coronavirus, Pig’s Ear, Dog’s Dinner picks up directly from Volume 2, Can of Worms. Covering the period from the introduction of the ‘Three-Tier System’ through to the anniversary of the first lockdown, Paul’s third volume is filled with humour and compassion, and is a reflective documentation of the nation’s wellbeing. Illustrated by Korky Paul. Paul Cookson was brought up near Preston and now lives in Retford, Notts. He has worked as a poet for over three decades, performing in schools and libraries, and at literature festivals and events across the world. As well as being Poet-in-Residence for The National Football Museum and Everton in the Community, Paul is Writer-in-Residence for Sing Together, which involves 250 Lancastrian choirs. Paul was commissioned by the BBC to write and perform a poem for the Women’s FA Cup Final 2020 and recently recorded an advert for Nationwide building society. His anthology, The Works, has sold over a quarter of a million copies and has become a teacher’s ‘poetry Bible’. “A book that future historians will want to read; it will tell them what it was like to live in turbulent times through a poet’s eye. If journalism is the first draft of history, then here is the second: life shaped, structured, described, annotated.” – Ian McMillan, poet & broadcaster “In these strange times, every day should have a Paul Cookson moment – keep him by your bedside for emergencies.” – Simon Mayo, broadcaster & author “A poem a day may not keep the pandemic away, but Paul’s pithy, moving, amusing and occasionally heartbreaking coronavirus verse diary is a must read memento of these challenging times. A succinct, modern take on Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year. Brilliant.” – Paul Ross, journalist & broadcaster