{"title":"Ben Okri","description":"\u003cp\u003eBen Okri's work invites readers into a world where reality and imagination intertwine seamlessly, blending lyrical storytelling with profound reflections on life and spirit. His books often explore themes of transformation, mysticism, and the power of the creative mind, appealing to those who appreciate both \u003cem\u003eGeneral Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e and the rich tapestry of \u003cem\u003eArts \u0026amp; Culture\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom evocative novels to enchanting children's stories, Okri's writing carries a poetic depth that resonates across ages. Expect narratives charged with vivid imagery and a celebration of resilience, making each book a unique journey through the human experience.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-famished-road-by-ben-okri-9781841594019","title":"The Famished Road","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Famished Road\u003c\/em\u003e offers the profound insight: 'So long as we are alive, so long as we feel, so long as we love, everything in us is an energy we can use.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe narrator, Azaro, is an abiku, a spirit child who, in the Yoruba tradition of Nigeria, exists between life and death. He is born into a world of poverty, ignorance, and injustice, yet Azaro awakens with a smile on his face. Nearly called back to the land of the dead, he is resurrected. However, in their efforts to save their child, Azaro's loving parents are made destitute.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe tension between the land of the living, with its violence and political struggles, and the temptations of the carefree kingdom of the spirits propels this latter-day Lazarus's story. Despite belonging to a spirit world filled with enchantment, where there is no suffering, Azaro chooses to stay in the land of the living—to feel it, endure it, know it, and love it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is his story.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46495883395308,"sku":"9781841594019","price":36.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/18839223482843.jpg?v=1748487042"},{"product_id":"tiger-work-by-ben-okri-9781804545447","title":"Tiger Work","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'Both a work of lyrical imagination and a warning about the dangers we will face unless we take immediate action' \u003cem\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'An artist's ardent plea for change' \u003cem\u003eKirkus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis earth that we love is in grave danger because of us. Forests are becoming legends, rare as unicorns...\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf we continue to live as we do now, there will be no world left for us to fix, Booker Prize-winner Ben Okri argues in this evocative collection. He imagines messages – sent to us from beyond the end, from those who saw it coming – exhorting us to change now.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCombining fiction, essay and poetry, \u003cem\u003eTiger Work\u003c\/em\u003e displays Okri’s classic blend of storytelling, fantasy and magic.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853356028140,"sku":"9781804545447","price":24.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/13468773482830.jpg?v=1759198396"},{"product_id":"every-leaf-a-hallelujah-by-ben-okri-9781800241626","title":"Every Leaf a Hallelujah","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e Children's Book of the Year\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn environmental fairytale made for our times, written to be read by adults and children, from the Booker Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Famished Road\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the forest near Mangoshi's village in Africa, there grows a very special flower. Mangoshi knows that only this flower can save her mother's life. It can save her village too. All she has to do is find it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBen Okri and Diana Ejaita have created a magical world of beauty and colour, an enchanting array of extraordinary trees, each with its own personality and voice. The chief among them, the great baobab, invites us into his branches to travel the world and see for ourselves the perils of not listening to nature. All around us, forests are vanishing, and no one is listening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'It was a sheer joy to be able to read this. It is mysterious and magical and true. Children and those who read it to them will love it and long remember it. The illustrations are woven wonderfully around the words; the trees are with you, telling it, writing it. Once read, we will know never to take trees or leaves for granted again. A powerful symphony of a story that will resonate for every reader. We hear the wind in the trees on every page. We only have to listen.' \u003cb\u003eMICHAEL MORPURGO\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46993723425004,"sku":"9781800241626","price":39.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/26602143482828.jpg?v=1763101832"},{"product_id":"madame-sosostris-the-festival-for-the-broken-hearted-by-ben-okri-9781035910755","title":"Madame Sosostris \u0026 the Festival for the Broken-Hearted","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[A] whimsical tale of transformation... magic is essential, and Okri can spin it. \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFull of rich hallucinatory imagery and enjoyably vibrant symbolism \u003ci\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhat do you do when your heart has been made a wasteland by love?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eViv, who’s in the House of Lords, had the idea for the festival on the twentieth anniversary of the day her first husband left her. Six months later, crowds descend on the grounds of a dreamlike chateau in the South of France, avidly awaiting the experience of a lifetime, Viv’s inaugural Festival for the Broken-Hearted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone is in fancy dress. No one knows who anyone is. They wander the beautiful woods with just one night to change everything. And to crown it all, a very special guest is expected: world-renowned clairvoyant and fortune-teller Madame Sosostris, known as the wisest woman in Europe, and not seen since the pages of T.S. Eliot's \u003ci\u003eThe Waste Land\u003c\/i\u003e. She will attend for one night only.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut will she actually appear at all, or will Viv’s carefully orchestrated festival fall to pieces? Will Viv and her husband make it through the night? Will anyone else?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePart vision, part mystery, this story of a midsummer night’s madness is also an homage to Eliot's famous poem, in Ben Okri’s inimitable style, as alive with echoes and reverberations as the enchanted forest itself. Think Ingmar Bergman meets William Shakespeare, with a dash of Mozart.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHearts will be healed, and hearts broken, but nobody will leave this festival exactly as they arrived. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47383903371500,"sku":"9781035910755","price":54.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/22628313482556.jpg?v=1773387531"},{"product_id":"mental-fight-by-ben-okri-9781800244269","title":"Mental Fight","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn epic poem touching on issues of racism, intolerance and environmental destruction from Booker Prize-winning author Ben Okri.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is much to celebrate in the human journey so far—art in all its forms, advances made in the fields of technology and medicine and, for many of us, the miracle of freedom. But there is also much to regret—racism, intolerance, the destruction of our environment, the reality and the legacy of slavery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this long, sustained consideration of the state we find ourselves in, Ben Okri invokes the past to explain the present, and sings out a message of hope. The future is still ours to make. This epic poem, an anthem for the twenty-first century, first appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e in January 1999. Its message could hardly be more relevant to our present condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDiscover this revised edition of an inspiring and extraordinarily tender work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBen Okri is that rare thing, a literary and social visionary, a writer for whom all three—literature, culture and vision—are profoundly interwoven.\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eAli Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47431591330028,"sku":"9781800244269","price":28.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781800244269.jpg?v=1774557524"},{"product_id":"the-last-gift-of-the-master-artists-by-ben-okri-9781803285689","title":"The Last Gift of the Master Artists","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'A magical take on Africa before the arrival of the Atlantic slave ships – a world of art and artists, lovers, storytellers and philosophers... The beauty of Okri's prose is [...] the overwhelming star of the show.'\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eIndependent\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'This is a story of a people on the eve of catastrophe. Others can tell of the catastrophe itself. I want to see the people in the last days of their innocence.'\u003c\/strong\u003e Ben Okri\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy a riverbank in Africa, two lovers meet for the first time. They make a promise to meet again the next day, same time, same place, but only one of them shows up. This sounds like the beginning of a love story, but it's more than that, for this breath-taking tale takes the reader into the heart of a vibrant world, a complex and intriguing civilisation of warriors and kings, philosophers and artists, parents and lovers. A world and culture which is about to end, for glimpsed on the horizon, seen but unsuspected, beautiful ships with white sails are waiting...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst published as \u003cem\u003eStarbook\u003c\/em\u003e in 2007, Ben Okri has spent many years rewriting this epic novel, set just before the arrival of the Atlantic slave trade. He has sought to bring to it a greater simplicity, to make the political and historical implications of the story clearer. Now titled \u003cem\u003eThe Last Gift of the Master Artists\u003c\/em\u003e, this is a work still more dazzling and unforgettable, and more relevant to our world than ever before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for Ben Okri:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e'Ben Okri is that rare thing, a literary and social visionary, a writer for whom all three – literature, culture and vision – are profoundly interwoven.'\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eAli Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47487612682476,"sku":"9781803285689","price":32.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/cd71fcb72d9b1985464bc157788d46cd.jpg?v=1775788073"},{"product_id":"a-fire-in-my-head-by-ben-okri-9781803281285","title":"A Fire in My Head","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA powerful collection of new and recently completed poems by Ben Okri covering topics of the day, such as the refugee crisis, racism, Obama, the Grenfell Tower fire, and the Corona outbreak.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIn our times of crisis \u003cbr\u003e\nThe mind has its powers\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book brings together many of Ben Okri's most acclaimed and politically charged poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome of them, like 'Grenfell Tower, June 2017', are already familiar. Published in the \u003cem\u003eFinancial Times\u003c\/em\u003e less than ten days after the fire, it was played more than 6 million times on Channel 4's Facebook page, and was retweeted by thousands on Twitter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Notre-Dame is Telling Us Something' was first read on BBC Radio 4, in the aftermath of the cathedral's near destruction. It spoke eloquently of the despair that was felt around the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 'shaved head poem', Ben Okri wrote of the confusion and anxiety felt as the world grappled with a health crisis unprecedented in our times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e'Breathing the Light' was his response to the events of summer 2020, when a black man died beneath the knee of a white policeman, a tragedy sparking a movement for change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese poems, and others including poems for Ken Saro-Wiwa, Barack Obama, Amnesty and more, make this a uniquely powerful collection that blends anger and tenderness with Ben Okri's inimitable vision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47595500503276,"sku":"9781803281285","price":18.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781803281285-a-fire-in-my-head.jpg?v=1777898430"},{"product_id":"david-hammons-by-guy-nordenson-9780300263909","title":"David Hammons","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAn in-depth look at a public art project by David Hammons with an overview of the enigmatic artist’s career\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePublished to commemorate David Hammons’s (b. 1943) public art project \u003cem\u003eDay’s End\u003c\/em\u003e, this book documents the sculpture and offers broader context into Hammons’s enigmatic work.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 2014, Hammons sent the Whitney Museum of American Art a sketch for a monument to Gordon Matta-Clark (1943–1978), which pays homage to Matta-Clark’s legendary \u003cem\u003eDay’s End\u003c\/em\u003e (1975)—an industrial, cathedral-like space of altered architecture—once located near today’s Whitney.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCompleted in 2021, Hammons’s work, also titled \u003cem\u003eDay’s End\u003c\/em\u003e, was developed by the Whitney in collaboration with Hudson River Park and is on permanent view. 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