Pam Ayres MBE is releasing a new poetry book, Doggedly Onward: A Life in Poems, this October 2024, aptly on National Poetry Day.
The new book collects poems spanning her 60-year career, telling the story of her life and legacy, from juggling boyfriends as a young woman; leaving the family home; navigating the joy and fear of motherhood; to becoming the adoring grandmother she is today — accompanied by a series of new illustrations.
The collection captures the elements of Pam's unique personality, from her love of dogs, her lifelong fascination with wildlife to how she feels about ageing, as well as the universal human emotions of hope, regret, love, heartbreak and joy that have made her such an enduring voice in literature.
Often described as 'the people's poet', her hilarious but profound insights into everyday life have kept her at the forefront of British poetry for over 40 years.
She is one of only a handful of authors who has had books in The Sunday Times bestseller chart in nearly every decade since the 1970s, with her poems featuring in school textbooks around the world — and was awarded an MBE for services to literature and entertainment in 2004.
She said: 'I have so enjoyed collating this collection, particularly revisiting some of my very early work, which I rarely use now in my stage performances, and I am delighted that so many of my poems have stood the test of time!'
Having been born and raised in Stanford in the Vale — which gave Pam her iconic accent — she now lives in the Cotswolds just outside Cirencester with her husband and dogs and has even hosted a four-part Channel 5 series, The Cotswolds and Beyond With Pam Ayres, due to her deep love and connection to the area.
Pam is heading out on tour to promote the new book this autumn, appearing at Cheltenham's Everyman Theatre on Sunday 8 September and Cheltenham Literature Festival on Wednesday 9 October 2024.
Doggedly Onward: A Life in Poems comes out on Thursday 3 October 2024 through Ebury Spotlight and costs £25.
