Goat Star Books Ltd

14/06/2025

See you tomorrow at Keats House

10/06/2025

The Spanish Keats

Intrigued by Señora F***y Keats de Llanos?

Come and learn about the Spanish life and the legacy of the poet's younger and only sister. This Sunday June 15 at 2.15pm.

Keats House, 10 Keats Grove London NW3 2RR

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/talk-the-spanish-keats-tickets-1347803700149

09/06/2025

25/05/2025

Our crushed bones / nuestros huesos triturados

A poem by Danial Andrew Danish

I have had many felicitous encounters thanks to my little poetry publishing project. Only the passing of time and the vagaries of fate will tell which of my books, if any, will be chosen to live for posterity. But I have the haunch that it is Crimson Pashmina what will bring Goat Star Books posthumous fame. I spoke with Danial the other day. it was at the height of the India/Pakistan escalation after the terrorist attack in that paradise destroyed that is the disputed land of Kashmir. Danial was not unduly alarmed. "Believe me, there is not going to be war with India", he said rather bemused by the sudden media attention to the usually forgotten Pakistan. It is business as usual there, the same horrendous poverty, the same violence, but also the same quiet effort to make things change. Danial works indefatigably with the street children of Faisalabad, and it must be hard to see so much suffering going on unreported day in day out. The daily struggles of the poor in developing countries is not asexy cause. There are no riches to be picked up there and there seems to be so much compassion we rich countries can have. The horrors of Gaza and Ukraine take all the attention of the "something must be done" brigade. I see them lamenting the passive inactivity of our governments against the massacre of children in the unholy land. But what do they want them to do, send fighting jets and unleash even more suffering into a world in flames? Real action and real change take place quietly away from the limelight. Like Danial's work, change comes without grandstanding and fanfare. Real change takes place in our minds and our souls, where a poem can have more impact than all the drums of war, for violence only triggers more violence, whereas a poem has all the seductive power of words, the power of beauty and love.

Listen please to "Our crushing Bones", the poem Daniel wrote about what he sees in his daily work in Faisalabad, and let the beautiful words sink into your soul.

The crushed bones of children lie under the football clubs we support and comes with us in the cheap

12/05/2025

As part of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Keats House opening to the public, we are inviting you to explore the little-known Spanish Keats connections.

F***y Keats, the beloved younger sister of the poet, married the Spanish writer and politician Valentín Llanos in 1826. He was in exile in London due to the restoration of absolutist king Ferdinand VII, upon whose death the couple moved to Spain.

Valentín and F***y lived first in Valladolid and then in Madrid until their deaths in 1886 and 1889 respectively. The couple is buried in Madrid’s San Isidro cemetery.

F***y had taken memories and documents belonging to her dear brother with her to Spain, which were eventually given to Keats House by F***y’s descendants.

Rafael Peñas Cruz, of Goat Star Books, translator and publisher of Keats Now, a bilingual English/Spanish anthology of the poet’s work, will explore this Spanish Keats legacy and its contribution to the Keats House collection.

The event will be presented by Mr José María Robles, Cultural Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy in London.

Sunday June 15, 14.15h
Keats House, Hampstead, London

10/05/2025

Keats House

He looked through that window two hundred years ago, and he opened the sash and heard the Nightingale song that inspired one of the most beautiful poem in the English language. That famous ode.

We will be reading the Ode to the Nightingale in English and Spanish at our "The Spanish Keats" Event. Keats House, Sunday June 15 at 14.15

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-spanish-keats-tickets-1347803700149

26/04/2025

Forget Hollywood, there's no business like the poetry business.

Come to see us, humble peddlers of beauty and truth.

Until 7.30pm at Saint Columba's Hall, Knightsbridge, London SW1

25/04/2025

Londoners, tomorrow, Saturday 26 of April, Goat Star Books will be selling it's poetic wares at Free Verse, The Poetry Society's annual book fair. Come say hello and perhaps buy one of our books.

19/04/2025

Poetry Fair

Come to see us next Saturday at Free Verse. We look forward to enchanting you with our Goat Star Books.

18/04/2025

Thanks Ranaa Farooq for this beautiful post. I have to pinch myself!

13/04/2025

I will keep you posted about future reading of Bill Lewis the Shaman Poet/El poeta chamán, but you can order it from our Goat Star Books website