Luke Johnson

Memory is a luminous centerpiece of Distributary, now presented on its own as a handmade, limited-edition chapbook. Each of the 126 copies—100 numbered and 26 lettered—is signed by the author and individually crafted by hand. Presented as a standalone work, Memory invites readers to encounter the poem in its own right: expansive, finely wrought, and wholly immersive.

Distributary picks up where the speaker from Quiver left off and delves deeper in that speaker’s concerns and fears around fatherhood, cultural violence and his daughter’s illness. It is a book of sirens and ghosts, of time collapse. How many moments tangle and spark in the waking moments of our lives. It houses a grainy melancholia, paradigms of grief. Houses hope.

Kangaroo Unbound is a collection of 50-odd poems that take their titles and inspiration from legendary Australian artist Garry Shead's iconic 'D. H. Lawrence' series of paintings, which he produced in the early 90s in response to Lawrence's 1923 novel Kangaroo. Like the paintings, the poems range from the heavily influenced (those that lean into the source text with strong ekphrastic fidelity) to those that offer more abstracted and personal renderings. Traversing a range of forms from free verse to concrete, villanelle and sonnet, the poems draw from a host of readily identifiable national motifs in their effort toward a contemporary Australian mythology grounded in 'Benevolence, Humour and Divine Mystery.'

A Slow Indwelling is a lyrically charged epistolary exchange that explores the themes of parenthood, grief, nature, and violence. In this collection, two poets refuse to flinch, engaging in conversation with the ghosts that haunt them. The book invites the reader into the kind of space created when honesty takes precedence over artifice and where vulnerability is offered without hesitation. "These poems are entombed with lilacs and bullet casings," explain the poets. "Sometimes we lose what's most important to us and fill it in with phantoms." Megan Merchant (she/her) is the owner of www.shiversong.com and holds an M. F. A. degree in International Creative Writing from UNLV. She is the author of three full-length collections with Glass Lyre Press, four chapbooks, and a children's book, These Words I Shaped for You (Penguin Random House). Her book, Before the Fevered Snow, was released in April 2020 with Stillhouse Press (NYT New & Noteworthy). She was awarded the 2016-2017 COG Literary Award, the 2018 Beullah Rose Poetry Prize, the Inaugural Michelle Boisseau Prize and most recently the New American Poetry Prize. She is the Editor of Pirene's Fountain. You can find her poems and artwork at meganmerchant.wix.com/poet. Luke Johnson is the author of Quiver (Texas Review Press), a finalist for the Jake Adam York Award, The Vassar Miller Prize, and The Levis Award; A Slow Indwelling (Harbor Editions 2024); and Distributary (Texas Review Press 2025). Quiver was recently named one of four finalists for The California Book Award. Johnson was selected by Patricia Smith as a finalist for the esteemed 2024 Robert Frost Residency through Dartmouth College. You can find more of his work at Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, Narrative Magazine, Poetry Northwest and elsewhere.

In Throwing Parties: A Guide to Being a Great Host, entrepreneur Luke Johnson offers insight into his decades of experience hosting events in his beloved London. From intimate gatherings and dinner parties to weddings and massive celebrations, this fun, practical book is the perfect guide to throwing unforgettable parties.

Quiver is a book of reckoning, a book of ghosts, a book of lineal fracture and generational fatherlesness. It’s a visceral guide through boyhood into fatherhood. One that yields witness to trauma, erotic shames, brutalities and toxic masculinity, and in so doing, emerges with a speaker beginning to free himself. Patricia Smith said it best: “Quiver will change the way you see.” “floodghost” Mother couldn’t manage what sated me, so she prayed: sought in silence a substance that’d soothe, something familial with grace. I groaned. Broke bodies over blacktop’s pane, a bottom- less well of blood. At seven I smothered a frog and fed each leg to my quivering sister laughed while she choked out its skin. At twelve, I pulled a pistol from under the vacant shed and shoved its shudder to a schoolboy’s temple, teased while he wept in his piss. And yet all along a Psalm, a satchel of prayer: song. Mother making contracts with the sky, while I tore its pages to light a fire, warm my hands around it. Radiant blue. Red from a faraway pine.

Everything you need to know about growing and selling a business: the opportunities, the pitfalls, advice to avoid, advice to seek, how to succeed and break free from today's struggles, who to trust and how to achieve your dreams. Chris Averill, successful entrepreneur, has been through it all and knows the inside tricks. In this time of crisis, his blueprint is the one all budding entrepreneurs need to read.; Over 50 practical tips from Chris and other successful business owners on how to get your business ready for sale, who to sell to and how to make the most money from the sale.; "I commend this volume to anyone embarking on a startup, or those who work with entrepreneurs. It is a wart and all, first-person tale of how to grow a company and make a fortune - and what to do afterwards!" - Luke Johnson

The people of Siwale village in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, were still celebrating independence from Britain when Robert Mugabe's government, unhappy that they had voted for a rival political party, sent soldiers to crack down on them. The government claimed that it was dealing with dissidents. More than 20 000 unarmed civilians, including women and children, were killed. Thousands more were displaced. The operation is widely known as gukurahundi. The killings only ended in December 1987 when a Unity Accord was signed between the ruling party, ZANU and the opposition party, ZAPU. Years later, in 1997, Mugabe would characterise the killings as a 'moment of madness'. But how were ordinary people in the villages affected? This is the account of one man.

Our culture often views shame in a negative light. However, Paul's use of shame, when properly understood and applied, has much to teach the contemporary church. Filling a lacuna in Pauline scholarship, this book shows how Paul uses shame to admonish and to transform the minds of his readers into the mind of Christ. The author examines Paul's use of shame for moral formation within his Jewish and Greco-Roman context, compares and contrasts Paul's use of shame with other cultural voices, and offers a corrective understanding for today's church. Foreword by Luke Timothy Johnson.

Google apps are an amazing set of online tools for word processing, spreadsheets, email, storage and more, accessible online, on mobile and across multiple locations. Learn how to make the best of this cloud-based offer, with its deep integrations with the world’s most popular search engine, Google (!), Youtube and Google Plus. Most of us are used to using our desktop or laptop applications so the idea of working online, on any computer, or device, without being tied to a particular machine seems rather mind-bending. In fact, once you understand the structure and the logic of it you'll see that Google Apps release your thinking and allow you to focus on your work, or project more effectively than ever. The Everyday Guides, Made Easy series are plain speaking books covering a wide ranging of application and device technologies, designed to ease the challenges of the world around us.

Now in paperback - Start It Up by Luke Johnson, 2012's most inspiring guide to running your own business. Running your own business is nowhere near as tough as you might think. So what are you waiting for? Luke Johnson is Britain's busiest tycoon, with a personal fortune estimated at £120 million. From Pizza Express and Channel 4 to his incisive Financial Times column, Johnson has spent two decades on the business frontline. In Start It Up, Johnson sets out to inspire - and guide - every budding entrepreneur. He tackles the issues that really matter: finding the right idea, sourcing funds, and getting the best from the people you meet on the way - chiefly yourself.'A must-read for inspiring entrepreneurs, probably the best book available on the subject' John McLaren, Management Today'Part rant, part outpouring of useful knowledge gleaned from 20 very successful years in business. There is a great deal here that is good' Richard Reed, co-founder of Innocent Drinks, Financial Times'For the budding entrepreneur, this clear, thoughtful and passionate how-to guide will be an excellent first investment' EconomistLuke Johnson is one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs with an estimated personal fortune of £120 million. He is Chairman of Risk Capital Partners and The Royal Society of Arts, and a former Chairman of Channel 4 Television. He writes columns for the Financial Times and Management Today. In the 1990s he was Chairman of PizzaExpress, which he grew from 12 restaurants to over 250; he also founded the Strada pizzeria chain and owns Giraffe and Patisserie Valerie. He lives in London and is married with three children.

A practical guide to attacking the most common of phobias: fear of failure A practical guide to attacking the most common of phobias: fear of failure Since its publication in 2011, What's Stopping You? has offered readers a hard look at the quality of their careers and personal lives. For those who'd give themselves a solid "C+", this brutally honest guide to taking stock also offers the keys to self-improvement. By dismantling the fear inhibiting all achievement—fear of failure—author Robert Kelsey offers a set of seven steps designed to help readers map out their actions, and attain what once seemed elusive milestones. Written for the frustrated underachiever or anyone who feels like one, this unique book addresses can the real obstacles hindering both professional and personal growth. Includes a new chapter with tactics for overcoming a fear of failureExplores methods for dealing with different types of people in a host of situations, such as getting a new job, pitching for new work, making presentations, or communicating clearly in an argument With a Foreword by one of Britain's most successful businessman, Luke Johnson, this unique handbook to overcoming the most basic of fears is a must for anyone who would like to upgrade the quality of their life.

For eight years between 1998 and 2006, Luke Johnson wrote a regular column as 'The Maverick' in the Sunday Telegraph. His short, pithy essays tackled subjects ranging from rich lists to bankrupt companies, from high finance to investment techniques, from philanthropy to trophy wives, bringing a practitioner's eye to the commercial world and the people in it. The Maverick quickly developed a cult following among readers who wanted to understand the blunt truth about investment, entrepreneurs, business history, and corporate life. This book brings together 84 of the best articles, with updates, in a single volume. What makes them unique is that Luke Johnson is not just a first-class writer, he is also one of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs. He made his name with PizzaExpress, has run and owned businesses in many different sectors, and now takes stakes in fast-growing businesses through his company, Risk Capital Partners. He is also Chairman of Channel 4. The diversity of his experience enables him to write with insight and perspective about the very serious matter of making and losing money. If you are in business, you will find The Maverick entertaining, informative and inspiring. If you are not in business, you will discover what makes business people tick, the hurdles they have to overcome to succeed, and the substantial benefits they bring to society.