The King of Christmas

　　On a frosty winter evening, the Baron watches the snow fall. He is bored and worried. It will soon be Christmas and everything is too quiet. What can he do to bring excitement to the Manor?

　　His wife, the Baroness, has an idea: he can appoint a King of Christmas, a peasant to take his place. And so begin twelve days of chaos, anarchy and merriment . . .

　　Inspired by the medieval tradition of appointing a Lord of Misrule, Carol Ann Duffy's warm and enchanting Christmas poem takes us into a topsy-turvy world of festivity and celebration, where rules no longer apply. With beautiful full-colour illustrations by Lara Hawthorne throughout, The King of Christmas is the perfect gift this festive season.

作者簡介

凱洛．安．達菲（Carol Ann Duffy）

　　Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She has written for both children and adults, and her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children's Verse, the Whitbread, Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes, and the Lannan and E. M. Forster Prize in America. She was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 2009. In 2011 The Bees won the Costa Poetry Award, and in 2012 she won the PEN Pinter Prize. She was made a DBE in the 2015 New Year Honours list.

　　詩人、劇作家。一九五五年生於蘇格蘭格拉斯哥市，六歲時隨父母遷居英國，利物浦大學哲學系畢業，目前是曼徹斯特都會大學創作所主任。

　　二○○九年達菲被任命為大英國協第二十位桂冠詩人。這項任命使達菲成為大英國協三百四十一年以來，第一位女性桂冠詩人，同時是大英國協二十一世紀第一位桂冠詩人，也是第一位蘇格蘭籍，第一位同性戀（或雙性戀）桂冠詩人。

　　著作等身的達菲自一九七四年出版第一本詩集《肉身風向雞》，陸續有九本詩集問世，創作備受肯定。作品一九八五《直立裸女》獲蘇格蘭藝術協會獎，一九八七《出賣曼哈頓》獲毛姆文學獎，一九九三《吝嗇的時間》獲偉特伯詩獎、前鋒年度詩獎、二○○五《癡迷》獲艾略特獎。除此，她更有十本童書繪本、童詩及四部劇本創作。至今獲得的獎項還包括：西格諾童詩獎、艾瑞克格里高利獎、蘭南文學詩歌獎、美國弗斯特獎