Life is Sad and Beautiful: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Product Information

Dignitaries, major brands and broadcasters seek him out to articulate the mental health struggles our world is facing. Shelf Wear Shelf wear (shelfwear) describes damage caused over time to a book by placing and removing a book from a shelf.

In it, Freddie captivates the audience from the settings of a school classroom, giving a powerful performance sparking hope and reigniting nostalgia. The acclaimed poet has combined heartfelt poems from across his life with deeply personal recollections of someone who shaped him as an individual, his late mother, and this has resulted in perhaps the most unique book you will read this year. It’s powerful stuff, piercing the heart of what it means to experience grief, articulating the most confusing parts of the fog.

This week (as the final GCSE exam of 2023 takes place), Hussain is releasing a new video of one of the poems in that collection. I'm starting to notice things I wouldn't before and find myself appreciating even the smallest of things - more than I normally would. Please note that in the event of a change to the schedule, or a cancellation, ticket holders will be refunded no later than 7 days after the event. THERE have been poetry collections and memoirs published, but none have been quite like the powerful debut book from Hussain Manawer. His words will remind readers, that even in your lowest moments you can find the gold dust, Life is Sad and Beautiful will shift outlooks and stand as a powerful vehicle for growth and change.

Hussain Manawer’s high profile collaborations include featuring alongside Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry in their latest docu-series The Me You Can’t See and special commissions include The Royal Family, BAFTA, Burberry, Google, The Royal College of Psychiatrists and others. Exactly what his father had wanted for him was never stated before his premature death when William was just eight. Hussain is a poet and mental health campaigner who has channelled his grief at the loss of his mother into this heartbreaking and lyrical volume that consoles as much as it challenges. I've fell inlove with poetry even more and I can't express how much of an impact this book has made on me.

More than a decade later, Hussain’s debut collection Life Is Sad And Beautiful sold more than ten thousand copies within the first few months of its release, entering the Sunday Times charts upon publication, making him the first British Pakistani poet to hold such a position.

Do you ever pick up a book seemingly at random right before you leave the library then set down to read it and immediately regret it? The poetry collection, memoir and self-help book rolled into one is a beautifully structured masterpiece that will appeal to all ages. He most recently appeared alongside Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey in the mental health docu-series, ‘The Me You Can’t See’, alongside Lady Gaga, Glen Close and others.To mark the end of the 2023 GCSE season, we are sharing a poem from that book that reflects on the end of school, brought to life by young actor Freddie Pearson. Though the programme ended in 2018, Hussain’s poetic journey has gone stratospheric, hitting the Sunday Times charts with his debut collection Life Is Sad And Beautiful. If you’re leaving school this year, or if you’re feeling nostalgic, watch ‘Leaving High School’ by Hussain Manawer, performed by Freddie Pearson, below.

Hussain’s debut poetry collection will invite readers on his journey through depression and grief, and out the other side to a better place – there will be joy, hope, tears and laughter – the emotions that make up the fabric of human experience. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal.

Browning Wroe easily evokes both setting and era with gorgeous descriptive prose and popular culture references. Eyes may well up and throats may clog with emotion in later scenes: only the hard of heard will fail to be moved and uplifted by this exceptional debut novel.