On Purpose examines the often brutal arena of human relations. Informed by both wit and a melancholic undercurrent, the book thoughtfully provokes concepts of happiness and sadness, of warring and reparation. The volume concludes with an affecting sequence about a marriage, inspired by that most influential of military treatises, The Art of War.

About the Author
Nick Laird is a poet, novelist, screenwriter, and critic. His many honors include the Eric Gregory Award, the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His fourth collection of poems, Feel Free, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Derek Walcott Award. The Seamus Heaney Professor of Poetry at Queen's University, Belfast, Laird lives in London and Ireland.

Reviews
"The dense purity of the language recalls the unflinching confessional mode of Robert Lowell and the tender Hughes of Birthday Letters." -- Time Out London
"One of the most memorable meditations on love and marriage in contemporary literature. These 65 pages will knock you flat." -- Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius



Book Information
ISBN 9780393338263
Author Nick Laird
Format Paperback
Page Count 76
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 106g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 142mm * 8mm