Burning Eye lands poetry collection from its top selling author Baker

Burning Eye Books has snapped up Unashamed, the second poetry collection from mathematician, poet and comedian Harry Baker. 

Publisher Clive Birnie acquired UK and Commonwealth rights for the collection directly from the author. It will be released in October 2022. 

“Unashamed follows the journey of World Poetry Slam Champion Baker, as he discovers that graduating with a degree in maths and German is the perfect start for career in poetry and comedy,” the synopsis reads. 

The collections features poems celebrating the “joyful creativity of German compound verbs, prime numbers, a healthy obsession with falafels and a 10,000th birthday”. 

Baker is one half of “comedy-rap-jazz” duo Harry and Chris, and has performed on “The Russell Howard Hour”.

He said: “I am touring again this autumn and it feels great to be back working with Burning Eye with a new book filled with poems that will be familiar from my sold-out shows up and down the country, combined with brand new work written over the past couple of years when that wasn’t possible. I can’t wait to get back out sharing the work and the book with audiences. When people ask me if the falafel poem is in a book I will finally be able to answer ‘yes!’”  

Birnie added: “We are thrilled to have Harry back with a new book. We are celebrating 10 years of publishing this year and having our top selling author back with a new title is the perfect way to crown 10 years in business. We expect this one to outsell Harry’s first book The Sunshine Kid.”