This is the media kit for Orna Ross's book A Crowd of Stars.
A Crowd of Stars: Book Details
Title: A Crowd of Stars
Subtitle: WB Yeats Love Poems to Maud Gonne with Commentary from the Muse
Tagline: “Love fled… and hid his face amid a crowd of stars.” Discover the poetic love story that illuminated Irish literature—and still dazzles a century on.
- Genre: Poetry
- ISBN: 978-1-909888-29-6
- Publisher: Font Publications
- Publication Date: September 2025
About A Crowd of Stars
Short Description:
When W. B. Yeats encountered the fiery revolutionary Maud Gonne, he found both torment and transcendence. A Crowd of Stars gathers every major Yeats poem to Gonne—restored, sequenced, and illuminated by “the Muse” herself—offering an intimate guided tour through a passion that reshaped Irish poetry and the politics of art.
Book Description:
He was Ireland’s master poet, forever chasing transcendence and formal perfection. She was its fiery revolutionary, gambling her reputation on the dream of national freedom. Their mutual devotion to art, to occult practice, and to Irish liberty formed a decades-long creative pact that reshaped them both and still reverberates today.
A Crowd of Stars draws you into this volatile intersection of passion, poetry, and politics, framed by the intimate Gonne poems, and paired with commentary from Maud Gonne herself–letting the Muse speak back to the art she inspired. While much has been written about Yeats and Gonne, not least by themselves, no-one has brought all the Gonne poems together in one volume before, or conveyed the mutually-generative nature of their bond.
The clarity of Gonne's commentary exposes Yeats’s tale of unrequited love as a fiction. In truth, their relationship embraced friendship, erotic intrigue, a self-styled ‘spiritual marriage,' and a series of bruising betrayals on both sides. This friction kindled over eighty published poems and some still-unpublished drafts on his side, while on hers it powered a lifetime of audacious political campaigns.
Blending literary history with modern psychology, A Crowd of Stars gets behind the smiling public images to expose how two mother-shadowed, father-scarred creators transmuted personal heartache into myth, magic, and revolutionary politics—leaving a constellation of poems that still blaze, and a feminist political legacy that has yet to be understood and acted upon.
Book Specifications
Literary Style:
- Dual‑voice edition: Classic poems side‑by‑side with Gonne’s commentary
- Scholarly yet story‑driven: Literature you’ll actually want to read—bridging historical analysis, feminist critique, and narrative flair.
- Classroom & book‑club friendly: Includes chronology, suggestions for further research, reading list and discussion questions.
Target Audience
- Readers of poetry, Irish literature, and romantic classics
- University courses in Modernism, Creative Writing, Irish Studies, Women’s History
- Book‑club members seeking lyrical, discussion‑rich reads
- Fans of literary biography and historical romance
Formats & Metadata
| Edition | ISBN | Format | Trim | Page Count | Price (GBP) | Pub Date | Publisher | Rights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trade Paperback | 978-1-909888-29-6 | Perfect‑bound | 6″ × 9″ | 240pp | £14.99 | 30 Sep 2025 | Font Publications | World English |
| eBook (EPUB/Kindle) | 978-1-913349-21-9 | Reflowable | — | 210pp | £5.99 | 30 Sep 2025 | Font Publications | World |
| Limited Hardcover | 978-1-913349-53-0 | Clothbound w/ ribbon | 5.5″ × 8.5″ | 256pp | £22.00 | 30 Sep 2025 | Font Publications | World English |
Bulk/academic discounts available.
Contributors:
About The Editor:
Orna Ross is an award-winning poet, novelist, and creative facilitator whose writing is known for its lyrical depth and emotional resonance. Her work explores universal themes of love, war, peace, and creative flow, with a uniquely inspiring touch. Ross's poetry has been described ‘little puffs of magic', combining technical mastery with profound emotional truth. She creates verses that are not only meant to be read but experienced, offering moments of stillness, reflection, and connection. Her poetry gift book series 12 Poems to Inspire has touched the hearts of readers worldwide, bringing poetry into daily life as a source of solace, celebration, and self-discovery.
Contributors
- Research Consultant: Dr Margaret Ward, National Library of Ireland
- Foreword: XXX
- Cover Design: Jane Dixon-Smith, award‑winning designer of RNA Industry Awards 2023
Sample Social‑Media Copy
- “‘One man loved the pilgrim soul in you…’ Rediscover the poems that changed Irish literature. #ACrowdOfStars is coming 30 Sep 2025. Pre‑order today! 📚✨
- The poet was obsessed. The muse was unbowed. Dive into A Crowd of Stars. #Yeats #MaudGonne #Poetry
- Kickstarter backers—this one’s for you! Your support turned stardust into pages. 🌟 #ThankYou
Suggested Interview & Article Angles
- Changing the story from unrequited love to creative collaboration
- Statue in Dublin for Maud Gonne (Maud Gonne Society)
- Re‑imagining the “muse” through a feminist lens
Press Release (Short‑Form)
For Immediate Release — 30 May 2025
Font Publications announces A Crowd of Stars: W. B. Yeats’ Love Poems to Maud Gonne with Commentary by the Muse, a groundbreaking edition that places Yeats’ most intimate verse in dialogue with Gonne’s commentary on the poems… and the other work they did together. Created as part of the Maud Gonne Kickstarter campaign, the book combines restored texts, manuscript facsimiles, and new scholarly insights with an engaging narrative voice. Publication is set for 30 September 2025 in trade paperback, hardcover collector’s edition, and e‑book formats.
Advance copies available upon request.
Media Contact: publications@ornaross.com | +44 (0) 7459562252
Assets Available
Book Information Sheet PDF:
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A Crowd of Stars Purchase Details
Buy Link:
Purchase LinkPublication Date: September 2025
Available Formats: Epub, Paperback, Large Print
Price: £12.99 / $14.99
About Orna Ross
Orna Ross is an award-winning poet, novelist, and creative facilitator whose writing is known for its lyrical depth and emotional resonance. Her work explores universal themes of love, war, peace, and creative flow, with a uniquely inspiring touch. Ross's poetry has been described ‘little puffs of magic', combining technical mastery with profound emotional truth. She creates verses that are not only meant to be read but experienced, offering moments of stillness, reflection, and connection. Her poetry gift book series 12 Poems to Inspire has touched the hearts of readers worldwide, bringing poetry into daily life as a source of solace, celebration, and self-discovery.
A Word from Orna Ross
“Poetry is light. It shines into the darkest corners of our lives, illuminating what we most need to see and to acknowledge. The Poetry of Light series offers a chance to pause, reflect, and rekindle that light—for yourself or someone you love.”
Recent Poetry Accolades
- BookFest Book Awards Winner, 2024
- Gold Literary Titan Winner, 2022
- Firebird Award-Winning Poet, 2021
- Literary Titan Silver Award Winner, 2021
Similar Poets
Maya Angelou – John O’Donoghue – Mary Oliver — Ellen Bass — David Whyte — Rumi — Rilke — Eavan Boland
Author Pic:
Download Colour Author Pic Here Download Black-&-White Author Pic HereAuthor Q&A
Read HerePraise for Orna Ross Poetry:
“Takes readers’ breath in the first stanza and keeps them captivated to the last line… the rhythm and cadence are truly beautiful.”—Literary Titan Awards
“Breathtakingly powerful phrases pepper the pages, little puffs of magic whose brilliance takes you by surprise.”—Author and Reviewer, Debbie Young
“Poetic lines that sing, dance and tell a story of hope and wonderment.”—Mala Naidoo, Goodreads Reviewer
“Spot-on brilliant.”—Bob Jackson, Goodreads Reviewer
Orna Ross: Contact Details
- Publications Manager Shanaya Wagh: publications@ornaross.com
Orna Ross: Online Links:
- Website: Ornaross.com
- Pinterest: Pinterest.com/Ornaross