Sunshine is the new collection from Next Generation Poet Melissa Lee-Houghton. A writer of startling confession, her poems inhabit the lonely hotel rooms, psych wards and deserted lanes of austerity Britain. Sunshine; combines acute social observation with a dark, surreal humour born of first-hand experience. Abuse, addiction and mental health are all subject to Lee-Houghton's poetic eye. But these are also poems of extravagance, hope and desire, that stake new ground for the Romantic lyric in an age of social media and internet porn. In this new book of poems, Melissa Lee-Houghton shines a light on human ecstasy and sadness with blinding precision.

Melissa Lee-Houghton was announced as a Next Generation Poet in 2014. Her first and second collections are published by Penned in the Margins. Beautiful Girls was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her poem 'i am very precious' was shortlisted for The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. She has received a Northern Writers' Award for her fiction. She lives in Blackburn, Lancashire.

Shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Prize, Ted Hughes Award and Forward Prize for Best Single Poem. Sunshine is the powerful new collection from Next Generation Poet Melissa Lee-Houghton. Continuing the stark confessional style that has garnered critical acclaim and a growing fanbase, Sunshine is at times explicit, at others tender, sexual and dangerous. These poems ooze confidence and demonstrate Melissa's ability to shine a light on human emotion with startling precision.