Gilgamesh, a new collaboration with Simon Armitage, published by Faber & Faber

Faber will publish a special limited edition of Simon Armitage’s Gilgamesh with drawings by Antony Gormley for publication in November 2026.

Gilgamesh originated in Ancient Mesopotamia nearly 4,000 years ago, yet its themes of power, loyalty, love and loss resound with contemporary relevance.

Simon Armitage’s fresh and propulsive version brings Gilgamesh alive as poetry. He harnesses the rhythms of its orchestrated language and conjures a sense of poetic wholeness while honouring its inherent fragmentation. Enhanced by illuminating commentary, this accomplished translation transports us back to the very origins of civilisation and storytelling.

Antony Gormley has created a new suite of drawings in response to Armitage’s reimagining of Gilgamesh, exploring the poem’s elemental themes through his own distinct visual language. The drawings are published here for the first time and forge an unforgettable encounter with the poem.

As Gormley explains: ‘These drawings are a response to the poem’s atmosphere – set between the roof of the sky and the floor of the world.’

This limited deluxe edition consists of a signed, numbered, quarter-bound book packaged in a clamshell box with a signed and numbered limited-edition print by Antony Gormley.

Published by Faber & Faber on 5 November 2026.