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Loop of Jade
Loop of Jade

Loop of Jade

POETRY

80 Pages, 5.5 x 8.5

Formats: Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $20.95 (US $20.95)

Publication Date: May 2015

ISBN 9780701188696

Rights: US

Penguin Random House UK (May 2015)
Chatto & Windus

Price: $20.95
 
 

Overview

Introducing an unmistakable new voice in British poetry, the first collection by Sarah Howe, shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2015. There is a Chinese proverb that says: "It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters." But geese, like daughters, know the obligation to return home. In her exquisite first collection, Sarah Howe explores a dual heritage, journeying back to Hong Kong in search of her roots. With extraordinary range and power, the poems build into a meditation on hybridity, intermarriage, and love—what meaning we find in the world, in art, and in each other. Crossing the bounds of time, race, and language, this is an enthralling exploration of self and place, of migration and inheritance, and introduces an unmistakable new voice in British poetry.

Reviews

"Rich and fierce, Sarah Howe's poems are alive to the complex stories and voices that cohere around objects, family and place. This is a magnificent collection, surprising and moving in equal measure—I loved it." —Edmund de Waal, author, The Hare with Amber Eyes

"A wonderful first collection—it isn't often you can say exquisite, original, erudite and adventurous all in one breath. Sarah Howe goes to the very heart of her own, her mother's and China's recent past." —Ruth Padel, author, The Mara Crossing

"Sarah Howe's soulful poems are as vivid as a river flowing through the Chinese landscape, as alive as mothers calling to their children." —Xinran, author, The Good Women of China

"Mature and accomplished . . . Loop of Jade is one of the best first collections I've read in recent years." —Poetry Review

"The poems in Loop of Jade . . . move me in profound and previously unimaginable ways." —Guardian

"[A] sinuous, shimmering, mirage-like debut collection." —Scotsman

Author Biography

Sarah Howe was born in Hong Kong in 1983 to an English father and Chinese mother, and moved to England as a child. Her pamphlet, A Certain Chinese Encyclopedia, was published in 2009, and she received an Eric Gregory Award in 2010.