Living in the Delta

Overview

Living in the Delta: Collected and New Poems brings together work from nine previous collections. As a poet his work is warm, humane, intelligent and immensely readable. A brilliant comic writer who can move in an instant from sly wit to laugh-out-loud funny. Yet suddenly with a poem like "African Incident" you are in the midst of tragedy. Landeg White is a moving celebrant of love and family and community; a passionate, meticulous observer of the natural world — a complete poet.

Reviews

"White addresses fundamental human issues unflinchingly." —Big Issue

"There is something on nearly every page indicative of the reflections of a powerful intellect, a compassionate though never priggish understanding of people's follies and desires, and an expert control of the medium." —Suite 101

"How can one respond adequately to the sheer volume of colour and thought that accumulates over the course of the work collected here?" —gwales.com

"The poems are unflaggingly good, with an Audenesque ease of utterance overlaying anger, and a sensual vividness that has one wiping the dust from the eyes." —The Observer

"A book overshadowed by violence but trusting in the power of speech to keep us human in poems driven by lyricism, humour and a strong historical awareness." —Wasafiri

"Securely earthed, as accessible as any prose travel writing, richly evocative of place. White retains his sense of humour and that love of game-playing essential to the poet." —Times Literary Supplement

"This is poetry that has no doubts about its role in the world as unofficial history and as source of hope." —PN Review

"Gives the details, the scent, the stuff of history being made, but manages also to bring tenderness as well as violence, love as well as anger." —Stand

Author Biography

Landeg White was born in south Wales. His books include studies of V. S. Naipaul; of Mozambican and Malawian history; and of southern African praise poetry; along with seven collections of poetry including Where the Angolans are Playing Football and Arab Work. He teaches at Portugal's Universidade Aberta (Open University). His translation of Camões' The Lusíads won the TLS translation prize for 1998. His further translation of The Collected Lyric Poems of Luís de Camões has recently appeared from Princeton University Press.