Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting Synopsis
Shortlisted for the T S Eliot Poetry Prize 2014.
LETTER COMPOSED DURING A LULL IN THE FIGHTING captures the many moments that comprise a soldier's life: driving down the Texas highway; waiting for the unknown in the dry Iraq heat; writing a love letter; listening to a mother recount her dreams. Written with honesty and insight, these poems strive to make sense of war and its echoes through human experience. Just as THE YELLOW BIRDS was hailed as the 'first literary masterpiece produced by the Iraq war,' (Los Angeles Times) this collection will prove to be a powerful, enduring classic.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781444780819 |
| Publication date: |
3rd April 2014 |
| Author: |
Kevin Powers |
| Publisher: |
Sceptre an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton General Division |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
112 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Poetry
|
| Recommendations: |
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Kevin Powers Press Reviews
'Like the best war poets, Kevin Powers real subject is not the battle for land or governance, but the battle for one man's soul. In dramatising that inner conflict, he achieves a poetry both urgent and universal.' Michael Symmons Roberts, winner of the 2013 Forward and Costa prizes
'Extraordinary...Brilliantly observed and deeply affecting.' Michiko Kakutani, New York Times on THE YELLOW BIRDS
'Powers is a poet first, so THE YELLOW BIRDS is spare, incredibly precise, unimproveable.' Dave Eggers, Observer
'Kevin Powers has produced a masterpiece of war literature and a classic.' Hilary Mantel, Times, on THE YELLOW BIRDS
'There is a plain-speaking, backyard tone to these poems, its ancestry stretching all the way back to such writers as Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving... it is probably advisable to dip into this piecemeal rather than attempt to absorb its brutal richesse in one sitting... To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, perhaps every poet should think meanly of himself for not producing a debut collection quite as powerful as this one.' Sunday Express
'A powerful and very affecting collection.' Poetry London
About Kevin Powers
Kevin Powers was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, and holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. He served in the US Army in 2004 and 2005 in Iraq, where he was deployed as a machine gunner in Mosul and Tal Afar. His debut novel, The Yellow Birds was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award 2012 and was a New York Times bestseller in its first week of publication.
Author photo © Kelly Powers
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