Scottish Libraries Book of the Year
This collcetion of poems eloquently captures the contradictions and multiple identities of modern China. Liz Niven has a keen eye for detail and a light touch that delivers an unexpected intensity. Taking on ancient traditions and contemporary issues, this selection is in turn humorous and poignant and illustrates China as it is rarely seen. From the intimacy of the tea ceremony to the lives of the migrant workers in Beijing, nothing is as you would expect.
‘Alternately tinkling and refracting like fragments of fine porcelain and clattering percussively like Olympics construction works, The Shard Box is a vivid portrait of modern China. Posted by Colin Herd, Thu 24 Feb 2011 in The Skinny
‘Her techniques are diverse: translation into Scots of Chinese poems, Brechtian observation of foreign things, jokes; they are often understated, ironic, compassionate, unsentimental, unobtrusively restrained’? Prof. Alan Riach for the Association Scottish Literary Studies in The Bottle Imp.
 | Liz NivenLiz Niven is a Scottish poet writing in Scots and English. Poetry collections include Stravaigin (Canongate/Luath Press), Burning Whins (Luath) and The Shard Box (Luath). Poetry pamphlets include Cree Lines complementing text for public art inscribed in wood, stone and metal in southwest Scotland. Awards include McCash/Herald, TESS/Saltire, Year of the Artist. A wide range of materials published to support Scots language in education with ASLS, Hodder, Nelson Blackie, Mercator (Euopean Bureau of Lesser Used Languages), Channel 4, BBC. She is an Honorary Fellow of ASLS and Executive member of Scottish PEN. |