The Sirocco Room is Jamie McKendrick's first book of poems. Born in Liverpool in 1955, he taught for several years in Italy, and is a translator from the Italian. He was the winner of the Eric Gregory Award for young poets in 1984, and several of his poems have been published in British literary magazines. This collection of eloquent, witty, and crafted poems about topics ranging from exile to the state of the environment possesses an elegiac undertone that is surprising in a young writer.