Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting
Summary
The feel-good place to buy books
Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting by Kevin Powers
Shortlisted for the 2014 TS Eliot Prize Shortlisted for the 2014 Forward Prize for Best First Collection Poetry Book Society Choice In this remarkable debut poetry collection, National Book Award finalist and Iraq war veteran Kevin Powers creates a startling, affecting portrait of a life shaped by war. 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.
Like the best war poets, Kevin Powers' real subject is not the battle for land or governance, but the battle for one man's soulIn 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 *
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 *
Kevin Powers' first novel, The Yellow Birds, won the Guardian First Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and was a National Book Award Finalist. His poetry collection, Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and Forward Prize. His second novel, A Shout in the Ruins, was published in 2018. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he 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 Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781444780819 |
| ISBN 10 | 1444780816 |
| Title | Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting |
| Author | Kevin Powers |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year published | 2014-04-03 |
| Number of pages | 112 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for Forward Poetry Prize: Best First Collection 2014, Short-listed for T S Eliot Prize 2014 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |