Description
The poems in Nancy Campbell's first collection transport the reader to the frozen shores of Greenland. The Arctic has long been a place of encounters, and Disko Bay is a meeting point for whalers and missionaries, scientists and shamans. We hear the stories of those living on the ice edge in former times: hunters, explorers and settlers, and the legendary leader Qujaavaarssuk. These poems relate the struggle for existence in the harsh polar environment, and address tensions between modern life and traditional ways of subsistence. As the environment begins to change, hunters grow hungry and their languages are lost. In the final sequence, Jutland, we reach the northern fringes of Europe, where shifting waterlines bear witness to the disappearing arctic ice.
About the Author
Nancy Campbell is a British writer and artist whose recent work explores polar and marine environments. She has engaged in residencies at a number of ecological and research institutions, from the world's most northerly museum on the island of Upernavik to the University of Oxford. She was a Hawthornden Fellow in 2013. Nancy's books include The Night Hunter and Tikilluarit (Z'roah Press, New York, 2011/13), and How To Say 'I Love You' In Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet (Bird Editions, 2011) which wonthe Birgit Skiold Award. Her poems, essays and reviews are widely published, and she was awarded the Terrain Non-Fiction Prize in 2014 for 'The Library of Ice'. www.nancycampbell.co.uk
Reviews
'Nancy Campbell crafts severe, beautiful founding myths which merge fragments of story with song in a poetry which has refreshingly sharp edges. Strong women and talented male hunters there are, but all are vulnerable before human caprice and this lyrically evoked world of ice.' Richard Price; 'Disko Bay is a beautiful debut from a deft, dangerous and dazzling new poet writing from the furthest reaches of both history and climate change.' Carol Ann Duffy
Awards
Short-listed for Felix Dennis Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection 2016.
Book Information
ISBN 9781910392188
Author Nancy Campbell
Format Paperback
Page Count 64
Imprint Enitharmon Press
Publisher Enitharmon Press
About the Author
Nancy Campbell is a British writer and artist whose recent work explores polar and marine environments. She has engaged in residencies at a number of ecological and research institutions, from the world's most northerly museum on the island of Upernavik to the University of Oxford. She was a Hawthornden Fellow in 2013. Nancy's books include The Night Hunter and Tikilluarit (Z'roah Press, New York, 2011/13), and How To Say 'I Love You' In Greenlandic: An Arctic Alphabet (Bird Editions, 2011) which wonthe Birgit Skiold Award. Her poems, essays and reviews are widely published, and she was awarded the Terrain Non-Fiction Prize in 2014 for 'The Library of Ice'. www.nancycampbell.co.uk
Reviews
'Nancy Campbell crafts severe, beautiful founding myths which merge fragments of story with song in a poetry which has refreshingly sharp edges. Strong women and talented male hunters there are, but all are vulnerable before human caprice and this lyrically evoked world of ice.' Richard Price; 'Disko Bay is a beautiful debut from a deft, dangerous and dazzling new poet writing from the furthest reaches of both history and climate change.' Carol Ann Duffy
Awards
Short-listed for Felix Dennis Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection 2016.
Book Information
ISBN 9781910392188
Author Nancy Campbell
Format Paperback
Page Count 64
Imprint Enitharmon Press
Publisher Enitharmon Press
