Pia Tafdrup is one of Denmark's leading poets. She has received the Nordic Literature Prize - Scandinavia's most prestigious literary award - and the Swedish Academy's Nordic Prize. This new translation of her work combines two recent collections, The Migrant Bird's Compass and Salamander Sun, which comprise the third and fourth parts of a quartet written over ten years: the first two parts are The Whales in Paris and Tarkovsky's Horses (published in English by Bloodaxe in 2010 as Tarkovsky's Horses and other poems). The Migrant Bird's Compass is a book of poems about the dimensions of travel, either to specific countries or as an inner journey. The route from birth to death is also portrayed. Travel demands commitment and curiosity. The only predictable thing about it is the unpredictable. Travel implies vulnerability, but also much that has happened at home while one was away. The poems are about the experience of 'resting in myself / despite the fire in the centre of the earth'. Salamander Sun presents 60 poems, one for each year, from 1952, when Pia Tafdrup was born, to 2011; from the first chaotic sensations, through the gradual discovery of the world and its diversity, and of language, its possibilities and challenges; from growing up on a farm, puberty, study, politics, love, to becoming a poet, having two sons, getting older and having old parents; to leaving one's mark and understanding one's place in the passage of time. The poems cast light backwards, but also seek a focus in the future. Together with The Whales in Paris and Tarkovsky's Horses the two books form a quartet that centres on the theme of journeying and passage, its individual parts creating a field of tension. Each part portrays an element: water, earth, air and fire, each represented by a creature, and each part has a key figure: the beloved person, the father, the mother and the "I" that recalls its life. The quartet is an attempt to find structure in the midst of chaos.

About the Author
Pia Tafdrup was born in 1952 in Copenhagen. She has published over 20 books in Danish since her first collection appeared in 1981, and her work has been translated into many languages. Her fourth collection, Spring Tide, was published in English by Forest in 1989. In 1991 she published a celebrated statement of her poetics, Walking Over Water. She received the 1999 Nordic Council Literature Prize - Scandinavia's most prestigious literary award - for Queen's Gate, which was published in David McDuff's English translation by Bloodaxe in 2001. Also in 2001, she was appointed a Knight of the Order of Dannebrog, and in 2006 she received the Nordic Prize from the Swedish Academy. Most of Pia Tafdrup's poetry collections have been linked by themes, including The Salamander Quartet (2002-2012). Written over ten years, its first two parts were The Whales in Paris and Tarkovsky's Horses, translated by David McDuff and published by Bloodaxe in 2010 as Tarkovsky's Horses and other poems. This was followed in 2015 by Salamander Sun and other poems, McDuff's translation of The Migrant Bird's Compass and Salamander Sun, the third and fourth parts of the quartet. The first two collections in Pia Tafdrup's new series of books focussing on the human senses are The Taste of Steel and The Smell of Snow, which Bloodaxe published as one volume in David McDuff's translation in 2021.

Reviews
"McDuff's translation of Tafdrup's poetry is uncluttered and maintains a personal approachability consistent with the content." -- World Literature Today "World Literature Today"



Book Information
ISBN 9781780371504
Author Pia Tafdrup
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Bloodaxe Books Ltd
Publisher Bloodaxe Books Ltd