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by Eileen Chong (Author)
We Speak of Flowers, Eileen Chong's sixth collection, is a wondrous extended elegy dedicated to her ancestors. Its 101 pieces are a spacious, meditative record of an attempt to make sense of grief in the face of great pain. Chong's interweaving of memory, history and possibility showcases her mastery of poetic form and craft, all the while displaying her signature light touch in exploring the pathos of things. This is poetry that thrums with feeling, of deep connections to place and ancestral roots, and of the search for meaning in a broken world.
Author Biography
Eileen Chong is an Australian poet who was born in Singapore of Hakka, Hokkien and Peranakan descent. She is the author of ten books published in Australia and the United States. Major prizes her work has been shortlisted for include the NSW Premier's Literary Award, the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, and twice for the Prime Minister's Literary Award. Her debut book, Burning Rice, is the first poetry collection by an Asian Australian to be studied as part of the NSW HSC English syllabus. Her most recent collection with UQP, A Thousand Crimson Blooms, was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry. She lives and works on the unceded land of the Gadigal of the Eora Nation. eileenchong.com.au
