Cirrus@Austlit

'The setting of Between the lines is China soon after the Cultural Revolution. The first part focuses on Jiangsu province, with letters sent in 1980-81. The reader learns of the arrival of television, the trial of the Gang of Four, neighbourhood committees, and population control. Xinjiang journaling takes up the second part of the book, the most political, with commentary on the current Uyghur situation. Here the title is most apt, with observations and questions from the writer leaving the reader asking for more analysis. A red thread of poetry links different historical elements together dynasties, modern revolutionary poetry, and poetry opposing what went before or what silences culture.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

''Explorations of place and time make for a wonderful, prismatic journey... Following Rivers in Trees captures the movement of time and life, one moment eddying under bridges and the next sweeping diaspora. Ogier Jones's latest collection traverses a rich "legacy of Irishness", through seasons of blackberry-picking, centuries of history, and the exquisitely "busy tales" of otters. A beautiful exploration of the ephemerality of experience set against the vast, calm foreverness of the rivers of Cork.' - Kim Kelly, author of Wild Chicory, The Blue Mile and The Rat Catcher

''The meandering forms and quiet peace of Ogier Jones's river poems are the antidote to a chaotic world. In the tradition of the dinnseanchas, these poems celebrate the lore of place, while simultaneously connecting towns and villages through the movement of water. Fish, frogs, otters and birds become your crew as you navigate this closely observed and lyrical unveiling.' - Audrey Molloy, author of The Important Things' (Publication summary)

'Chiperoni: term for a kind of fog, drizzle rain, experienced in the Shire Highlands of southern Malawi during the cold, dry season; name derived from Mount Chiperone, an isolated mountain peak at the southern extremity of East African mountain ranges, covered with montane forests and surrounded by diciduous woodlands.

'Adele Ogier Jones has lived and worked in Malawi over different periods since 2007. Poems in Counting the Chiperoni were written between 2017 and 2018. They are grouped in three sections, opening with those related to 'chiperoni', the weather phenomenon coming from Mozambique, affecting Malawi's southern Shire Highlands around Blantyre. Then 'bush and plantation' includes poems on changing land use; followed by the longest part of the collection 'and its people', which moves between local people's memories rewritten here as poems, and the poet's own reflections on present-day life, work, and customs affected by environmental and economic changes.'  (Publication summary)

'Beginning after the American Revolution, the temperance movement spread to England and Ireland in the 1830s with temperance societies encouraging moderation as well as the more extreme teetotalism. In Australia, this movement gave rise to an architectural phenomenon called Coffee Palaces – elaborate buildings offering tea rooms, reading rooms, restaurants, accommodation and stabling, all with the promise of a peaceful environment undisturbed by rowdy drinkers. They were, in effect, alcohol-free hotels which, by the 1880s, could be found in every city and most towns in the country. The Coffee Palace in Berrigan, in the New South Wales Riverina, was built to service locals and travellers arriving by horse, coach or on the newly opened railway. It was, over the years, a prominent part of the story of a community, but less visible and less known was the personal story – that of the family which built and operated the Berrigan Coffee Palace. Midst the hardship and heartache, there is the story of innovation, determination and innovation, and the fulfillment of a dream.' (Publication Summary)

'The poems in this collection were written in Pristina and Prizren (Kosovo), and in Dubrovnik - each with their rich stories and heritage. The title represents a new era for the Balkan region, beyond the historical conflict of Kosovo's 'Blackbird Field', so poems are grouped in line with sunset, evening, or night falling on tranquil landscapes, beyond war. Early dawn promise is reflected in the later Dubrovnik section, with a final tale set on Mostar Bridge which has come to symbolise freedom and peace.' (Publication summary)