Cirrus@Austlit

'In this book of poetry, Kingsbury is where the poet has been based since he came from the People's Republic of China in 1991, the first time he came into extensive contact, and conflict with a very different culture and multi-culture.

'Covering a period of about 160 years from the First Opium War (1840) to the beginnings of the 21st century, The Kingsbury Tales serves up a poetic plate of multi-taste choice foods with choice tales, each tale represented by a poem, not longer than one A-4 page, told by people from all walks of life, including wives, concubines, lawyers, diplomats, students, professors, factory workers, mental patients and visitors, from a colonial and postcolonial point of view.' (Publisher's blurb)