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SOME COMMENTS ON "PAINTING THE BORROWED HOUSE"
"Here is an author in her prime – confident, sure of her craft, and willing to take risks." – Donna Langevin, Toronto, Canada. (Donna Langevin is the author of "Improvising in the Dark" and "The Second Language of Birds", Hidden Brook Press, Toronto, Canada.)
This collection follows Kate's journey as she explores Asia, her life changes and she finally commits herself to remain. It is a fresh account by a complex and sensitive woman learning to live with her choices in a new culture—the "Borrowed House" of the title.
Kate reaches out to us through these poems and her perceptions encourage us to be conscious of the layered structure and archaeology of our own lives.
Full of epiphanies, vivid emotion and surprise.
SOME COMMENTS ON "SIGHTINGS"
"Bickley has made use of everyday life situations and turned them into life lessons. 'Sightings' inspires us to slow down and taste the sense of the city." – Ma Kwai Hung, Examiner, Hong Kong Arts Development Council
"In 'Sightings' Bickley hones in on an event or encounter, feels her way through the sighting and produces a compelling journey for the reader. It is, indeed, the feeling eye, the compassionate and insightful eye of the poet, which enables us to travel the landscapes, both physical and human, of Hong Kong and other places. This eye offers us vignettes and anecdotes that raise both metaphysical and ethical questions." – Marion Bethel, Nassau, The Bahamas.
'Sightings' 'Sightings', with Gillian's signature
SOME COMMENTS ON 'MOVING HOUSE'
"Images, as if from a poetic camera, of experiences and reflections of existence in Hong Kong." "The poetic observations of a sensitive writer responding to the reality of being alive." "Insightful probing into the darker issues of our lives . . . to make sense of human experience." – Paul Bench, Speech & Drama: Journal of the Society of Teachers of Speech and Drama.
"A privileged view into the emotional, intellectual and spiritual life of its writer." "The profound intimacy of the personal poems, reflecting universal truths about the human condition, renders the reader at once intruder and confidant." – Solveig Bang, Sunday Morning Post, Hong Kong.
"Bickley's delicately-crafted poems are faithful word portraits of various aspects of Hong Kong at the turn of the millennium: its landscape, its people, its myths and spirits." – Tammy Ho, Asian Review of Books.
"Bickley emerges from the poems as a funny, perceptive, caring, and wise person." "Adventurous in scope." "Much of the poetry is easy access – poems that strip themselves bare for the reader". –MM, Hong Kong Magazine.
"Gillian Bickley writes as she responds to everyday events, always with the echo of 'time's wingèd chariot' in her ears. The variety of human life and the individual response to life, these are Gillian Bickley's central interests. In this bare, tight poetry, no idle words are allowed. Its vocabulary draws on the base language of essences and epiphanies. The chosen spare language is the perfect partner for this poetry of mature experience." –Emeritus Professor I. F. Clarke and M. Clarke, UK.
SOME COMMENTS ON "FOR THE RECORD"
NOTE: "For the Record" was written during a residence of thirty years in Hong Kong and presents people, nature, city-scenes, thoughts, experiences and cultural events.
"Bickley succeeds in conveying the character of the Fragrant Harbour with humorous rigour." – David Wilson, in "Sunday Morning Post".
"She skillfully fuses the human and the natural world." – David McKirdy, in "Asian Review of Books".
"A perceptive account of life and people mostly in Hong Kong, rendered with empathy, humour and surprise." – Agnes Lam.
"Poems on materialism to marriage, and expatriate life to the 1997 ‘handback – not Handover – to China’." – Madeleine Marie Slavick.
"Bickley’s work is fun to read. She is an expatriate, but sometimes with a local perspective." – Cindy Yik-Yi Chu, in "Hong Kong Journal of Modern Chinese History".
FROM A REVIEW OF BOTH "FOR THE RECORD" AND "MOVING HOUSE"
"fresh, insightful and in rhythm with the sensitivities of a community passing through a period of political and social change. . . . an important contribution to the evolution of cross-cultural poetry in, and about, Hong Kong." – Ian Wotherspoon, in "The Overseas Pensioner", UK.
'For the Record' 'Moving House'
A REVIEW OF "SIGHTINGS" AND "PAINTING THE BORROWED HOUSE"
Both Theatre and Music have long experimented with interculturalism but, until very recently, Poetry has lagged behind. Now, however, the enterprising publishers, Proverse of Hong Kong, have produced two very significant contributions to an important aspect of the current Arts scene. These two attractive volumes are the work of poets who spent their formative years in Britain and Canada respectively and who later have developed insight into Chinese culture through their new lives in Hong Kong.
Gillian Bickley’s verse is often remarkable for its economy and breath-taking delicacy. It ranges from reactions to the interface of technology and nature to the simple facts of being a student, teacher or writer .The forms are daring and varied, the images potent and memorable yet, through all the verse there is a sense of deep interest in and compassion for humanity. Illustrations and an insightful essay on the communication of poetry enhance this volume and make it much more than a collection of poems. Rather, it is a celebration and investigation of what poetry can, and in this case, does do supremely well.
Kate Rogers’s poems conduct the reader on an exploration of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This review is being written on the day that British Newspapers reported the commencement of flights between Taiwan and China and this gives added potency to this realisation that, however hard the world may try to deny need for greater tolerance and communication, the more it will happen through the medium of the Arts. Kate’s poems have a flowing and meditative quality that delves into personal landscapes as well as describing and evoking places and experiences. At times, however, there is a vibrancy about the verse that allows the thrusting modern world, with its HSBC logos and air-conditioned environment to clash with ancient temples and tofu.
Both these beautifully-produced volumes are a rich pleasure to own and peruse. They demonstrate that the publication of poetry is, in itself, an art form that Proverse has uniquely mastered. — Ken Pickering. Professor: The Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education: London. 13 June 2008.
'Sightings' 'Painting the Borrowed House'
To purchase copies from Proverse Hong Kong, please mail your order with accompanying cheque, made out to “Proverse Hong Kong”, to “Proverse Hong Kong, P.O. Box 259, Tung Chung Post Office, Tung Chung, NT, Hong Kong”.
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If you do not wish the author’s signature (where available), or if you are ordering from overseas, you may alternatively like to order these books from the web-site of the ex-Hong Kong Distributor, The Chinese University Press, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, where you can also find more information about the books and cover images.
Kate Rogers's "Painting the Borrowed House" is not yet available from the Chinese University Press of Hong Kong. Please make advance orders from Proverse Hong Kong.
ENQUIRIES TO THE PUBLISHER, Proverse Hong Kong: [email protected]
CONTACT DETAILS FOR THE DISTRIBUTOR OF THE BOOKS LISTED ABOVE
The Chinese University Press of Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong, SAR.
Fax: +852 26037355.
Email: [email protected]
VISIT GILLIAN BICKLEY's web pages: Gillian Bickley
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