At the Time of Partition - Softcover

Moniza Alvi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852249846 ISBN 13: 9781852249847

Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd, 2013

Synopsis

Shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2013
This book-length poem is set at the time of the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947 when thousands of people were killed in civil unrest and millions displaced, with families later split between the two countries. Inspired by family history, Moniza Alvi weaves a deeply personal story of fortitude and courage, as well as of tragic loss, in this powerful work in 20 parts. At the Time of Partition is Moniza Alvi's first new poetry book since her T.S. Eliot Prize-shortlisted collection Europa, published in 2008 at the same time as Split World: Poems 1990-2005.

About this title

Review:

Alvi...takes a historical journey as the structure for this narrative poem. The year is 1947 - the year of Partition - and a family is forced to leave their home in Ludhiana for Lahore...Alvi captures the trauma of a nation in this slim, exquisitely mournful story of departure, migration and the uncertain feelings of settling in a new country. --Arifa Akbar, Independent

The volume consists of 20 poems which flow into each other to create a single haunting and lyrical narrative, welding the personal and the public. The result is a stunning, skilled and controlled work of immense grandeur...At the Time of Partition is a truly extraordinary collection, a work which succeeds in being spare, compelling and timeless. Furthermore, for the subcontinental reader, it captures a moment of time, a memory, so visceral that it has an extraordinary power. This book should not be missed. --Moneeza Shamsie, Dawn (Pakistan)

One of the few British poets whose work could currently be described as essential reading, not least as we try to grasp what fractures of cultural difference might have contributed to the 7 July bombings. --Tim Robertson, Magma

About the Author:

Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan and grew up in Hertfordshire. After working for many years as a secondary school teacher in London, she is now a freelance writer and tutor, and lives in Wymondham, Norfolk. Her latest books are At the Time of Partition (Bloodaxe Books, 2013), her new book-length poem; Homesick for the Earth, her versions of the French poet Jules Supervielle (Bloodaxe Books, 2011); Europa (Bloodaxe Books, 2008); and Split World: Poems 1990-2005 (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), which includes poems from her five previous collections, The Country at My Shoulder (1993), A Bowl of Warm Air (1996), Carrying My Wife (2000), Souls (2002) and How the Stone Found Its Voice (2005). The Country at My Shoulder was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot and Whitbread poetry prizes, and Carrying My Wife was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Europa was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize. At the Time of Partition is a Poetry Book Society Choice and is shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize 2013. Moniza Alvi received a Cholmondeley Award in 2002.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1852249846
• ISBN 13: 9781852249847
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64