To Live in Autumn (The Backwaters Prize in Poetry)

Poetry. Middle Eastern Studies. Womens Studies. Zeina Hashem Beck crafts a multifaceted portrait of the people and the streets of Beirut. Part love-letter part elegy Hashem Becks debut collection keeps the city from becoming a shadow of a memory / the memory of a shadow for poet and reader both offering us instead labyrinths / in which we get lost on purpose. This collection is as vibrant and sensitive as its subject&;the city that understands / not being tired of being. Join me in an enthusiastic welcome for a compelling new voice in Anglophone poetry.&;John Hennessy