Hauled Head First into a Leviathan
Iain Britton
Cinnamon Press
This long awaited first poetry collection from one of New Zealand ’s finest writers reveals Iain Britton as a poet with a remarkable and distinctive voice who is already attracting international interest. Hauled Head First into a Leviathan, published by Wales-based publisher, Cinnamon Press is not only attracting critical acclaim, but has also been nominated for one of the most prestigious poetry prizes, The Forward Prize for best first collection published in 2008.
“The intensity of NZ light, the breadth and imagination in our best thinking, strong attitudes and natural splendour, how our culture may appear as a quick-change melange, Britton celebrates and explores those perceptions and further. This collection is on the UK long list re Forward Prizes in Poetry, (known as the ‘bardic Booker’), and a London magazine has nominated one of Britton’s poems for the Best Single Poem category.
“Britton exalts and describes, then leaves the reader to grasp their own meanings. I fade into the coolness/of a flowering rhododendron. I/recede deeply, the sunlight/turning green. (from Dangerously Close)
Mainly, this collection celebrates penetrating responses to life’s enormity and emphasises fidelity towards existence and others, through an acceptance of one’s own vision and beliefs; bold acceptance of a range of emotions and ideas quite evident. Britton’s writing builds complex scenarios in simple, fresh, easy to access passages. A definite sense of place in every poem, even when positions shift and people transform. Rewarding language exhilarates, merits many readings..”
This long awaited first poetry collection from one of New Zealand ’s finest writers reveals Iain Britton as a poet with a remarkable and distinctive voice who is already attracting international interest. Hauled Head First into a Leviathan, published by Wales-based publisher, Cinnamon Press is not only attracting critical acclaim, but has also been nominated for one of the most prestigious poetry prizes, The Forward Prize for best first collection published in 2008.
“The intensity of NZ light, the breadth and imagination in our best thinking, strong attitudes and natural splendour, how our culture may appear as a quick-change melange, Britton celebrates and explores those perceptions and further. This collection is on the UK long list re Forward Prizes in Poetry, (known as the ‘bardic Booker’), and a London magazine has nominated one of Britton’s poems for the Best Single Poem category.
“Britton exalts and describes, then leaves the reader to grasp their own meanings. I fade into the coolness/of a flowering rhododendron. I/recede deeply, the sunlight/turning green. (from Dangerously Close)
Mainly, this collection celebrates penetrating responses to life’s enormity and emphasises fidelity towards existence and others, through an acceptance of one’s own vision and beliefs; bold acceptance of a range of emotions and ideas quite evident. Britton’s writing builds complex scenarios in simple, fresh, easy to access passages. A definite sense of place in every poem, even when positions shift and people transform. Rewarding language exhilarates, merits many readings..”
Raewyn Alexander
