Motherlands: Poems

Motherlands, a debut poetry collection by Weijia Pan, has won the Levis Reading Prize and the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. It explores history, identity, and the power of poetry to elucidate both, following a child drawn to poetry through a childhood in post-Maoist China and an eventual move to the United States. Pan questions the artist's duty as a chronicler of truth, especially through issues of displacement and global injustice, and finds himself turning to art as a way to understand both the self and the world at large. The collection is lyrical and visionary, embodying poetry's capacity to ground us, teach us, and change us.

Format: Hardback
Length: 96 pages
Publication date: 31 October 2024
Publisher: Milkweed Editions

Winner of the Levis Reading Prize and the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, Motherlands is a captivating debut that explores history, identity, and the transformative power of poetry. The collection follows a speaker-poet through their childhood in post-Maoist China and their eventual move to the United States, highlighting cultural and linguistic tensions in both historical and modern settings. Pan questions the artist's duty as a chronicler of truth, particularly through issues of displacement and global injustice. Through elegant juxtapositions, Pan crafts an emotional world that is both regional and universal, featuring Li Bai and Du Fu alongside Glenn Gould and Sviatoslav Richter. Lyrical and visionary, Motherlands embodies poetry's capacity to ground us, teach us, and change us.

Weight: 270g
Dimension: 162 x 223 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781639551132