In the Hollow of the Wave
Published on 10. July 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
96 pages
978-1-77671-151-2 (ISBN)
Description
"I lay strips of pale peach
cotton and cloud-printed cloth side by side.
Each becomes a strange,
asymmetric quilt block.
Each block like a sentence,
each sentence an island, all the islands loosely touching."
In her second book of poetry, Nina Mingya Powles skilfully
threads together themes of belonging and material inheritance against a
backdrop of verse, collage and textile. From shorelines in Aotearoa, the UK and
across Asia, this collection moves through words and images to explore water
and the body, sewing and artmaking, personal histories and multicultural
identities. In the Hollow of the Wave questions the possibilities of
what a poem can be.
cotton and cloud-printed cloth side by side.
Each becomes a strange,
asymmetric quilt block.
Each block like a sentence,
each sentence an island, all the islands loosely touching."
In her second book of poetry, Nina Mingya Powles skilfully
threads together themes of belonging and material inheritance against a
backdrop of verse, collage and textile. From shorelines in Aotearoa, the UK and
across Asia, this collection moves through words and images to explore water
and the body, sewing and artmaking, personal histories and multicultural
identities. In the Hollow of the Wave questions the possibilities of
what a poem can be.
Reviews / Votes
With delicatebeauty and complexity, In the Hollow of the Wave explores the
body and relationships, earthquakes and weather, artworks and craft, as Powles
weaves hybrid identity, memory and dreams across generations, across the globe
towards the uncertainty of home. - Alison Wong
I love the way this collection comes together like a
quilt of memories, textures, threads, images, thoughts, ghosts, resonances and
folded language, in a way that is so inviting and so expansive. I found it both
comforting and exciting to read, and want to reread it over and over
again. - Anna Jackson
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Auckland
New Zealand
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-77671-151-2 (9781776711512)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Nina Mingya Powles is a poet and writer from
Aotearoa New Zealand, currently based in London. Her debut poetry collection, Magnolia
??, was published in New
Zealand, the UK and the US, and was a finalist in the Felix Dennis Prize for
Best First Collection and the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Powles won the
inaugural Women Poets' Prize in 2018 and the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize for
under-represented nature writers in 2019. Her resulting book of essays Small
Bodies of Water was published in 2021 by Canongate. She has also published a
short food memoir, Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai (The Emma
Press, 2020).
Aotearoa New Zealand, currently based in London. Her debut poetry collection, Magnolia
??, was published in New
Zealand, the UK and the US, and was a finalist in the Felix Dennis Prize for
Best First Collection and the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. Powles won the
inaugural Women Poets' Prize in 2018 and the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize for
under-represented nature writers in 2019. Her resulting book of essays Small
Bodies of Water was published in 2021 by Canongate. She has also published a
short food memoir, Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai (The Emma
Press, 2020).