Beginnings & Other Tragedies

£12.99

Beginnings & Other Tragedies is a powerful book-length poem, offering a choral experience of a present-future where almost all hope seems lost – except for that offered by poetry itself, and the "beginners" who care about our planet and dream of making a change. In the background, the landscape of Venice, the sinking city.

Drawing on nature poetry, dystopian fiction and Greek tragedy, Ilaria Boffa reimagines scientific and ecological language as sites of beauty, with the power to change reality; seen here as something malleable and unstable, to be made and remade. Published in a bilingual English/Italian edition, with both texts written by the original poet, readers are offered a rare opportunity to compare the two languages at their absolute best.

Through confronting the most painful, discomforting parts of the world and ourselves, Boffa reminds us why "it's good to think difficult things", and why it may be time to repurpose ourselves and start again – a call-to-action which murmurs in our ears both as we read and long after we set the book down.

Beginnings & Other Tragedies is a powerful book-length poem, offering a choral experience of a present-future where almost all hope seems lost – except for that offered by poetry itself, and the "beginners" who care about our planet and dream of making a change. In the background, the landscape of Venice, the sinking city.

Drawing on nature poetry, dystopian fiction and Greek tragedy, Ilaria Boffa reimagines scientific and ecological language as sites of beauty, with the power to change reality; seen here as something malleable and unstable, to be made and remade. Published in a bilingual English/Italian edition, with both texts written by the original poet, readers are offered a rare opportunity to compare the two languages at their absolute best.

Through confronting the most painful, discomforting parts of the world and ourselves, Boffa reminds us why "it's good to think difficult things", and why it may be time to repurpose ourselves and start again – a call-to-action which murmurs in our ears both as we read and long after we set the book down.

About the Author

Ilaria Boffa is an Italian poet and sound recordist. She writes bilingual poetry and has published three poetry collections to date. She is one of eight authors included in NeMLA Writing in a Different Language Vol XL 2018. Her sono-poems, which combine poetry and field recording, have been broadcast on Radiophrenia Glasgow radio art festival and Clyde Built Radio Glasgow. Three of her collaborative audio-video installations have been exhibited at Mahalla Festival Murmuration 2021 in Turkey, Nature&Culture Poetry Film Festival 2021 in Sweden, !Flick! International Film Festival 2023 in the US and MK Architektur Exhibition 2023 in Germany.

Vital Statistics

Imprint: Valley Press
Edition: First (October 2023)
Paperback ISBN: 9781915606358
Catalogue number: VP0225
Page count: 84
Trim size: 198x129mm

 

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