State of Play brings together conversations between an international line-up of poets, taking place over the course of a year. Edited by Eddie Tay, a Singapore-born, Hong Kong-based poet and literature professor and Jennifer Wong, a Hong Kong-born, British-based poet, this anthology offers rich insights into these questions and the ways a life lived in many places can invigorate one’s writing.

With themes ranging from the sense of home and racialised expectations, to community and language, as well as the process of writing poetry, these creative discussions delve into the complexities and diversity of identity in the days of global citizenship and cultural diaspora. Find out more, read excerpts and listen to / watch recordings of events on our State of Play page here.

Praise for State of Play:

‘Deeply intimate and profoundly intellectual, the letters in State of Play have together kindled a new light for everyone of us who is searching between languages, cultures, and worlds. An essential book.’ —Yan Ge

Reminds us of the global reach of English-language poetry and poetics, whose production is not limited to the predominantly white Anglophone countries of the so-called West.' —Prof. Dorothy Wang

'Draws together a sparky and inspiring array of conversations... I wager that no reader interested in poetry will not find excitement in this vibrant anthology.’ —Prof. Elleke Boehmer

'This anthology offers rare and intimate insights into the creative challenges of writing poetry' —Prof. Susheila Nasta, Founder of Wasafiri

‘Multiple yet singular, the conversations here reveal the complexities of poetic language.' —Prof. Sandeep Parmar

Editors: Eddie Tay & Jennifer Wong

Contributors: Romalyn Ante, Khairani Barokka, Natalie Linh Bolderston, Troy Cabida, Mary Jean Chan, Victoria Chang, Chen Chen, Tim Tim Cheng, Felix Chow, Kit Fan, Jay Gao, Will Harris, Sarah Howe, Antony Huen, Joshua Ip, L Kiew, Laura Jane Lee, Li-Young Lee, Louise Leung, Dong Li, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Mukahang Limbu, Aaron Maniam, Theresa Muñoz, Alvin Pang, Nina Mingya Powles, Helen Quah, Sean Wai Keung, Lora Supandi, Arthur Sze, Marylyn Tan, Jennifer Lee Tsai, R. A. Villanueva, Jenny Xie, Jinhao Xie, Yanyi, Eric Yip, Monica Youn, and Ethan Yu.

All seven of the titles we published under Wayne Holloway-Smith’s editorship, for a special price of £45:

• Dog Woman by Helen Quah

• Mother of Flip-Flops by Mukahang Limbu

• Apricot by Katie O’Pray

• A Disbelief of Flesh by Maria-Sophia Christodoulou

• Trust Fall by William Gee

• Sad Thing Angry by Emma Jeremy

• G&T by Oakley Flanagan

Poetry Book Society Winter Pamphlet Choice, a Guardian ‘Best Recent Poetry’ selection.

Mukahang Limbu’s reputation as a key voice in a new generation of poets has been gathering momentum across a number of years, and its brilliance is captured here in his debut publication. Mother of Flip-Flops is a queering of migrant experience, a love song to the mother, a celebration and questioning of the self. Defiant and shifting, these poems articulate a unique coming-of-age, and what it means to do so with a heightened exchange of empathy.

Mukahang Limbu’s reputation as a key voice in a new generation of poets has been gathering momentum across a number of years, and its brilliance is captured here in his debut publication. Mother of Flip-Flops is a queering of migrant experience, a love song to the mother, a celebration and questioning of the self. Defiant and shifting, these poems articulate a unique coming-of-age, and what it means to do so with a heightened exchange of empathy.

‘With its supple lines and perceptive observations, Mother of Flip-Flops is an accomplished debut from one of the most original voices in UK poetry. A multifarious enquiry into the complexities of boyhood, family, and what it means to be a particular self negotiating the world, this pamphlet explores all the textures of experience with a sophisticated intelligence and audacious flair: “Oh don’t we stink of our horny fat bodies // sticky with love”. Mother of Flip-Flops makes for a deeply rewarding, memorable read.’ — Jane Yeh

Mukahang Limbu’s reputation as a key voice in a new generation of poets has been gathering momentum across a number of years, and its brilliance is captured here in his debut publication. Mother of Flip-Flops is a queering of migrant experience, a love song to the mother, a celebration and questioning of the self. Defiant and shifting, these poems articulate a unique coming-of-age, and what it means to do so with a heightened exchange of empathy.

‘With its supple lines and perceptive observations, Mother of Flip-Flops is an accomplished debut from one of the most original voices in UK poetry. A multifarious enquiry into the complexities of boyhood, family, and what it means to be a particular self negotiating the world, this pamphlet explores all the textures of experience with a sophisticated intelligence and audacious flair: “Oh don’t we stink of our horny fat bodies // sticky with love”. Mother of Flip-Flops makes for a deeply rewarding, memorable read.’ — Jane Yeh

Format: epub / mobi

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