The Chiming Blue

You love the secret hush of trees. Sleep soundly when the weather’s warm. And in your wondering gaze I see again your lovely rage at being born. —‘For Amelia Fleur’ These new and selected poems by critically acclaimed novelist and short-story writer Marilyn Duckworth meditate with wit and warmth on love, memory, the writing life, and disorder. This is Duckworth’s first poetry collection since Other Lovers’ Children, published in 1975.

Marilyn Duckworth was born in Otahuhu in 1935. She is the author of many novels – her first, A Gap in the Spectrum, was published in 1959 and her most recent, Playing Friends, in 2007 – as well as collections of short fiction and poetry. She has also written extensively for radio. Duckworth has received many distinguished accolades throughout her career and in 1987 she was awarded an OBE for Services to Literature. Her memoir, Camping on the Faultline, was published in 2000. In 2016 Duckworth was awarded a Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement for fiction.