The Butterfly Hotel

Writing from a place somewhere between Trinidad and Brixton, from a vantage point that is at once insider and outsider, these poems from acclaimed poet Roger Robinson lead to a state of alienation and unbelonging in black British London. Such a changing reality is all too evident to the periodic returnee, who is conscious of both his growing difference and the fragility of his memories of the world he has known. But these are far from bleak and alienated poems as the very fear of loss generates a drive to re-create the remembered world in all its richness, humor, and sensuality. Displaying a faith in a human capacity for regeneration, these stirring works shape new concepts of home by the very rewarding act of re-creating memory through stories that are gracefully and elegantly rendered.

Roger Robinson recently came to the attention of UK audiences in the Bloodaxe anthology Ten, hailed by Carol Ann Duffy as "a joyful and important moment in publishing".

The Butterfly Hotel is his first full collection of poetry, a telling document of the immigrant experience, from the 1980s to the present day, and the realities of uprooted culture. Butterflies hold a symbolic importance throughout, fragile yet ideal, adapting to survive.

Roger Robinson is a writer and performer who lives in London. His one-man shows are The Shadow Boxer, Letter from My Father''s Brother and Prohibition, all of which premiered at the British Festival of Visual Theatre at Battersea Arts Centre. He has received writing commissions from Stratford Theatre Royal East, the National Trust, the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate. His poetry has appeared in the Flipped Eye pamphlets Suitcase (2005; ISBN 9780954224776) and Suckle (2009; ISBN 9781905233212), the latter winning the Peoples Book Prize, and in the Bloodaxe anthology Ten, edited by Bernardine Evaristo and Daljit Nagra (2010; ISBN 9781852248796).

• | Author: Roger Robinson
• | Publisher: Peepal Tree Press Ltd
• | Publication Date: Sep 02, 2013
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781845232191
• | ISBN-10: 1845232194