Lynn Buckle & Nina Mingya Powles

In Lynn Buckle’s Barbellion-Prize-winning What Willow Says, a deaf child and her grandmother experiment with the lyrical beauty of sign language whilst sharing stories of myths, legends and ancient bogs. Learning to communicate through their shared love of trees they find solace in the shapes and susurrations of leaves in the wind. This is a poignant tale of family bonding and the quiet acceptance of change.

Small Bodies of Water by Nina Mingya Powles is a lyrical, poetic essay collection that blends memoir with powerful writing on the natural world, taking us from London to New Zealand, Shanghai to Malaysia. Nina first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water. Through her life there have been others that have meant different things, but have still been, in their own way, home: from the wild coastline of New Zealand to a pond in northwest London. In lyrical, powerful prose, Small Bodies of Water weaves together memories, dreams and nature writing. Exploring everything from migration, food, family, earthquakes and the ancient lunisolar calendar, Nina reflects on a girlhood spent growing up between two cultures, and what it means to belong.

This event will take place in the main room of the Maritime Hotel and a hearing induction loop will be installed for the duration of the festival