In White Ink

by Mimi Khalvati

Mimi Khalvati's first book of poems takes its title from Helene Cixous' observation that women write 'in white ink'. The resonances of this phrase are explored in many of these poems. Writing in her adoptive mother tongue, Khalvati explores loss and recovery of country, language, family and power. As an Iranian and a woman who has lived mainly in the West, she discovers a hitherto silenced voice, sited in 'the feminine'. While evoking male/female relationships, the poems affirm the centrality of women and their relationships and celebrate, too, with candor and gentleness, the power of motherhood. Much of the work draws on the experience of the Iranian diaspora and on early childhood memories, serving to undermine current Iranian/Islamic stereotypes. Using traditional and free verse, color and lyricism in imagery and rhythm, Khalvati achieves a reconciliation of her various worlds.

96 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1991

About the author

Mimi Khalvati was born in Tehran, Iran. She grew up on the Isle of Wight, where she attended boarding school from the age of six, and has lived most of her life in England. She trained at Drama Centre London and has worked as an actor and director in the UK and Iran.

She has published eight collections of poetry with Carcanet Press, including The Weather Wheel, The Meanest Flower, a Poetry Book Society Recommendation, a Financial Times Book of the Year, and shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and, most recently, Child: New and Selected Poems 1991-2011, a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation. Her work has been translated into nine languages and she received a Cholmondeley Award in 2006. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Mimi is the founder of The Poetry School and was the Coordinator from 1997–2004. She is a core tutor for the School and has co-edited its three anthologies of new writing published by Enitharmon Press.

She is also a freelance poetry tutor and has worked with arts organisations such as the Arvon Foundation and the South Bank Centre and has taught at universities in the UK, Europe and America.