Away

by Andrea MacPherson

Andrea MacPherson takes us on a grand tour of Europe, where the vast legacy of human history combines with her own ancestral origins to make a mark on her. In reaction, MacPherson assembles suites of deft, personal lyrics for each country. These poems consider the state of estrangement from the familiar and the shock of history's impress. Whether she is crossing the uneasy if commonplace border between north and south Ireland, visiting the ruins of a jute mill where her Scottish great-grandmother once worked, stopping for a kir on a ruelle in Montparnasse, or voyaging out by ferry into blue clarities of the Aegean, MacPherson is a traveller always aware of how her perceptions -- and her self -- are being shaped. In this book of quiet beauty and careful observation, MacPherson seeks to re-invent the travel poem on her own terms.

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Andrea MacPherson, poet and novelist, is the author of six books: three novels, What We Once Believed, Beyond the Blue, and When She Was Electric, and three poetry collections, Ellipses, Away, and Natural Disasters. Her poetry has been anthologized in the UK publication, How the Light Gets In.

When She Was Electric was listed No. 6 on CBC Canada Reads: People’s Choice; Natural Disasters was longlisted for the 2008 ReLit Awards. Andrea holds an MFA from the Creative Writing Department at the University of British Columbia, where she was Editor of Prism International. She has also acted as the Reviews Editor for Event Magazine. She teaches Creative Writing and Literature at the University of the Fraser Valley.