PLAYS AVAILABLE AT NEW PLAYS EXCHANGE
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Otherwise, send me a request here.
POETRY BOOKS (TRADITIONAL PUBLISHERS):
PHOENICIA PUBLISHING
These forty-one poems, written by Ren Powell between 1998 and 2010, depict a coming of age that begins in a claustrophobic American trailer park and expands into the kind of borderless existence shared by all emigrants and homesick travellers.
Throughout this journey, the poet’s fears–which are the fears we all harbor – are balanced by her unflinching witness to what is real, just, true, and beautiful. Even in the face of pain and disintegration, the poet refuses to relinquish her humor and her humanity.
Preview, and purchase, here.
The following bilingual books [English with Norwegian translations] are available in/from Norway: If you are having trouble ordering through the Norwegian website, please contact Ren and she will find a solution.
E-books available!
WIGESTRAND PUBLISHERS (FORLAG)
The Elephants Have Been Singing All Along. (2017)
by Ren Powell. Translations and Afterword by Eirik Loden.
Wigestrand forlag (Publishing). Norway
Purchase
ABOUT THE ELEPHANTS HAVE BEEN SINGING ALL ALONG –
“Powell has set a difficult goal: to translate the processes that happen with us and within us: the wordless, bodily sentences we know well–in one way. In another way, they are unconscious experiences, and if conscious, certainly not put into words. Powell writes about what provides our small cells with energy, and about the sections of chromosomes that are important in the cessation of cell division, while she also succeeds in viewing the body as an entire landscape.
[…] She writes beautifully, sensually, and intellectually on this subject, and she exploits many references and allusions, as when she turns the Zen koan. In this way, the poetry is often also meta poetry.[…] And as Lodèn points out in his masterfully written afterward, these poems are both sophisticated and spontaneous, both demanding and obvious. […] Powell comes closer to the poetry’s roots and source here, and her writing is intense. […] This is a rich, beautiful, and challenging work, that succeeds in its impossible goal, and that encompasses both human cells and cathedrals.”
Helge Torvund. Stavanger Aftenblad. May, 2017.
The imaginative autobiography in poems formed the basis of Ren Powell’s Ph.D. thesis at Lancaster University. Powell’s meticulous research was drawn from published and unpublished documents by historians and psychologists, as well as D.L.D.’s own letters, memorials, and books.
An Elastic State of Mind:
D.L.D.’s Autobiography in Poems (2011)
by Ren Powell. Translations by Eirik Lodén.
Wigestrand forlag (Publishing), Norway
Purchase
ABOUT AN ELASTIC STATE OF MIND
“With this, her fifth poetic volume, Powell has reached new maturity and new depth and has produced an innovative and sensitive tribute to an extraordinary woman.”
Alice-Catherine Carls, the University of Tennessee at Martin
September 2013 issue of World Literature Today
An Intimate Retribution (2009)
by Ren Powell. Translations by Eirik Lodén.
Wigestrand forlag (Publishing)
Purchase
ABOUT AN INTIMATE RETRIBUTION
: “…as the title suggests, there is an expansion of the interpretation of ‘intimate’ .While the poet’s concern for animals and nature is evident, the book also focuses concretely on persecuted writers and rebellions against authority
[…] However, Ren Powell is no way a political slogan poet. These poems introduce us to the wondrous within our own lives. There is a varied use of language and a wide range of themes and poetic forms— but we are always brought back to the vulnerable and exposed aspects of human beings and nature.
[…] Perhaps what is most impressive is Ren Powell’s certain hand as she ventures far beyond the familiar when it comes to associations and images, to create remarkable, beautiful lines of verse, the likes of which are seldom seen.”
Helge Torvund in Stavanger Aftenblad, 2010
CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT
mixed states (2005)
by Ren Powell. Translations by Eirik Lodén.
Wigestrand forlag (Publishing).
NB: most of these poems are in the Mercy Island,
published by Phoenicia Publishing.
Fairy Tales and Soil (1999)
By Ren Powell. Translations by Tor Obrestad.
Wigestrand forlag (Publishing).
A collection of light verse about pregnancy and birth.
Several of the poems were put to music by the Lena Skjerdal Trio.