Author Description

This special double issue of Poetry International was put together by editors throughout the world in order to collect, for the first time, an international sampling of post-colonial English language poetry. It used to be said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire," but though that Empire is long history, the 21st century version of that adage is that "the sun never sets on English Language speakers in the world." The legacy of that Empire has been the exportation of the language of the British Isles throughout the world, and poets in countries as diverse as Singapore and Ghana have adopted it as thier own. Poets represented in this issue include John Ashbery, Gerald Stern, Ruth Stone, Kim Addonizio (U.S.), Kofi Anyidoho, Taban Lo Liyong, Lupenga Mphande (Africa), Agnes Lam, Edwin Tumboo, Cecil Rajenda, Alfian Saat (Asia), Martin Harrison, Jill Jones, Peter Minter, Jan Owen (Australia), Gary Geddes, Don McKay, Parick Lane, Stephanie Bolster (Canada), Derek Walcott, Kamau Braithwaite, Pam Mordacai, Lorna Goodison (Carribean), Jo Shapcott, Alan Jenkins, John Burnside, Mimi Khalvati (United Kingdom) Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Mary O'Donnell, Peter Fallon (Ireland), John Geraets, Paula Green (New Zealand) and many, many others.