The Tattoo Collector by Tim Tim Cheng
Schedule
Mon Oct 21 2024 at 07:00 pm
UTC+01:00Location
Typewronger Books | Edinburgh, SC
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Join us for an evening of poetry to celebrate the launch of Tim Tim Cheng's latest "The Tattoo Collector"! Along with Tim Tim we're having readings from Alyson Kissner, Aileen Angsutorn Lees, Patrick Romero McCafferty, Zain Rishi, Raheema Sayed, Medha Singh & Gabrielle Tse.Book description:
“I moved to a country called writing” declares Tim Tim Cheng in this striking debut collection. The Tattoo Collector explores family history, displacement, politics and protest, and as it moves between East and West, the uses of language to illustrate and interrogate what lies in-between. As these poems range between Hong Kong, Scotland, and London, they unravel the relationship between the body, ecology and class with precise and haunting tenderness.
Here, in Cheng’s illuminating and needle-sharp poems, the tattoo is a narrative, the body a radical means of expression. In states of flux, between resisting and belonging, we enter museums, hospitals, graveyards, and gigs. These intimate and polyphonic poems invite us to be troubled and enthralled by exhibits and the stories they have to tell, to look inside the glass box and study what is on display. Close-up, The Tattoo Collector brings into the daylight details that can be seen skin-deep on the surface, as well as those which point to another meaning, inked indelibly, beneath.
Endorsement:
“Each poem in The Tattoo Collector is finely conceived and edited into a morsel of acute nourishment; and we didn’t know how hungry we were, as readers. Words and characters are
flying fish and inky needles. As language glints and travels, we find new stories and understandings making shuddering interfaces with our skin. We’re changed as we read, marked, pierced, aroused. Tim Tim Cheng guides us through the political and personal, land and water, stylish use of language and the bigger risks of love. The poet is an original yet a storyteller of place and family; a rebel both generous and shy.”– Anthony Vahni Capildeo
Readers’ bios:
Tim Tim Cheng is the author of the pamphlet Tapping At Glass (VERVE, 2023), which was one of Poetry Society’s Book of the Year. Her collection The Tattoo Collector (Nine Arches Press, 2024) is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she is currently based in Glasgow.
Alyson Kissner is a Canadian-born poet based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She is a winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, was runner-up for the 2023 Bridport Poetry Prize, and has been Highly Commended in the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem – Written. Her writing can be found on social media @alykissner or at alysonkissner.com.
Aileen Angsutorn Lees is a writer, photographer and organiser based in Perthshire. She is the founder of Decolonising The Outdoors and she facilitates events to help communities reconnect with nature and their surroundings. Her poems have been published by Speculative Books in their anthology, The SpecBook 2024, and will also feature in their upcoming collection fundraising for Palestinian Aid. She can be found on Instagram @aileenang_
Patrick Romero McCafferty lives in Edinburgh, where he writes and works freelance in community arts. His poetry has appeared in publications including Irish Pages, Rialto, and Magma. He edits Wet Grain and curates Inside Voices, a monthly night of poetry and music at King Tut’s in Glasgow. He is currently a member of the Southbank New Poets Collective and was a Roddy Lumsden Memorial Mentee in 2022.
Zain Rishi is a British Indian writer and bookseller based in Edinburgh. His poetry, short fiction and non-fiction have featured in Gutter, Propel, Honeycomb Press, The Inkwell, From Arthur's Seat and The Oxford Student. He is currently working on his debut pamphlet, exploring how language is braided through our personal histories.
Raheema Sayed is an interdisciplinary artist, writer and movement facilitator based in Edinburgh. She enjoys exploring different mediums of expression and she finds inspiration and connection through nature, movement and awareness. Raheema uses Instagram stories to share her musings, observations and imagination with self-captured visuals of her surroundings. You can find her on Instagram @raheemasayed.
Medha Singh is a poet, editor and translator based in Edinburgh. She is the winner of the New Writers Award and has a forthcoming book, Afterbody, slated for release in 2025.
Gabrielle Tse is a Hong Kong-born Edinburgh-based poet and writer. Her work has been published in The London Magazine, Interpret, Propel, and more. She is working on her debut pamphlet. Find her at @gabrielletse_ on X
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Where is it happening?
Typewronger Books, Edinburgh, United KingdomEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
