Bird-Woman

A long-term Dark Mountain supporter and collaborator, Em Strang has been a member of the steering-group, has co-organised the poetry stage at one of the early Uncivilisation festivals, and more latterly worked for a number of years as poetry editor on the books.

Bird-Woman is her first full collection of poetry, published in October 2016 by Shearsman. Cover art by Kate Walters.

“Em Strang’s poetry reminds us that right dwelling is not just a theoretical or ideological concern; it must also be rooted in the gravity that structures everything, rich in the old pagan knowledge and unafraid to find a home for what we do not fully understand. Bird-Woman is a delicious collection, a book to be savoured in the fullest sense.” —John Burnside

“Em Strang’s poems are shamanic, in that they restore to us abandoned mythologies. Nothing is stable in this very real world, where houses can become birds, where the animal lies shallowly below the surface of the human, where poems are haunted with what is unsaid. An ‘old throat from the other side’, full of bewilderment, concern, passion and beauty.” —Jen Hadfield