Of Sea

A remarkable new book in praise of marine fauna, Of Sea takes the form of a poetic bestiary of creatures living beneath, beside and above the water: in wetlands, salt marshes and the intertidal zone.

In a sequence of 46 poems, Burnett captures the world of cockles and clams, rare moths and the humble earwig (to name a few) with a precise and dynamic lyric that seems always on the verge of music.

Elizabeth-Jane Burnett is an author, academic and founder of Grow Your Own Creativity. A writer of English and Kenyan heritage, she was born in Devon and her work is inspired by the landscape in which she was raised. Her poetry has been highly commended in the Forward Prize and Swims was longlisted for the Laurel Prize and a Sunday Times Poetry Book of the Year. She was selected for the 2020 British Council/National Centre for Writing International Literature Showcase and leads the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust project, Creative Writing and Climate Change: Moss, Wetlands and Women (2018-20).

Praise:

"Innovative, dazzling, affecting poems that shimmer with intellectual acuity and emotional resonance." - Rebecca Tamás

"[Burnett's] stunning new collection explores the sea - its creatures, sounds, language. Many pieces are meant to be sung, or clicked (like a beetle) and it cumulates into an epic maritime lyric." - Sinéad Gleeson