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DINAH LIVINGSTONE
Extracts from some Reviews

Of Kindness:

Tears in the Fence: 'The language is direct, unselfconscious and colloquial but under its apparent artlessness lies work of considerable intelligence and subtlety... Livingstone wears her learning very lightly, but it is not inconsiderable...In an age of alienation, Livingstone writes a poetry of belonging and hope, shot through with intelligence and moral force. For this reader, at least, it is both full of wonder and wonderful.'

Artemis poetry: ''Livingstone's poetry is confident and fresh, confiding and celebratory, questioning and consoling. Her great experience as a writer is one element, no doubt, in the apparent complete spontaneity of many of these poems... This latest book of many includes some of Livingstone's most exciting and successful work.'

Of Presence:

Morning Star: 'Not only is she an excellent wordsmith but her poetry resonates beyond the merely personal to comment on the wider social and political issues of our time... but she uses a crow's wing rather than a sledgehammer to make her point... Presence is a small volume with a big heart, which I hope will be heard, treasured and reread.'

Acumen: 'A collection which takes on the challenge of existence in this way cannot fail to earn respect... Livingstone has been writing thoughtful and distinctive poetry for a number of years. This book should delight her existing readers and be a revelation to new ones.' (click for full review)

Iota: 'The more one reads and studies these poems, the more they become so right, so familiar and recognisable, like music heard long ago, that our sense of knowing them already shocks.'

SOF: 'A delightfully, deftly crafted celebration of her life-long passions, poetry and radical politics.'

New Hope International: 'Livingstone's gift for capturing the instantaneous complex of emotion and thought in the smallest of circumstances...' (click for review online)

Orbis: 'Her finest collection to date'

New British Poetry: 'Presence is in design and execution a book that seeks to express the value of living thoughtfully, of cherishing the many tiny threads of being and kindred hopes that span the gulfs separating individuals and cultures.' (click for review online)

SLN: 'Livingstone is an original and eternally fresh voice on the contemporary poetry scene...greatly perceptive and sharply humorous on occasion.'

Of Time on Earth: Selected and New Poems:

Ambit: 'Dinah Livingstone's passion, intellectuality and lightly worn erudition fire a plain speech. With the equipment of an aesthete but a politically compassionate heart, she's been "committed"... There's every sort of poem here, including good love poems, and they record a lifelong search... Her senses are too much alive for her not to be a nature poet as well, though the nature may be in Camden Town and will resonate with much more than nature.'

Acumen: 'The poems are the delicious and bitter fruits of observation, selected from eleven publications spread across thirty-three years, the work of an authentic poet... Time on Earth contains very many remarkable and memorable images. It is a reminder of things it is important for us to remember.'

Red Pepper: 'Dinah Livingstone's poetry speaks persistently and openly of the struggle for the heart's hope of utopia in a language at once celebratory and defiant. The characteristic generosity of spirit that runs through the book moves against the tide.'

Envoi: 'What I like about Livingstone is her honesty.'

Ethical Record: 'These are poems rooted in particular places, Camden Town, Devon, Suffolk, Greenham Common. Domestic life in Camden Town is interspersed with political events in England, Chile, Nicaragua. Livingstone's children appear throughout, from babies to young adults... Elements of a radicalised Christian spirituality are combined with non-partisan leftist politics and feminism in ways which are currently unfashionable in the polite world of literature... Livingstone is a principled and independent voice well worth listening to.'

Iota: 'The writer's interest in words and sounds (she is also a translator) appear everywhere.'

SLN: 'Dinah Livingstone's readings in London have long been a green oasis of passionate and often humorous poetry on a poetry scene that can be arid. But it is another satisfaction to enjoy the full span of her original achievement in this generous, well-presented Selection -- also to realise that her hand has not lost its cunning but gained some more in recent work.'

Poetry London: 'Livingstone is a true poet.'

New Humanist: 'An impressive collection, and Dinah Livingstone's best lines are outstandingly lyrical and evocative.'

Of The Poetry of Earth (prose):

Envoi: 'Refreshing to see some home truths written without pussyfooting or punch-pulling'

SOF: 'In many ways an entrancing book with a big heart'

Pennine Platform: 'The book as a whole is a courageous undertaking. Above all it is inspiring, and lifts the reader far above the weary trivialities of much contemporary literary discussion.'

PQR: 'Although she makes use of her own experience as examples, Dinah Livingstone's essays are the polar opposite of self-absorbed... Referring to the literature of current struggles around the globe -- often not against oppression but obliteration -- this concoction succeeds in creating overall a feel for our perilous present.'

Camden New Journal: 'A meandering journey through the author's sharp mind.'

Of May Day (poetry):

Other Poetry: 'In this book political and personal gain strength from each other. . . This is the poetry of the world we live in, ordinary lives nonetheless graceful, knowing and strong. . . Bravo.'

Acumen: 'Poetry of exact and visionary observation … much to admire and learn from'

Of Second Sight (poetry):

Lines: "Clearer with second sight" is how Dinah Livingstone perceives a London rowan after seeing one growing on Exmoor... "Rowan Tree" is a vivid, dynamic poem, growing in the memory like the tree.'

Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!: 'I highly recommend these poems. Dinah Livingstone serves a vital cause at this time. She gives much to the many who live on the edge of cynicism and despair, the chance of hope, a "second sight" in our lives.'

Scratch: 'A polished set of poems about London as a home town. There are some very strong pieces and the book ends with a series of poems that celebrate London's revolutionary past.'

Stand: 'A very good eye... a book of some integrity and interest.'

Some reviews up to Keeping Heart:

Times Literary Supplement: 'Vitality and distinctiveness of Livingstone's poetry... lively blend of sensuality and intellect illuminates the reader's states as well as her own.'

Acumen: 'I have enjoyed hearing and reading her wordplay, her musicality, wit and subversions… quirkiness and fresh air blowing in from her many translations.'

Ethical Record: 'The feel of London much to the forefront, the poems making an arresting impression... a quiet humanism at the foundation of the work that is cumulatively far more convincing than any sermon.'

Morning Star: 'Though she has experienced bumping into a wall or two, she has learnt that poetry is getting up and trying to jump over, not lying on the ground moaning.'

Stand: 'Unostentatious erudition... pleasingly direct'

Camden New Journal: 'Such generously empathic poems... my favourite remains "Law and Order" which manages to be both hilarious and menacing and still remains the strongest indictment of strong-arm government with its Thatcher-voiced refrain.'

City Limits: 'Powerful pleasure she takes in rolling words over her tongue, a feast'

Ambit: 'Good mixture of the political and the personal... a solid collection... a consistency that is admirable'

Spokes: 'Memorable evocations of London'

Spare Rib: 'This poet has the strength of spirit to speak the unspeakable about our alienation without despairing and rejoice in our potential and collective power without being sentimental.'

Times Educational Supplement: 'What is common to each of these themes is her incisive irony supported by an ability to transfer phrases from their normal context and rejuvenate their meaning ... simultaneously she has developed the expressive technique of juxtaposing luxuriant symbolism or surrealism with clear, intellectual abstractions.'

John Heath Stubbs in Frontier: 'Considerable wit, passion but most of all courage'

Stand: 'Honesty and the spark of real joy which are the true heart of her work'

Times Literary Supplement: 'Such an original and accomplished poet'

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