Imprint
- Sceptre
Poetry, Poetry by individual poets, Fiction
The acclaimed author of THE YELLOW BIRDS returns with an extraordinary debut poetry collection.
In this remarkable debut poetry collection, National Book Award finalist and Iraq war veteran Kevin Powers creates a startling, affecting portrait of a life shaped by war. LETTER COMPOSED DURING A LULL IN THE FIGHTING captures the many moments that comprise a soldier's life: driving down the Texas highway; waiting for the unknown in the dry Iraq heat; writing a love letter; listening to a mother recount her dreams. Written with honesty and insight, these poems strive to make sense of war and its echoes through human experience.
Just as THE YELLOW BIRDS was hailed as the 'first literary masterpiece produced by the Iraq war,' this collection will prove to be a powerful, enduring classic. (Los Angeles Times)
More books by Kevin Powers
Praise for Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting
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Extraordinary...Brilliantly observed and deeply affecting. - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times on THE YELLOW BIRDS
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Powers is a poet first, so THE YELLOW BIRDS is spare, incredibly precise, unimproveable. - Dave Eggers, Observer
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Kevin Powers has produced a masterpiece of war literature and a classic. - Hilary Mantel, Times, on THE YELLOW BIRDS
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Kevin Powers
Kevin Powers' first novel, The Yellow Birds, won the Guardian First Book Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and was a National Book Award Finalist. His poetry collection, Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting, was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and Forward Prize. His second novel, A Shout in the Ruins, was published in 2018.
Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University and holds an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in Poetry. He served in the US Army in 2004 and 2005 in Mosul and Tal Afar, Iraq.
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