Description

At the core of this debut collection is a question what is worth holding onto
Through poetic experiments that blend the academic and the artistic Rhiya Pau queries complex characters and tender landscapes Routes journeys from Bas kitchen in Sonia Gardens to Independence hour in Delhi across the pink shores of Nakuru to meet a painter on Lee High Road
Celebrating fifty years since her community arrived in the UK Pau chronicles the migratory histories of her ancestors and simultaneously lays bare the conflicts of identity that arise from being a member of the East AfricanIndian diaspora In this multilingual discourse exhibiting vast formal range Pau wrestles with language narrative and memory daring to navigate their collective fallibilities to architect her own identity
Routesholds up to the light the wisdom of the past and asks what else is passed down along with ita work of humane intelligence formal experiment and linguistic verve Sarah Howe Judge of Eric Gregory Awards 2022