Many of the poems in Janet Shepperson's first collection take a sometimes satirical, sometimes serious look at the changing ways in which women see themselves, their world and their relationship with men - from the light-hearted assertion of independence in "Dancing on Ice, to the exhaustion and bewilderment of "Female nude".

The backdrop of Northern Ireland gives undercurrents of ambiguity, anxiety and sorrow to much of the work - a sorrow that finds an echo in the poems dealing with miscarriage and childlessness. The settings move from the urban landscapes of the poets home in Ballynafeight, Belfast, to the rocky and often bleak landscapes of Donegal - landscapes which themselves become symbolic of fear, loss and ultimately of survival.

About the Author

Janet Shepperson was born in Edinburgh in 1954. She took a degree in English at Aberdeen University where she won the Calder Verse Prize. She has lived in Belfast since 1977, and has been a creative writing tutor with adult students and in the Maze prison. Her poetry and short stories have been published in journals and anthologies notably The Blackstaff Book of Short Stories (volumes 1 and 2), and Trio 5, also Blackstaff. She has been short-listed twice for a Sunday Tribune/Hennessy Award. She has published two chapbooks of poetry, A Ring with a Black Stone and Madonna of the Spaces, both with Lapwing, belfast. This is her first full collection.

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