JANET HATHERLEY
On the road to Cadianda 2024 ISBN: 978-1-917101-04-2 RRP £9.99 |
Janet Hatherley's collection On the road to Cadianda brings together her poems set in Türkiye, where she taught in the 1980's and where she often returns. Her favourite place is Uzümlü, a village up in the mountains near Fethiye, and many of the poems are about what she sees there: the details of nature, weather and everyday meetings with the people of the village. Cadianda is a site of Roman and Lycian remains, hidden in the forest, that you can walk to from the village. There are poems about Lycian tombs, the people who have walked before, the links with the past.
The sonnet sequence embedded in the collection is about Hurrem, the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, who was captured as a slave in the sixteenth century. History, being patriarchal, has written her in a bad light, so Janet has written these sonnets from her side – a feminist perspective – referencing research into surviving letters and chronicles. Reviews
"Collection opens with a powerful poem telling of two felled pines and which captures perfectly our emotional compact with trees. So strong is the poem I was encouraged to read on; to find that trees are not her only emotional connection, is what Janet Hatherley does, telling of her fascination with wild tortoises for instance.
The tightly descriptive poems tell of her life and repeat visits to Türkiye, and of incidents with butterflies, moths, birds, gecko, goats, sheep… She captures both the modernity and the agelessness of the place, where empires and tyrants have come and gone, and markets and people go on. Here we are again, she seems to saying, and with a nudge says, ‘Look at this.’ Some boys on bikes, a pilfered tomb, man on a horse, more butterflies, bird, moth… So much of the slow heat conveyed brought to mind my own time in the Trodos with Turkish Cypriot friends." — Sam Smith (owner & editor, The Journal) ", Janet Hatherley’s poems are tender, wise, and brilliantly observed. Hatherley, an expert storyteller, combines formal craft with an intense appreciation and respect for the world she finds herself in. [...] The collection includes a stunning sonnet sequence which shifts historical perspective to give a piercing insight into how Hurrem, the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, carves out a life for herself as a powerful leader from her beginnings as a captured slave. The personal permeates the political and history dances with the present in mesmerising poems that both educate and enchant." — Lisa Kelly (Poet and co-editor of Magma Journal)
Janet Hatherley's books are available to order here, to UK addresses.
For international orders, please contact us or the Author. www.poetrypf.co.uk/janethatherleypage.html THIS PAYPAL BUTTON IS FOR UK ORDERS ONLY |
What Rita Tells Me
2022 ISBN: 978-1-913329-77-8 RRP £8.50 |
Janet Hatherley’s debut pamphlet What Rita Tells Me is a sharp-eyed portrait of an English sixties’ childhood taking in London and the North, a narrative full of ironies: poignant, grainy and surprising, poems telling it like it was. These are thoughtful pieces about holding it together in difficult times. They are tributes, in particular, to Hatherley’s parents, to whom the book is dedicated.
-- Katherine Gallagher Janet Hatherley's moving poems explore family life and struggles, with a father who has experienced two world wars and a mother who is resourceful in the face of poverty. Hatherley's poems are life-affirming and steeped in social history. [ ...]
Hatherley has a fantastic ear for speech, alive with humour and drama. In a second upheaval - this time as an eleven-year old moving to Sussex - Hatherley captures how poverty singles you out, as when queuing for free school dinners. While family life brings its challenges with illness and hardship, the strong current running through this pamphlet is a celebration of freedom, family and a spirit of adventure. – Lisa Kelly Available to order here, to UK addresses.
For international orders, please contact us or the Author. www.poetrypf.co.uk/janethatherleypage.html THIS PAYPAL BUTTON IS FOR UK ORDERS ONLY |
