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Passing of the Summer

by Miriam Batts

79 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); poetry; catalogue #06-2856; ISBN 1-4251-1097-5; US$17.35, C$19.95, EUR14.25, £9.98

Beautiful, sensitive, humorous poems written by a prize-winning Korean-Japanese poet who writes in her second mother language (English).

About the Book

Passing of the Summer was Miriam's first attempt to publish a collection of her poems. Here she sings of beauties of seasons, nature and garden but she also sings of emotions, such as love, aches of heart. She also shows her humorous side. May My Cat Come to Heaven? made many readers laugh.

About the Author

Miriam is a poet of Korean-Japanese descent now living in Vancouver, B.C. Many of her poems have been published in anthologies by the International Library of Poetry, Washington, D.C. as well as by Noble House in Britain and the Poetry Guild in Canada. Her work has appeared in collections such as Best Poems of 1998, America at the Millennium and Best Poems and Poets of each year from 2001 to 2005. She was a semi-finalist at the 1999 Poetry Convention in Washington, D.C. and won Third Prize in Best Poems and Poets of 2005. In 1997 she produced the self-published poetry book Passing of the Summer at Watermark Press in the U.S.

Many of her articles in both English and Japanese have been published in England, Japan and Canada. In collaboration with Naosuke Yamamura she has translated into Japanese two books in German by the famous Catholic author Gertrud von le Fort. Part One of her autobiography, Aiko's Journey, was self-published in 2005. She is currently working on its sequel.

Miriam is also an artist. She undertook a year of study in the Fine Arts Department at the University of British Columbia and has long been studying Chinese brush-painting with world-renowned teacher, Johnson Su-sing Chow. She has given many solo and group shows of her paintings and some of her artwork are in private collections.

She once studied fashion design, working for some time designing and making clothes. She was also a doll-maker and has displayed and sold dolls in various locations, including at the former Eaton's Department Store in Vancouver.

Another of her passions is music. She received her Grade Ten diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto at the age of 73 and continues to practice the piano and sing in choirs.

Excerpts