Things To Do Before You Leave Town - Softcover

Sutherland, Ross

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0955384648 ISBN 13: 9780955384646

Publisher: Penned in the Margins, 2009

Synopsis

Mono-browed cousins, clandestine paperboys, murderous action heroes and Swiss euthanasia clinics jostle for position in Ross Sutherland's intelligent and wildly entertaining debut collection of poetry. Sutherland charts the never-ending urban excursions of Pac-Man; constructs mash-ups of celebrity obits; and dons a surgical mask to conduct an 'Experiment to Determine the Existence of Love'. Things To Do Before You Leave Town is a sharp, ambitious and blackly comic exploration of the end of things, where 'all the roads that lead out are really leading back in'. REVIEW QUOTES 'In his free-wheeling lyricism, caustic wit and brilliantly surreal turn of image, Sutherland is a truly contemporary original. His poetry rejuvenates techniques as disparate as collage, memoir, sound experiment and formal appropriation in vigorous but finely wrought lines. Refreshingly fearless and bleakly funny, Things To Do Before You Leave Town collects works that shock and delight in performance but reveal their true depth on the page.' Luke Kennard 'Ross Sutherland's poetry approaches the epic; a kind of epic on a human scale. If he were a piece of furniture, he would be an elegant high stool that felt uncomfortable and stylish at the same time.' Ian McMillan, BBC Radio 3

About this title

About the Author

Ross Sutherland was born Edinburgh in 1979. A former lecturer in electronic literature at Liverpool John Moore's University, Ross now works as a freelance journalist and as a tutor in creative writing. He was one of The Times' Top Ten Literary Stars of 2008. Ross's poems have been published in Rising, Reactions, Orbis, Mercy, Tears in the Fence, The Fix and NME. He co-edited the new writing anthology Rock/text (Pen & Inc, 2002). A founding member of Aisle16, Ross has co-written eight live literature productions, including the critically acclaimed Poetry Boyband and Found in Translation. Ross makes regular appearances at Manchester Literature Festival, Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, Glastonbury, Latitude Festival, Port Eliot Literary Festival and venues around the UK. He's completed solo tours of Switzerland and Germany, during which the Basel Zeitgung described him as "stromschnellen". He is reliably informed that this has something to do with white water rafting.

Review

In his free-wheeling lyricism, caustic wit and brilliantly surreal turn of image, Sutherland is a truly contemporary original. His poetry rejuvenates techniques as disparate as collage, memoir, sound experiment and formal appropriation in vigorous but finely wrought lines. Refreshingly fearless and bleakly funny, Things To Do Before You Leave Town collects works that shock and delight in performance but reveal their true depth on the page. - Luke Kennard Ross Sutherland's poetry approaches the epic; a kind of epic on a human scale. If he were a piece of furniture, he would be an elegant high stool that felt uncomfortable and stylish at the same time. - Ian McMillan, The Verb, BBC Radio 3

Edition details

• Publisher: Penned in the Margins
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0955384648
• ISBN 13: 9780955384646
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 64