Perceptions - Paperback

by Gillian Bickley (Author)

PERCEPTIONS consists of short pieces, poetry or poem-like essays, written over a period of thirty years, on various serious and reflective topics, but with some humorous and occasional work too. As in Gillian Bickley's previous collections, the subjects occur internationally: this time, in the Pyrenees, Nigeria, Hawai'i, Albania, as well as Hong Kong. Taken as a whole, this fifth poetry collection recognizes the need for shelter and survival, the desire for love, for achievement, for feelings of self-worth, for objects on which to bestow reciprocal affection and the search for high-order achievements beyond the self. Reaching beyond this, Perceptions considers the needs of other species, our responsibilities towards them and the fragile environment that we all share.

Author Biography

GILLIAN BICKLEY, born and educated in the United Kingdom, has lived mostly in Hong Kong since 1970. Her poetry collections include "For the Record and other Poems of Hong Kong" (2003, 2016), "Sightings" (2007), "China Suite" (2009) and "Perceptions" (2012). Two collections, "Moving House" and "For the Record", have been published in Chinese; individual poems have been translated into several languages, including Czech and Turkish and anthologised in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Romania and the United Kingdom. In July 2014, at the 18th International Festival, "Curtea de Arges Poetry Nights", held in Romania, she was awarded the "Grand Prix Orient-Occident Des Arts" by the Festival Board. She is one of the Hong Kong poets discussed in Agnes S. L. Lam's study, "Becoming poets: The Asian English Experience". Her other writings include The Golden Needle: The Biography of Frederick Stewart (1836-1889) (1997) and The Stewarts of Bourtreebush (2003). She is the editor of Hong Kong Invaded! A '97 Nightmare (2001), The Development of Education in Hong Kong, 1841-1897 (2002), A Magistrate's Court in Nineteenth Century Hong Kong: Court in Time (2005, 2009), and The Complete Court Cases of Magistrate Frederick Stewart (2008). With Richard Collingwood-Selby, she co-edited In Time of War (2013) (the selected writings, photographs and drawings of Henry Collingwood-Selby). A long-term adjudicator at the Hong Kong Schools' Speech Festival, she was one of the Adjudicators for the Royal Commonwealth Society Hong Kong Poetry Writing Competition, and one of four voices in the full audio recording of Verner Bickley's three volume anthology, "Poems to Enjoy". Her poems are popular with students and teachers for competitions, festivals and grade examinations. Dr Bickley taught in the Department of English at the Hong Kong Baptist University, as Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor, for twenty-two years. She has also taught at Universities in Lagos, Nigeria; Auckland, New Zealand; and the University of Hong Kong. "This 52-poem collection addresses universal topics in a thoughtful manner using common sense that most readers can appreciate. - Cairns Media Magazine