Wild Cinnamon and Winter Skin
Seni Seneviratne’s debut collection offers a poetic landscape that echoes themes of migration, family, love and loss and reflects her personal journey as a woman of Sri Lankan and English heritage.
"Loss, love, memory, from Yorkshire to Sri Lanka and back, Seni Seneviratne's poems delve in and out of a complex history. These tender, moving poems weave a delicate web." -- Jackie Kay
Price
£7.99
Author(s)
Seni Seneviratne
ISBN number
9781845230500
Pages
64
Price
£7.99
Classification
Poetry
Country setting
Sri Lanka
United Kingdom
Publication date
05 Mar 2007

Seni Seneviratne’s debut collection offers a poetic landscape that echoes themes of migration, family, love and loss and reflects her personal journey as a woman of Sri Lankan and English heritage.

The poems cross oceans and centuries. In ‘Cinnamon Roots’ Seni Seneviratne travels from colonial Britain to Ceylon in the 15th century and back to Yorkshire in the 20th Century; in A Wider View time collapses and carries her from a 21st century Leeds back to the flax mills of the 19th century; poems like ‘Grandad’s Insulin’, based on childhood memories, place her in 1950’s Yorkshire but echo links with her Sri Lankan heritage.

"Loss, love, memory, from Yorkshire to Sri Lanka and back, Seni Seneviratne's poems delve in and out of a complex history. These tender, moving poems weave a delicate web." -- Jackie Kay

"There's something about us. There are historians that may record our experiences. And these experiences may be found in the galleries of the future. Preserved. But it's in the poetry where the exhibits actually live. And it's here. Let Seni walk you through the labarynthine gallery of Wild cinnamon and winter skin ." -- Lemn Sissay

"Seni Seneviratne's poetry straddles continents and centuries - and does so with an easy fluency. The reader is drawn into her journey of discovery for her 'cinnamon roots' and her exploration of issues of identity and relationships. Personal and universal histories interweave in these poems." -- Debjani Chatterjee

Variations

Seni Seneviratne

Seni Seneviratne, born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire is of English and Sri Lankan heritage. She has given readings, performances and workshops in UK, US, Canada, South Africa, Egypt and Kuwait. She currently works as a freelance writer, mentor, trainer and creative consultant.
Her poem 'A Wider View' is included on the AQA GCSE poetry syllabus.
View full profile