About the Book:

"Gary Allen is the type of poet I admire: he writes with passion and assurance, a poetry which is alive with real character and galvanised by the tensile potency of his language." - Nigel McLoughlin
"Allen summons up the textures of language and experience with impressive fluency..." - Martin Mooney

See how she shines in the water
a child become gold
voices singing free of poverty
bare feet slapping stone.
- from 'The Revival'

Gary Allen's poems are steeped in the traditions of the Northern Irish lyric: a dear-eyed sense of the realities underlying the everyday, an almost theological belief in the power of the plain-spoken word and a quiet satisfaction in the crafting of verse.
North of Nowhere consolidates and deepens the achievement of Gary Allen's first two collections: Languages (2002) and Exile (2004). Drawing on symbolism, beliefs and the religious consciousness of his native Ballymena, the poems give voice to a sensibility rarely heard in Northern Irish letters, producing a collection singing with a vigorous particularism and a profound moral seriousness.

About the Author:

Gary Allen was born in Ballymena, Co. Antrim in 1959. His stories and poems have appeared in various magazines in Ireland, Britain and Europe. He has published two previous collections: Languages (Flambard/Black Mountain Press, 2002) and Exile (Black Mountain Press, 2004).