The poetry of Rhian Saadat describes a world of bright shanty towns, nationless water-carriers, migrating bees, the promise of obscure pleasures and a confabulation of subtle dreams. This, her first collection, tackles various themes, including love, fashion, travel and culture, but always returns to an ongoing concern with the subjective experience of reality,

Where is it exactly you wish to go, and when?

We have a wonderful design for a cockerel, here,

crowing on and on, so that you never sleep.

If you’re kind to him, he’ll keep you awake

long enough to circle the world, and back again.

Rhian Saadat was born in south Wales and spent her childhood in Germany and Cyprus. She recently gained an MA in creative writing from UEA and now lives in Paris where she is studying towards a PhD. Her writing is influenced by time spent working in the Middle East and Southern Spain. Her poems have appeared in several anthologies and literary magazines.

“Rhian Saadat often writes short poems, but she is able to fit extraordinary world within them. Exhilaratingly ambitious, here is a poet of whom I expect great things. Meanwhile, this is a book to enjoy.”

Robert Minhinnick

“Powerful, visually exciting poetry.”

Samantha Wynne-Rhydderch