Bloodred Dragonflies
Jim Pascual Agustin
Bloodred Dragonflies, a selection from three decades of his writing, is Jim Pascual Agustin’s first book published in South Africa. It includes new poems and some recently translated versions of poems from the Filipino. Constructed from subtle images, close observations of nature and refracted memories, Agustin’s poems express an innocence that has survived the most difficult conditions.
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The work of Agustin is notable for its intense imagery. He is economical with words, never going past that which is necessary for a fulfilling experience […] There is an observant quality to the poems. Whether writing about various insects or family life or the downtrodden, the poet’s power is in his descriptive ability. Bloodred Dragonflies is a book that documents not only the breaking down but also the rebuilding of a life that can change for better, or worse, in an instant.
– Sihle Ntuli, Botsotso Literary Journal
Date of publication: 2022
ISBN 978-1-928476-46-7 / ebook ISBN 978-1-928476-47-4
90 pages
200 x 130mm
R160.00
Jim Pascual Agustin 2020
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Jim Pascual Agustin writes and translates in Filipino and English. He holds a degree in English Literature from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, and has worked as a lecturer, an NGO worker, a music shop employee and a seller of fridge cleaners. In 1993 he fell in love with a South African-Canadian woman while exploring the Mountain Province in the north of the Philippines in the monsoon season. He has lived in Cape Town since 1994. Agustin’s several books of poetry and one collection of stories have been published in the Philippines, the UK, South Africa and the USA. His poetry has won awards from New Coin/DALRO, Sol Plaatje EU Poetry, AVBOB Poetry, Poetry in McGregor, and Lunch Ticket, a US-based online journal. In 2022 he was the recipient of the Gaudy Boy Poetry Book Prize, awarded annually for a manuscript in English by a poet of Asian origin. Books published |
Additional information
| Weight | 0.5 kg |
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Reviews of this book
Review by Marianne Chan of Bloodred Dragonflies by Jim Pascual Agustin World Literature Today, 2022 text PDF
Review by Gary Cummiskey of Bloodred Dragonflies by Jim Pascual Agustin Stanzas, 2022 / Dye Hard Press, 2023 text PDF
Interviews & Articles
Interview with Jim Pascual Agustin by Noel Del Prado & Emman Velasco Santelmo, 2023 text PDF
Interview with Jim Pascual Agustin by the editor The Halo-Halo Review, 2023
"Various Histories" by Jim Pascual Agustin The Johannesburg Review of Books, 2022 text PDF
Other Links
Review by Lúcia Leão of Waking Up to the Pattern Left by a Snail Overnight (Gaudy Boy, 2023) by Jim Pascual Agustin RHINO Poetry
Interview with Jim Pascual Agustin by Nichole L. Reber Ploughshares, 2016
Q&A with Poet, Writer and Translator Jim Pascual Agustin PEN South Africa, 2015
Proust Questionnaire: 17 questions with Jim Pascual Agustin by Yeow Kai Chai Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, 2023
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