Though our second book, Anna Swir’s Building the Barricade and Other Poems, has been out in the world just a short time, praise continues to emerge for this fine translation by Piotr Florczyk.
From John Wilson at Christianity Today
“Instead of emotion recollected in tranquility, Swir gives us extremity recollected with intensity.”
Read the full review at Wilson’s Bookmarks.
From Piotr Gwiazda at Rain Taxi
“…[T]hese are poems that could only have been written by a survivor. Anna Swir’s Building the Barricade truly contains some of the most honest, poignant, and at the same time least comforting poems of the twentieth century.”
Read the full review in Rain Taxi’s current print edition.
From Taylor of Why So Red?
“I will start my review with the bad news. The bad news is that I want more of the poems. Maybe three times as many.”
From Canadian poet Val B. Russell:
“Perhaps it is time to revisit this past horror through Anna Swir’s poetry with an eye to re-examining our own response to the price we pay for turning away from suffering that is always the inevitable consequence of war. This book has found a home on the bookshelf next to my copy of The Diary of Anne Frank, such is my respect and admiration for Anna Swir’s talent. I cannot give it a higher recommendation than this.”
Read her entire review here.
From John Guzlowski at Writing the Polish Diaspora:
“I could quote from what readers like Czeslaw Milosz, Edward Hirsch, Eva Hoffman, and Sandra Alcosser say about these powerful poems, but I won’t. The poems don’t need it. They speak clearly and powerfully on their own.”
Find the review here.