Nina Mingya Powles
Small Bodies of Water
The inaugural winner of the Nan Shepherd Prize: these essays weave memory and nature writing, exploring Powles’ life through the lens of the bodies of water that have impacted her.
The inaugural winner of the Nan Shepherd Prize: these essays weave memory and nature writing, exploring Powles’ life through the lens of the bodies of water that have impacted her.
Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish.
There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water. Through her life there have been others that have meant different things, but have still been, in their own way, home: from the wild coastline of New Zealand to a pond in northwest London.
In lyrical, powerful prose, Small Bodies of Water weaves together memories, dreams and nature writing. Exploring everything from migration, food, family, earthquakes and the ancient lunisolar calendar, Nina reflects on a girlhood spent growing up between two cultures, and what it means to belong.
Nina Mingya Powles is a writer, editor and publisher from Aotearoa New Zealand. She is the author of three poetry collections, including Magnolia, which was shortlisted for both the Ondaatje Prize and the Forward Prize; and Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai. In 2019 she won the Nan Shepherd Prize for Small Bodies of Water, and in 2018 she won the Women Poets’ Prize. She is the founding editor of Bitter Melon. Nina was born in Aotearoa, partly grew up in China, and now lives in London.
Bluebottle on the Dung
Late Light
A Loveliness of Ladybirds
Small Bodies of Water
The Castle Captured Me
Places that Heal
Diminishing
Bluebottle on the Dung
All My Wild Mothers
Everything Worth Seeing
On the Fence
Stone Stories
Nature Punk
Late Light
On Women and Land
A Loveliness of Ladybirds
Small Bodies of Water
The Castle Captured Me
At Tidelines
Procession
The Raven’s Nest
Places that Heal