Carcanet Press Logo
Quote of the Day
It is impossible to imagine literary life in Britain without Carcanet.
William Boyd

Steep Tea

Jee Leong Koh

Steep Tea
10% off eBook (EPUB)
10% off Paperback
Categories: 21st Century, American, BAME, LGBTQ+
Imprint: Carcanet Poetry
Publisher: Carcanet Press
Available as:
Paperback (72 pages)
(Pub. Jul 2015)
9781847772275
£9.99 £8.99
eBook (EPUB) Needs ADE!
(Pub. Jan 2015)
9781784100469
£9.99 £8.99
Digital access available through Exact Editions
To use the EPUB version, you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed on your device. You can find out more at https://www.adobe.com/uk/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html. Please do not purchase this version if you do not have and are not prepared to install, Adobe Digital Editions.
  • Description
  • Author
  • Awards
  • Reviews
  • Singapore-born poet Jee Leong Koh’s first book to be published in Great Britain is rich in detail of the worlds he explores and invents as he follows his desire for an unknown other, moving tentatively, passionately, always uncertain of himself. His language is colloquial, musical, aware of the infusion of various traditions and histories. ‘You go where? / I’m going from the latterly to the litany, from writs to rites.’ The poems share many of the harsh and enriching circumstances that shape the imagination of a postcolonial queer writer. Taking leaves from other poets -- Emilia Lanyer, Eavan Boland, Xunka’ Utz’utz’ Ni’, Lee Tzu Pheng -- Koh creates a text that is distinctively his own.


    Jee Leong Koh is the author of Steep Tea (Carcanet), named a Best Book of the Year by the Financial Times and a Finalist by Lambda Literary. He has published four other books of poetry, a volume of essays, a collection of zuihitsu, and a hybrid work of fiction. Originally from ... read more
    Awards won by Jee Leong Koh Runner-up, 2016 Lambda Literary Awards finalist  (Steep Tea)
    'The Singapore-born poet's first UK publication is disciplined yet adventurous in form, casual in tone and deeply personal in subject matter. Koh's verse addresses the split inheritance of his postcolonial upbringing , as well as the tension between an émigré's longing for home and rejection of nostalgia'
    The Financial Times 28.11.2015 
    Praise for Jee Leong Koh  'The phrases in Inspector Inspector, themselves all carefully chosen, do not reduce to one refrain, but they do reinforce certain thematic concerns, most prominently the will that applies to all the persons in the book (father, son, lovers, Singaporeans...), and into which I take the reader to be invited: let us remain alive to one another.'
    H.L. Hix, Stride Magazine
    'This is a robust, assured collection from a mature poet with a sound grasp of traditional poetic form - and, crucially, a willingness to experiment with it.'

    Toh Wen Li, The Straits Times

Share this...
The Carcanet Blog Baby Schema: Isabel Galleymore read more The Iron Bridge: Rebecca Hurst read more Sleepers Awake: Oli Hazzard read more The Miraculous Season: V.R. 'Bunny' Lang, edited by Rosa Campbell read more Egg/Shell: Victoria Kennefick read more The Devil Prefers Mozart: Anthony Burgess read more
Find your local bookshop logo
Arts Council Logo
We thank the Arts Council England for their support and assistance in this interactive Project.
This website ©2000-2024 Carcanet Press Ltd