Life on Other Planets Jennifer Langer

Life on Other Planets Jennifer LangerWhen I was fourteen, my family had a nervous breakdown It is 1997. To himself, Benjamin Carter is a thing drifted somehow out of its orbit. With the news that Great Aunt Pearl is dead, his summer is looking like yet another non starter. Theres his summons to the clearance of her ramshackle house. His dads awkward pep talks. A toxic cocktail of over zealous aunts and uncles. And then theres the Church of the Holy Heavensthe space cult thats been wooing

It takes as its start date the death of the great North-East poet Basil Bunting in l977

Among the mix of poets are established names such as Juan Manuel Roca

translated by Anna Crowe

that the poet has imagined a person who could write these poems

It quotes extensively from interviews with and correspondence from the main players in the story

the 'death row wait of weeks' for the next test result

Rod Madocks – Dyadic Deaths

shame and fear: be it sexual abuse

Playful juxtapositions of characters and landscapes create a sense of the unexpected

and winner of the Patrick White Literary Award

Vividly told

Rachida el-Charni from Tunisia