Poetry praise for Manchester novelist Reshma Ruia

Reshma Ruia, the Manchester-based novelist, has published her first poetry collection A Dinner Party in the Home Counties to great acclaim.

Ruia, who attained her PhD in Creative Writing and Critical Thinking at The University of Manchester, is best known for her novels and short stories including A Mouthful of Silence (2014), and Something Black in the Lentil Soup (2003).

A Dinner Party in the Home Counties was published by Skylark on 25 October 2019, with luminaries of contemporary literature heralding it as a must-read by the author, who was awarded the Word Masala Debut Poet 2019 Award by the judges in April 2019 at the Matwaala Literary Festival in New York.

Lemn Sissay MBE, poet, playwright and author of My Name is Why, which won the 2019 PEN Pinter prize, said of the collection: “You will be pleased at discovering award winning poet Reshma Ruia. Her voice is intimate and confident. Her poetry shines bright. Reshma lures the reader into her world through a vivid imagination. From the empty bed of an accountant to the code of 1947, Reshma’s skill is in how she paints pictures with words, which become whole landscapes and scenes in one’s imagination. She ignites the reader. I feel I am reading someone whom everyone will be reading in future. Read her now!”

Cyril Dabydeen, author of God’s Spider (Peepal Tree Press, UK) described the energy in Reshma's poetry as 'fierce' and said: “Her incantatory and conversational tone belies her social and human concerns. Her rhythmic control is amazing, sustained in her assertive voice and language. This debut collection everyone should read—the sooner the better.”

Click here to buy the paperback edition.