Books by Hannah Lowe

Hannah Lowe taught for a decade in an inner-city London sixth form. At the heart of this book of compassionate and energetic sonnets are 'The Kids', her students, the teenagers she nurtured. But the poems go further, meeting her own child self as she comes of age in 80s and 90s. Winner of the Costa Poetry Award, shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize.

What is a neighbour? What makes a community? In this themed collection, Hannah Lowe focuses on a small urban district, and finds a rich complexity of neighbourliness under extreme pressure. Nowhere is more at stake than the circle of home the author draws around her infant son, who must learn the fragile meanings of the neighbourhood.

Lowe's second collection follows her widely acclaimed debut, Chick, about her father, a Chinese-Jamaican gambler. Another of his nicknames, Chan also represents the travellers and shapeshifters in these poems.

Hannah Lowe's first book of poems takes you on a journey round her father, a Chinese-black Jamaican migrant who disappeared at night to play cards or dice in London's old East End to support his family, an unstable and dangerous existence that took its toll on his physical and mental health. 'Chick' was his gambling nickname.