The Poetry of Place

Bold and full of honesty, Shirley Lim's new collection Do You Live In? interweaves personal encounters with collective history, drawing on a diverse mix of memories, dialects, sentiments and historical events from a variety of locations to articulate the bondage and freedom of the individual from one's cultural inheritance and geographical locations.

Born in Malacca, Malaysia and raised by a Chinese father, Lim studied in and eventually settled in the United States. A well-respected Asian-American writer and critic, Lim reflects on her dual identity as "a nomad and yet a 'home'-body—a resident alien without a permanent address, although sheltered—a temporary condition." In her poems, Lim shows what it is like to embrace a multitude of cultures, and her affection for the locations she has lived in.