Mingled Voices 5

The work of 90 poets from around the world, selected from entries for the fifth annual International Proverse Poetry Prize (2020). With poets’ brief biographies as well as background notes on their work. The 160 or so poems are on many topics (including the suggested optional topic, “Hunger”), and in a variety of form and style. Like the previous four in this anthology series, Mingled Voices 5 is suitable as suggested reading for creative writing students as well as the general reader. 

MINGLED VOICES 5 contains the work of ninety poets. The one hundred and sixty or so poems were selected from those entered for the International Proverse Poetry Prize in 2020, the fifth such annual international competition administered from Hong Kong. Poems were submitted from around the world by writers with a variety of previous writing experiences.

The International Proverse Poetry Prize was jointly founded in 2016 by Dr Gillian Bickley and Dr Verner Bickley, MBE, in association with the annual international Proverse Prize for unpublished book-length fiction, non-fiction or poetry, submitted in English, which they also founded, in 2008.

In 2020, poems could be submitted on any subject or topic, chosen by each poet, or on the subject chosen by the Administrators, “Hunger” (interpreted in any way each writer chose). There was a free choice of interpretation, form and style.

Included in the anthology are the poems that won the first, second, and third prizes. Selection to appear in the anthology was also awarded as a prize by the judges for the Prize. This year, special mention is additionally made of three of these poets.

Brief biographies of many of those whose work is represented in Mingled Voices 5 are included in the anthology as well as authors’ background notes on their work.

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“Poetry is a special state. I like to think that it is what is left unscathed, uncontaminated and free in this troubled world of ours. I invite all those who have felt the call of poetry to heed that call and delve into its wonderful universe, as readers or incipient writers; and I urge full-fledged poets to continue to enrich the world poetic legacy in any and all languages, as beautifully demonstrated by the Proverse Mingled Voices anthologies.”

—Maria Elena Blanco, Chile, First-prize winner, International Proverse Poetry Prize 2019

“One of the joys of reading any anthology – or indeed any book of poems – is to come across striking imagery or phrases that amaze and dazzle us and seem destined to stay with us, enriching our minds for a long time to come. There are many such moments awaiting the reader of this volume.”

—Jeff Streeter, Director of the British Council in Hong Kong

In Mingled Voices 5, poets from around the world, often mindful of the pandemic, share with us lyric eloquence, idiosyncrasy and urgency. These poets give dynamic voice to the soul and its response to forms of Hunger.  With distinct histories and geographies, these varied voices invite our continuing discovery and conversation on the eternal themes of longing, mortality and freedom.

—Marion Bethel, The Bahamas, Poet and Proverse Prizes Honorary Advisor

Each poem in this lovely volume fords a telling paradox, giving presence to absence while filling yet not satiating its reader with a hunger for its lyrical pleasures....  If one is looking for the magical sparks that come from playing a game of solitaire with nothingness, Mingled Voices Five is a brilliantly selected collection.

—Charles Lowe, PhD, Associate Professor\Associate Dean for Learning, Teaching, and Student Experience,
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, United International College, Zhuhai, China