"Bibi, Are You Living?"

In this wistful series of poems, Anas Hassan uses poetry to address that which goes unspoken in our everyday lives. The collection deals with the quieter side of love, which often goes forgotten; not the fireworks of a honeymoon night, but the more telling discussion a couple has over the choice of hotel. Cricket in the back garden, melting ice cream, the bakery on the corner of Chinbrook Road these details, Hassan shows us, are not just backdrops, but the very form of our relationships, and, as such, are worthy of record.

Anas Hassan s poems have been published in a number of magazines including Amaryllis, Ink, Sweat & Tears, Snakeskin, The Interpreter s House and Under the Radar. A selection of his poetry has also been exhibited in Wild & the Hidden , an art show held at Delta House Studios in London. Anas studied history and international relations at Cambridge University and is now a freelance strategy consultant. He is a mentor with the sport for development charity Sported, advising grassroots sports organisations such as The Running Charity, and has run several ultramarathons and marathons. He speaks French, German and Arabic, and lives in London.

Anas Hassan's beautifully observed poems place seemingly ordinary moments into a context that spans time, place and culture to offer a true vision of where Britain has come from. [...] It's post-colonial, but not overtly political, reaching from a *here*, where it firmly is, to a *there* which has never really been left, with generosity, affection, and humour. --Katy Evans-Bush

Full of sensuality yet as polite as distant clapping from a cricket pitch, the poems bounce between intense feeling and quiet reflection with ease. Concerned with time and place, the reader is reminded of their own childhood, a sudden sunny enclave, a lost conversation. He is a master of observation with the ability to describe complex emotions in very few words. This is a beautifully realised first collection. --Emma Hammond