NEW BOOK - "Bowling Pin Fire" by Andy Quan

Bowling Pin Fire by Andy Quan has been released in North America

In his second book of poems, Andy Quan recounts a series of firsts: first time listening to Joni Mitchell’s Blue, first loss of a friend, first dance with a man. Building on earlier explorations of memory, sexuality, and culture that are the signatures of his best work, Bowling Pin Fire transcribes the arc of one man’s life from growing up Chinese in Vancouver, to seeing the world through the lens of fearless, free-spirited youth, to arriving, as we all must, at the initial cautionary glimmerings of midlife. The rituals and rivalries of grade school, the later experiments with everything new, the close-knit dynamics of family and far-flung friends, the happenstances and fidelities of love, the elation and hangover of travel to unexpected quadrants of the globe all prompt the quality of reflection necessary to the leading of a truly examined, contemporary life. Andy Quan asks of himself and of everyone: how to be fully in and of the moment? Bowling Pin Fire burns not with empty answers but with the good fortune of worldly insight.

Andy Quan’s previous books include Slant (poetry), Calendar Boy (short fiction), Six Positions (gay erotica), and Swallowing Clouds, an Anthology of Chinese Canadian Poetry (as co-editor). His poems and stories have also appeared in anthologies, magazines, and literary reviews around the world. Of Cantonese origin, he was born in Vancouver and has lived in Toronto, Brussels, and London. Also a singer and songwriter, he makes his home in Sydney, Australia, where he works on regional and international HIV and AIDS issues.

“Quan writes with an enticing style whose conversational simplicity blossoms smoothly into intricate, evocative imagery; the result is poetry both musical and highly visual.”
—Richard Labonté, Lambda Book Report

“…Careful crafting, empathy and expressive language… because of [his] compassion, craft, and talent that I can recommend the poetry of Andy Quan without hesitation.”
—Alex Boyd, The Danforth Review

More information: http://www.andyquan.com