Old Friends (signed)

A faded memory of an east end Chinese restaurant galvanises Hannah Lowe’s exploration of Limehouse, the site of London’s first Chinatown – a place far larger in the public imagination than the few streets that once homed foreign seamen. The poems in this chapbook, by the winner of the Costa Book of the Year 2021, ask what can be found between census figures and sensationalist portrayals, between Brilliant Chang and Fu Manchu, and how do these flickers of the past speak to present perceptions of China, a place continually imagined and re-imagined in Britain’s public consciousness?

The book is introduced by poet, writer and broadcaster Anna Chen, and also includes a conversation between Hannah and poet Richard Scott about what their respective districts of Limehouse and Soho mean to them and their work.