Hello dear readers! Today I'm reviewing '(un)interrupted tongues' by Dal Kular as part of the blog tour. I'll put the poster for the tour at the end of the post so make sure to check out the other reviews of Dal Kular's debut poetry collection. Massive thanks to Isabelle Kenyon for organising the blog tour, allowing me to take part and for the gifted copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Synopsis:

'(un)interrupted tongues' unfolds Kular's creative journey and life as a working-class woman of colour. Written and created intuitively, Kular seeks to unravel the past, in order to understand the present and to heal. Here, unbelonging is power. These poems are love letters to the reader, never to give up on your creative dreams.

Review:

My first impression of Kular's debut poetry book is that the poems are not meant to be read only once and forgotten, but that they are meant to be read multiple times in order to be fully devoured. Every time you read one of the poems, something different strikes you - on first read it may be the shape of the poem, on second read it may be its meaning and on the third read it may be Kular's use of punctuation and spelling. It's quite clear that Kular created her poetry not to conform to standards and expectations but to break free, heal, and discover herself without limitations.

Dal Kular uses imagery, punctuation and intentional misspellings to give shape to her poems and to tell us about her life, her ancestors and her heritage. The poems are personal but also relatable to others who are trying to understand their past in order to understand their present. I couldn't help but underline a plethora of quotes when I was reading the book as there is just something mesmerising about the writing and the use of vocabulary.

Although the whole collection is brilliant, some poems which stood out to me were: 'white pages | 1974', 'uprise |ancestor speaks me|  Sheffield 2019', 'Orkney | 2019' and 'i knew || 2016'.

Overall, '(un)interrupted tongues' is a brilliant debut poetry book which is full of playfulness, healing and self-discovery, and which I definitely recommend to readers who prefer experimental poetry that is unique. Dal Kular is a great poet and her specialising in creative writing arts for healing certainly comes across in her writing, through her attention to detail and through the showcasing of her knowledge, especially in the 'Epilogue'. Kular's voice is bold and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

Rating: ★★★★

If you are interested in '(un)interrupted tongues', then you can purchase the poetry book through this link

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About the Author

Dal Kular is a writer and facilitator from Sheffield. From leaving school at 16 years old with 3 O-levels and being told she could never be a writer  –  to severe burnout, grief and loss – Dal returned to the power of words and writing in her late forties, as an act of radical self-care and healing, gaining an MSc in Therapeutic Writing.  Through writing circles, co-writing spaces and Our True Nature writing workshops for women of colour – she encourages women to discover the power of their own voices. Her essays have been shortlisted for Wasafiri New Writing Prize and Class Action Nature Writing Prize. She is currently working on a memoir about her mother, grief and nature supported by Arts Council funding. She is most often found roaming the Peak District in her tiny brown van, Muddy. You can find out more at www.dalkular.com.