The Shard Box, Liz Niven's new collection of poems in English and Scots, eloquently captures the contradictions and multiple identities of modern China. Liz Niven has a keen eye for detail and a light touch that delivers an unexpected intensity; taking on ancient traditions and contemporary issues, this selection is in turn humorous and poignant and illustrates China as it is rarely seen.

From the intimacy of the tea ceremony to the lives of the migrant workers in Beijing, nothing is as you would expect.

In the 1980s, fragments of fine porcelain destroyed during the Cultural Revolution were gathered and set into box lids and jewellery. Niven uses this as a metaphor for things that disintegrate families, communities, nations, and their attempts to become whole.

The Sahrd Box is available from booksellers, Amazon and Luath Press.