Winter, the unwelcome visitor is a five-sction poetic cycle amending the ordinary with the extraordinary. The work shows versatilitiy in style and form and yet maintains poetic excellence: a careful balance of metaphor, imagery and though. Always experimental, there is no one style that characterizes this book. From brief and academic, to wordy and effusive, the style shifts according to the subject. Unstintingly political, unforgivingly critical of commonly held ideas about the relationship of humans to the natural world and to each other, the relevance of this work to both a Canadian and an international audience is undeniable.

Some of these poems are vivid evocations of South Africa's Western Cape, and elegies of loss; others capture moments of longing and desire between lovers, as well as passages of bitterness. - JM Coetzee

Shaista Justin's profile page

Shaista Justin emigrated to Canada at the age of six and grew up in Toronto where she currently lives with her husband and two children. Extensive travel has contributed to her fascination with colonization and the contemporary manifestations of historical tragedies. She has published in The Fiddlehead and New Contrast and works freelance as a writer and editor.

"Some of these poems are vivid evocations of South Africa's Western Cape, and elegies of loss; others capture moments of longing and desire between lovers, as well as passages of bitterness." - JM Coetzee