Out of Place

About Kate Rogers’

Out of Place

published by Aeolus House (Quattro Books), Toronto, 2017.

Out of Place expresses Kate’s life in the liminal zone between countries, cultures and identities. She repatriated to Canada in December 2019 after spending one third of her life in Asia. The poems in Out of Place express being of a place, yet never belonging; they explore longing and transformation.

In her review of Kate’s book, Toronto poet Lisa Richter elaborates: “Place is a difficult subject to write about. With more obscure or esoteric subjects, poets can maintain a safe emotional distance, thereby avoiding the vulnerability that is both prerequisite to and the by-product of writing about our most intimate experiences. Writing about place demands a reckoning with the familiar, the examination of one’s own identity, and this forces us to confront our ghosts and demons, see ourselves reflected in convex mirrors. The objects we perceive through the lens of our experiences are both closer and farther than they appear. Place is so embedded in our sense of self, it becomes intrinsic to the lens through which we perceive the world.” (Link to the full review: https://poets.ca/2018/02/21/review-out-of-place-by-kate-rogers/)

Kate’s poetry has appeared in literary journals and anthologies based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, the U.S. and U.K. During her more than two decades in Asia, Kate was inspired to write about the impact of colonialism and the destruction of the natural environment. Her protest poetry expresses Kate’s commitment to the Hong Kong fight for democracy and her commitment to social justice in whichever country she calls “home”.