For Immediate Release
Contact: Ray Zimmerman, znaturalist@gmail.com, (423) 718-9393
Finn Bille, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, announces his fourth collection of poems: The King’s Coin: Danish-American Poems. Finn refers to this collection--which includes notes on Danish history and geography as well as Finn’s biography--as his “binational poems.”
His previous poetry collections are Waking Dreams, Rites of the Earth, and Fire Poems.
Finn's poems have appeared in anthologies and literary magazines, including The Bridge: Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society. Julie K. Allen, the editor, said this in her review of the book:
In The King's Coin, Bille's graceful, vivid poems work a kind of magic, putting the poet's Danish memories and songs into eloquent English while capturing the ephemeral but undeniable cost of emigration and adaptation to a new cultural context. . . . This collection makes a sensually and emotionally rich contribution to the literature of hyphenated identity that should resonate with readers far beyond the borders of both the remembered Denmark and the America he so skillfully evokes.
The King's Coin is now available as a free download from his website, finnbille.com. Print copies are available from The Museum of Danish America, both in their giftshop and by mail. They are also available at Winder Binder Mercantile in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
As indicated in his poems, Finn visits Denmark frequently. His poem "every time I say goodbye" is a lament about his separation when returning to his adopted home in America after visiting family in Denmark:
Every time I say goodbye,
I see my mother lean
on the brown half door
overhung by thatch of bundled reeds
spotted green and weathered gray.
Her red rag tight around her brow,
she struggles to smile, her knuckles white
her blue eyes blank
as I turn
my face reduced to memory
Dr. Finn Bille received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He attended high school in Copenhagen, attended both the University of Copenhagen and Pepperdine University in California, and served in the Royal Danish Navy. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Jeanne, his wife of 56 years.
Interviews and Reviews:
Read Ray Zimmerman's recent review of The King's Coin by Finn Bille in the Chattanooga Pulse.
See Chattanooga Poets Finn Bille and Helga Kidder interviewed by Ray Zimmerman.
Chattanooga Poets Finn Bille and Helga Kidder appeared on WUTC 88.1 in Richard Winham's interview.
Contact: Ray Zimmerman, znaturalist@gmail.com, (423) 718-9393
Finn Bille, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, announces his fourth collection of poems: The King’s Coin: Danish-American Poems. Finn refers to this collection--which includes notes on Danish history and geography as well as Finn’s biography--as his “binational poems.”
His previous poetry collections are Waking Dreams, Rites of the Earth, and Fire Poems.
Finn's poems have appeared in anthologies and literary magazines, including The Bridge: Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society. Julie K. Allen, the editor, said this in her review of the book:
In The King's Coin, Bille's graceful, vivid poems work a kind of magic, putting the poet's Danish memories and songs into eloquent English while capturing the ephemeral but undeniable cost of emigration and adaptation to a new cultural context. . . . This collection makes a sensually and emotionally rich contribution to the literature of hyphenated identity that should resonate with readers far beyond the borders of both the remembered Denmark and the America he so skillfully evokes.
The King's Coin is now available as a free download from his website, finnbille.com. Print copies are available from The Museum of Danish America, both in their giftshop and by mail. They are also available at Winder Binder Mercantile in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
As indicated in his poems, Finn visits Denmark frequently. His poem "every time I say goodbye" is a lament about his separation when returning to his adopted home in America after visiting family in Denmark:
Every time I say goodbye,
I see my mother lean
on the brown half door
overhung by thatch of bundled reeds
spotted green and weathered gray.
Her red rag tight around her brow,
she struggles to smile, her knuckles white
her blue eyes blank
as I turn
my face reduced to memory
Dr. Finn Bille received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He attended high school in Copenhagen, attended both the University of Copenhagen and Pepperdine University in California, and served in the Royal Danish Navy. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Jeanne, his wife of 56 years.
Interviews and Reviews:
Read Ray Zimmerman's recent review of The King's Coin by Finn Bille in the Chattanooga Pulse.
See Chattanooga Poets Finn Bille and Helga Kidder interviewed by Ray Zimmerman.
Chattanooga Poets Finn Bille and Helga Kidder appeared on WUTC 88.1 in Richard Winham's interview.
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