ren powell

I first saw Craig Flannagan's work nearly 15 years ago. I was managing an art gallery and he was part of our "stable". It was one of his lithographs that I chose to hang in front of my desk in the office. Something is always in movement in his works. The painting Door III calls up in me the ambivalent feeling of being embraced by/caught in a small space – an elevator, family expectations, one's own mind.

Ren Powell is the author of the poetry collections Fairy Tales and Soil and Mixed States, as well as nine books of translations. She is currently completing a series of children's books published in China, and – like so many poets – is peddling a novel to agents and publishers. She is a recipient of the Norwegian Authors' Union's Emerging Writer Grant and works as Managing Editor for BABEL literary webzine.