In Book of Places, Yvonne Blomer draws us along for a cycling journey spanning decades and countries. From a solitary traffic controller on a lonely Nevada highway, to the quizzical regulars of a dodgy pub in the UK, we follow Blomer’s meandering path through snapshots of the figures and sights that populate the world she moves through. This updated edition also features an expanded collection of poems, integrating a ghazal suite of meditations on childhood, place, and the concept of home, poems set on bicycles in Southeast Asia, and more recent poems reflecting on the ever-developing journey of life. The Book of Places invites us on a grand adventure, but ultimately leads us home.

Yvonne Blomer lives in Victoria, BC where she works as a poet, memoirist, writing teacher, event organizer and mom. She was born in Zimbabwe and came to Canada when she was two years old. With her husband she has taught in Japan, cycled in Southeast Asia and lived in the UK where she completed an MA in Creative Writing: Poetry. Her poems have twice been shortlisted for the CBC Literary awards and have appeared in literary journals in Canada, the US, Japan and the UK. Her first collection of poetry, a broken mirror, fallen leaf (Ekstasis Editions), was shortlisted for The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 2007. She is the host/organizer of the Planet Earth Poetry Reading Series in Victoria, B.C. In 2012 Yvonne’s illustrated series of poems “Bicycle Brand Journey” will launch with Jack Pine Press.

Yvonne Blomer's profile page