Red Ledger is Mary Dalton's fourth book of poems, and follows the success of her highly praised and prize-winning collection Merrybegot. In Red Ledger, Dalton's wit leaps forward to create yet another series of pressure-packed, tough-minded poems inseparable from their Atlantic source. The immediacy and precision of her diction and the large scope of her thinking evoke an elemental world in ways that recall the oral traditions from which Dalton has often drawn inspiration. Rarely has the formidable Newfoundland character found such authentic expression. Ranging from erotic lyrics to riddles, from parables to social-political meditations, Red Ledger is the work of an exceptional poet who has once again struck out on her own.

Edited by Mary Dalton, Sean O'Brien, Chase Twichell, Niyi Osundare et al.

Mary Daltpon is the author of five books of poetry including Merrybegot winner of the 2005 E.J. Pratt Poetry Award. Her new collection Hooking was published Spring 2013. She is a Professor of English at Memorial University, St. John’s Newfoundland.

Sean O’Brien is a UK poet, critic, broadcaster, anthologist and editor. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University. His poetry collection November was shortlisted for the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize and the 2012 International Griffin Poetry Prize.

Chase Twichell is the winner of the prestigious Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Award (2011) and the Alice Fay Di Castagnola Award (1997). She has received numerous fellowships for her seven books of poetry.

Niyi Osundare Osundare is a Nigerian poet, playwright, essayist and scholar. He has authored 18 books of poetry. His many prizes include the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. He is currently Distinguished Professor of English at the University of New Orleans.

Mary Dalton's profile page

"Another delight to come my way was Red Ledger, the latest collection of poems by Newfoundland's Mary Dalton. It's sensuous, surprisingly lively at times, and sometimes very wonderfully dark; the emotions revealed in these poems taste like atmosphere. Salt, for example, is a recurring metaphor for desire and for the dizzying parade of images that make up the much-loved places ("St. John's as well as "round the bay") where the poet lives. These are clear, mature poems by a poet who has been quietly practising her vocation for years while the world somersaults by somewhere offshore." --Jane Urquhart in the Globe and Mail's Books of the Year feature for 2006
"An assurance, a distinctive completeness, reminiscent of songs or tales honed for generations in the popular imagination." --E.J. Pratt Poetry Award jury
"Make no mistake, these poems are beautifully made." --Globe and Mail
"Folksy, feisty, and possessing a rough irreverence." --Books in Canada
"The stresses are so strong it's like eating a sumptuous hearty meal with most every fifteen-liner. The aftereffects are then pensive and satisfying. I'm in awe, and envious, of Dalton's tone, here: she's captured an incredible synthesis of sorrow and insouciance." --Brian Palmu