Ivy Alvarez

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Ivy Alvarez is a five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, and New Zealand Poetry Society’s editor for a fine line magazine. Her verse novel Disturbance was adapted into a musical, premiering in Tokyo, Japan in 2019.

Born in the Philippines, Ivy Alvarez grew up in Tasmania, Australia. Having lived in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, she lived almost ten years in Cardiff, Wales, before arriving in Auckland, New Zealand in 2014.

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Branch:

Auckland

Location:

Auckland

Publications:

Disturbance

Disturbance (Wales, UK: Seren Books, 2013) Poetry Available from Seren. Disturbance is a novel in verse by Ivy Alvarez that chronicles a multiple homicide, a tragic case of domestic violence, where a family was gunned down by the husband and father. The book features poems in a kaleidoscope of voices from all the characters involved. This is a very dark book, but a courageous one, ultimately about evil and its presence in our everyday lives. There is some graphic violence, but the emphasis is on the characters and their motivations. "Disturbance is a precise, pained, and wondrous book.” –Teju Cole

Mortal

Mortal (Washington, DC: Red Morning Press, 2006) Poetry Available here. In her remarkable first collection, Ivy Alvarez's Mortal examines the relationship between Dee and Seph -- modern-day reinventions of Demeter and Persephone -- and how the spectre of breast cancer affects them. Mortal spans years and personalities, giving voice to mother and daughter in poems that are both visceral and quietly elegant.

The Everyday English Dictionary

The Everyday English Dictionary (London, UK: Paekakariki Press, 2016) Poetry Available from Paekakariki Press. A letterpress-printed booklet, featuring original art, limited to 250 copies. Poems from this collection feature in Australian Poetry Journal, Blue Fifth Review, Chévere, Corduroy Mtn, Ekleksographia, Etchings, fourW (nominated Best Poem), Going Down Swinging, Horse Less Review, Island Magazine, Jacket2, Landfall, New Welsh Review, Our Own Voice, Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, Roundyhouse and Weave Magazine.