one of the most compelling voices in Australian poetry this decade - Overland 'Maxine Beneba Clarke is a powerful and fearless storyteller, and this collection (FOREIGN SOIL) - written with exquisite sensitivity and yet uncompromising - will stay with you with the force of elemental truth. Clarke is the real deal, and will, if we're lucky, be an essential voice in world literature for years to come - Dave Eggers Clarke is a confident and highly skilled writer - Hannah Kent [Of Maxine's work] amazing - Tim Minchin Clarke lobs a molotov under any reader expecting a literary comfort zone ... this marks the arrival of a major new voice in the Australian literary landscape - Bookseller Publisher