The poems in SIGHTINGS are accessible to many readers, both young and old. They consider what it is like to be a human being in this modern world, drawing inspiration mainly from the people whom the writer has encountered, especially in Hong Kong. "She has made use of everyday life situations and turned them into life lessons. Sightings inspires us to slow down and taste the sense of the city."- Ma Kwai Hung. "The poems in 'Sightings' are witty, poignant, full of memorable images and insights and a total delight. I was very impressed by the entire publication including the essay." - Professor Ken Pickering "Sightings conveys playfulness and ironic humour. The writer displays, 'a strong ethical sense and a constant and engaging lyricism'." -Marion Bethel, Bahamian poetBickley has, "a talent for turning the stuff of ordinary life into poetry. She continually surprises and delights by making fresh connections between seemingly disparate situations". - Mrs Margaret Clarke
About the Author: GILLIAN BICKLEY, born and educated in the United Kingdom, has lived mostly in Hong Kong since 1970. Her poetry collections include "For the Record and other Poems of Hong Kong" (2003, 2016), "Sightings" (2007), "China Suite" (2009) and "Perceptions" (2012). Two collections, "Moving House" and "For the Record", have been published in Chinese; individual poems have been translated into several languages, including Czech and Turkish and anthologised in Hong Kong, the Philippines, Romania and the United Kingdom. In July 2014, at the 18th International Festival, "Curtea de Arges Poetry Nights", held in Romania, she was awarded the "Grand Prix Orient-Occident Des Arts" by the Festival Board. She is one of the Hong Kong poets discussed in Agnes S. L. Lam's study, "Becoming poets: The Asian English Experience". Her other writings include The Golden Needle: The Biography of Frederick Stewart (1836-1889) (1997) and The Stewarts of Bourtreebush (2003). She is the editor of Hong Kong Invaded! A '97 Nightmare (2001), The Development of Education in Hong Kong, 1841-1897 (2002), A Magistrate's Court in Nineteenth Century Hong Kong: Court in Time (2005, 2009), and The Complete Court Cases of Magistrate Frederick Stewart (2008). With Richard Collingwood-Selby, she co-edited In Time of War (2013) (the selected writings, photographs and drawings of Henry Collingwood-Selby). A long-term adjudicator at the Hong Kong Schools' Speech Festival, she was one of the Adjudicators for the Royal Commonwealth Society Hong Kong Poetry Writing Competition, and one of four voices in the full audio recording of Verner Bickley's three volume anthology, "Poems to Enjoy". Her poems are popular with students and teachers for competitions, festivals and grade examinations. Dr Bickley taught in the Department of English at the Hong Kong Baptist University, as Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor, for twenty-two years. She has also taught at Universities in Lagos, Nigeria; Auckland, New Zealand; and the University of Hong Kong.