Broken Compass by Carys Hannah

How do you navigate your own path when you have no sense of direction? What do you do when your gap year becomes a gap decade? ‘Broken Compass’ is a collection of poems, vignettes, and journal entries accumulated over a ten year period. Carys shares snapshots and stories about muddling through adulthood. Themes include complex relationships, mental health, social issues, and travel.
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Carys Hannah (formerly known as Carys 'Matic' Jones) is a Birmingham-based poet, musician, and educator. She has headlined numerous spoken word events and performed at several festivals in the UK and South Korea, including Evidently, Wordsmiths, Mouths Wide Shut, Howl, Shambala, Boomtown, and the Gwangju World Music Festival, and has written for the publications Blues and Soul Magazine, Culture M, Eloquence, and Groove Korea. Her work has been showcased on BBC Introducing, OHTV, and The Word is Bond. In 2015, Carys took her autobiographical one-woman show Professional Nomad to the Edinburgh Fringe festival where she won the Hammer and Tongue slam and progressed to the national finals at the Royal Albert Hall. Carys is the founder and former host of Lyrically Minded, an open mic based in Seoul. She has also released an experimental hip hop album, and plans to record more music in the future. Her poetry has been described as ‘rhythmic’, ‘magnetic’, and ‘courageous’.

'The compassion in Hannah's eye falls on intimate learning opportunities in everyday life that remind us what it means to be human, and her heart documents them in rhyme and vivid image to bring the sentiment home. But this is not a sentimental collection - the edgy mc flow in her poems transports you through the 'story of the moment' in unexpected and satisfying ways.' – Zena Edwards.

‘The pieces I like best are the uplifting dragon and graffiti stories, the short 'Sheets' poem, and the last practical musing upon being in the present, which I found to be a grounding reminder about self-appreciation.’ – John Hegley