Small Bodies of Water

Home is many people and places and languages, some separated by oceans.

Nina Mingya Powles first learned to swim in Borneo – where her mother was born and her grandfather studied freshwater fish. There, the local swimming pool became her first body of water. Through her life there have been others that have meant different things, but have still been, in their own way, home: from the wild coastline of New Zealand to a pond in northwest London.

This lyrical collection of interconnected essays explores the bodies of water that separate and connect us, as well as how the nature around us, wherever we are in the world, can make us feel at home. In powerful prose, Small Bodies of Water weaves together nature writing with personal memories. It reflects on a girlhood spent growing up between two cultures, and explores what it means to belong.