Published on 8th July 2021

3 min read

Nina Mingya Powles won the inaugural Nan Shepherd Prize for Nature Writing, a new literary prize for underrepresented voices in nature writing, winning a publishing contract with Canongate. With her book, Small Bodies of Water, published on 5th August - you can (pre) order it here - we asked Nina about her work.

Nina Mingya Powles

Nina Mingya Powles is a writer, editor and publisher from Aotearoa New Zealand. She is the author of three poetry collections, including Magnolia, which was shortlisted for both the Ondaatje Prize and the Forward Prize; and Tiny Moons: A Year of Eating in Shanghai. In 2019 she won the Nan Shepherd Prize for Small Bodies of Water, and in 2018 she won the Women Poets’ Prize. She is the founding editor of Bitter Melon. Nina was born in Aotearoa, partly grew up in China, and now lives in London.