New Canadians continue to arrive here and keep writing in their native languages, sometimes translating their work into English as Ibrahim Honjo has done for Roots in Stone (Back Yard Publishing).

Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1948, Honjo came to Canada in 1995. Roots is a mixture of cultures and idioms illustrated with the author's photographs and painting of rocks. English translations runs side-by-side with the original poems in the Serbo-Croatian language.

Trembling palms, moaning wind, melancholy sobs, gifts of heaven, birds' laments. If Honjo's writing has been influenced by contemporary Canadian poetry, it is hard to detect. His imagery and style is unapologetically of the Eastern Europe variety, so no doubt much is lost in translation.

It takes all kinds of poets to make a living culture and it takes courage to enter immigrant life and keep writing not to mention the nerve it takes to self-publish.

"ne pokolebaj se jer kucnuce taj cass";; "Do not hesitate when the moment comes.";

9780978217518

by Hannah Main-van der Kamp, BC BookWorld