An Orange, A Syllable

“Each page of An Orange, A Syllable is an encounter in a mirrored room: printed words reckoning with the subject of speech. In visceral, lucid, diaristic poems, Sze explores how language starts in us and how quickly we come up against its limits. We see multiplying reflections of motherhood, a marriage, paintings, Chinese words and phrases. Sze documents with lyrical precision how the words we say to each other are pivotal translations of ourselves, capable of deepening both intimacy and estrangement.” — Sadiqa de Meijer, author of alfabet/alphabet (winner of the 2021 Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language non-fiction)
“In An Orange, A Syllable, Gillian Sze undertakes an exacting, philosophical, and brilliant study into the intricacies of common spoken words, related through etymology, culture, history, interpretation, translation, and even misunderstanding and confusion. Her quiet and graceful prose draws us into intimate moments of childhood, wonder, motherhood, the mundane, and the pull of life. In retreating into our home, into a mother’s observances of how a child first learns to speak, and slowing down, Sze invites us into the space and gaps of her poetry and to pause in a busy and distracted world with tedious chores to find conversation. This collection reminded me of moments I marvelled at finding multiple and familiar meanings in my dying mother tongue and the lingua franca in my life. A beautiful and extraordinary work.” — Jamie Chai Yun Liew, author of Dandelion (finalist for Canada Reads 2025)
“An Orange, A Syllable is a breathtaking meditation on motherhood, memory, and language as well as a beautifully structured work. Each of the seventy-five prose poems gently leads to the next one like one room leads to the other in the paintings by Vilhelm Hammershøi, Sze’s important poetic reference. Meticulously following the mundane, Gillian Sze measures the fragile spaces between mother and daughter, husband and wife, words and languages to show that an open mouth can be as vast as a universe in which black holes are observing us from across the table and everything seems right now. In this stunning poetic vision, even the simplest of actions, like leaving a house, can be a meditation on time and space.” — Miljana Cunta, author of Nekajkrat smo zašli, zdaj se vracamo, recipient of Slovenia’s 2024 Grand Prešeren Award
“An Orange, A Syllable by Gillian Sze is one of the most beautiful and emotionally resonant works I’ve read in a long time … It gave shape to feelings and memories I hold with joy and nostalgia but never thought to articulate. It’s deeply touching, and remarkably relatable, especially for readers who value quiet, reflective writing that lingers long after the last page.” — My Asian Era blog
“As Quiet Night Think was a blend of meditative, first person lyric prose and poems around the swirls and reconsiderations of self, culture and being that accompanied her new motherhood, this latest shifts those leanings back into the shape and approach of the poem a bit further down Sze’s narrative/parenting line. [An Orange, A Syllable] is very much a sequel to that prior collection, offering further insights into culture, language, self and possibility through the ongoing lens of motherhood, partnership and domestic patter.” — rob mclennan’s blog
“This poetry is urgent and alive, a work of observation and invention that bends the formal and the lyrical toward a singular purpose: to observe and to wonder at the astonishing mechanics of speech, and being.” — Montreal Review of Books
“In An, Orange, A Syllable, Sze makes language tangible and urgent… I found the book to be a fascinating exploration of language and a yearning to keep things clear and solid, while understanding that this is not how the world works.” — ?The /t?mz/ Review
“Sze interrogates words and our reliance upon them for comprehension. This fearlessness is what makes the intelligence of her book so compelling. She refuses to romanticise connection and resists the suggestion that linguistic intensity can remedy the grief of unknowing. Instead, absence renders the beauty of the quotidian legible, recognisable, and full of meaning. This holds true for Sze as a poet, a partner, a parent, and a person.” — Cha Journal
“Gillian Sze’s An Orange, A Syllable is a cycle of lyric prose poems in a collection so distilled yet supple and lustrous, in terms of its language, thematic matter, intra- and intertextuality, that one can’t but come away convinced of Sze’s prodigious gifts.” — The Seaboard Review
“The richness of this collection lies in Sze’s deep curiosity. Much great poetry begins this way, with an image or a word. In this case, it appears to be both.” — The Fiddlehead

Gillian Sze is the author of multiple poetry books and picture books. Her book of poems and essays, Quiet Night Think, received the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She lives in Montreal, QC, where she teaches creative writing and literature at Concordia University.

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