There is a world beyond the blue sky we only catch glimpses of behind the white clouds high above us. Yet this is a world we cannot and should not ever see too clearly. Drawn from the five different "realms" of the sea, the middle country, the underworld, the forests and the country of old, Noriko Tanaka's third collection, From the Middle Country, is born of that human longing to somehow explore this unknowable space. We stand with Noriko in the Middle Country of our contemporary uncertain reality ever aware of the womb of the sea, of the underworld of the dead, of the protection offered by mothers of old and the chaotic magic of the woods. Cleverly blending word and image to compress her emotion into a deeply layered fabric of meaning, Noriko encourages her readers to explore how and why they are drawn to these other worlds.' - Dr Carol Hayes, Australian National University