Huw Lemmey is a writer and publisher. He writes on culture, politics and sexuality, and is the author of the novels Chubz and the forthcoming Red Tory. Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath. She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. Bhanu is a British-Indian artist and poet. She is the author of five full length works of poetry/prose, most recently Schizophrene (2011) and Ban en Banlieue (2015). She lives in Colorado where she teaches Interdisciplinary Studies at Naropa University.
Unknown Language really is unlike any other book I've read this year. It merges poetry, prose, and essayic writing into a book much greater than the sum of its parts. Each section alone offers something that resonates beyond the page, and in concert they all feel necessary towards conveying Hildegard von Bingen's expansive impact. The book is stirring and evocative, even for someone like me with little connection to the Christian mythos. But Unknown Language's true strength is in creation. Like Hildegard von Bingen herself, Unknown Language imagines a new mode of being, a way of life outside of the confines of contemporary society. By introducing a new vocabulary, it offers access to an expanse beyond its covers. -Chicago Review of Books