About the Book: The Rivered Earth Drawing on a range of personal experience and literary influences, and mixing translation and original creation, The Rivered Earth consists of four libretti written to accompany music by Alec Roth-together with an account of the pleasures and pains of working with a composer and a musician. Entitled 'Songs in Time of War', 'Shared Ground', 'The Traveller' and 'Seven Elements', the libretti take us all over the world?from Chinese and Indian poetry to the beauty and quietness of the Salisbury house where English poet George Herbert lived and died. Spanning centuries of creativity and humanity, these poems pulse with life, energy and the inspired brilliance of the poet. They are accompanied by four pieces of calligraphy by him. About the Author: Vikram Seth Equally gifted as a poet, essayist, memoirist, travel writer and novelist, Vikram Seth is perhaps best known for the phenomenal A Suitable Boy, one of the best loved and most widely read novels of recent times. His other books include An Equal Music, The Golden Gate and Two Lives.