Jan Oskar Hansen s latest collection Not under a Banyan Tree includes his poetry, stories, humour and news . The book reveals the intense character of his talent as it includes not only his most recent poems, but also stories, humour and news. It is well- known that Jan s works are always full of a daring spirit of outspokenness. This collection also has the stamp of a master touch. In the poems, he reveals a decisive aptness of words. Hansen is a born poet with a supreme gift of simplicity, and he always avoids labored vocabulary. P. B. Shelley s lines are truly applicable to his poetry: A poet is a nightingale who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds . His deepest individual gift is the faculty of spontaneous feeling, avoiding all that savors of stereotyped writing.