Finishing touch & book news--

For more about Clive Hicks-Jenkins, leap here.

Clive Hicks-Jenkins and Thalia

Here is the Clive Hicks-Jenkins front jacket of Thaliad, a long poem forthcoming from Phoenicia Publishing in Montreal some time after The Foliate Head (UK: Stanza Press) appears in the fall. The last bit was my name, and I was not expecting that zingy, fresh-spring-juice-and-wild-celery! I am glad that Clive chose Thalia for the cover image, and that the collaged figure could serve as child or woman--growing, flourishing, flowering, and fruiting despite the ravaged, dark world in which she finds herself at the start of the narrative.

Updates on A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage

Events for the new book will have to slow down and be more regional for summer--I'll have all three children in or in-and-ut this summer, my husband will be off on a major trip to Africa in August, and I am already doing a lot of reading for the NBA-YPL award. Evidently the deluge is July and August... Meanwhile I have updated the book page with new review clips and other information, so please take a look and share with friends who read. As Mercer has been "making do" without a marketing director for some time, I am counting on the kindness of strangers and the generosity of friends to help Lady Word of Mouth share the news about A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage.

Publishing and choices made

For those interested in the health of the publishing industry in all its precincts--large- and mid-sized houses, university presses, and small presses, I'm recommending this peep about the closing of the important University of Missouri Press.