Pattern-book, by Éireann Lorsung
is a book I wanted to mention
Dear Students,
I was thinking it had been a while since I sent you my class notes, and it turns out it has been one full year. I hope you’ve been getting by okay without me. Normal service* will soon be resumed, but meanwhile I just wanted to quickly tell you about this:
My friend and colleague and teacher and reader, Éireann Lorsung, has a new poetry collection out now with Carcanet. I’m hosting the online launch for it THIS EVENING at 7pm and I think you should join us, if you have a moment.
(To be clear, the online launch is THIS EVENING, WEDNESDAY 28TH MAY, 7PM)
(Should I have sent this email earlier? It’s hard to say.)
If you think the name sounds familiar from these Class Notes, then that’s because Éireann has introduced me to ways of thinking about writing and reading which I’ve often come to lean on. She taught me most of what I told you in these notes about feedback, just for one example. I’ve been lucky enough to have her read early versions of much of my work, and lucky enough to have her ask difficult questions about that work.
All of which is by way of introducing you to the fact that I’m very very pleased to have been asked to host the online launch this evening, at 7pm. Mostly I’m just going to listen while Éireann reads some of the poems from the collection, and talks about them, but also I’ll ask her some questions and maybe you’ll ask her some questions as well.
One of the ways we learn how to write is by listening to each other, imho.
That’s all. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you this evening, and I’ll send some more Class Notes soon. Useful links below.
Best wishes,
Jon
You can buy the book here, or from your local bookshop.
The Observer have made this their Poetry Book of the Month, which, you know, art doesn’t need to be a competition but that’s nice all the same.
And Éireann, when Carcanet asked her to record a ‘meet the author’ video, offered them instead this blade of grass of a video-animation-commentary which is quite probably the finest book promo I’ve seen in a long, long time:
And if you’re in Dublin on June 5th, you can go to a real life launch at the marvellous Gutter Bookshop, and say hello to Eireann there.
* ‘Normal’ service being varied, as you well know.