A tale of two book launches

The launch at The Stephen Lawrence Gallery was an excellent example of how to do a launch: easy to find venue (especially helpful when the headline poet’s not from London), welcoming relaxed atmosphere, a host to keep things running on time and let people know what to expect and opportunities to buy books and mingle. Cake and gingerbread women (it was International Woman’s Day) an appreciated bonus. Although there was no microphone, the venue’s acoustics and quiet audience made it easy to hear readers. Poetry, book sales and conversation made it a great event. Could Leicester live up to London?

Sadly, due to staff illness, the library had to withdraw the venue. The timing was unfortunate: less than 24 hours before the launch was due to take place. But I’ve organised plenty of events at the library and know they wouldn’t pull out without very good reason. I had to make the decision to cancel or find an alternative venue. The obvious city centre alternatives weren’t available on Wednesday. My local Community Hub wasn’t available during the week but was available on Saturday evening. Within half an hour of knowing the library was unavailable, I had a new venue and date. Then it was a matter of getting the new venue and date publicised. A huge thanks go to all those who shared social media posts, Arachne for updating their website and Scraptoft’s parish clerk for putting up posters.

Fortunately people were prepared to venture out. The chairs were placed with gaps between and I’d wiped all hard surfaces before anyone turned up. I talked about the genesis of The Significance of a Dress and read some poems.

After the interval was a question and answer session with a discussion on book covers, where inspiration comes from, whether writing short stories is different from writing poems and whether I have a preference and whether my collections were gathered round a theme.

There was an interesting discussion on book covers. Authors don’t usually get much say in the choice of cover and there’s the worry that the publisher might withdraw if an agreement can’t be reached. One attendee mentioned she knew someone who’d had a manuscript accepted, gone through the editing process when funding fell through and the publisher couldn’t go ahead. That’s devastating and it’s hard to see anything positive, but the take-away is that a publisher was interested and the writer has chance to try again knowing the manuscript has a vote of confidence. Sometimes you have to look for the silver linings.

The great thing about both readings was the sense of being among friends, the welcome and feeling of community.

The Significance of a Dress is available for online order from Arachne Press.

A reading of “Outside the Photograph” from The Significance of a Dress at the Stephen Lawrence Gallery, Greenwich, London.

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The Story of The Significance of a Dress’s cover

The title poem, “The Significance of a Dress”, was inspired by a published interview with a woman who runs a wedding dress hire shop in a refugee camp in Northern Iraq, which also offers hairdressing and make-up services. The make-up and hair styles have to withstand desert heat and remain in place well into the night.

What’s often forgotten or overlooked is how long refugees can find themselves in limbo, stuck in a camp. What work they can do is restricted or even not permitted yet refugees still have to pay for food and utilities. Some have already paid most or all of their savings to traffickers. Some might be able to source funds from distant family members. Many take on unskilled labour. A former seamstress might take in repair work. The wedding dress hire shop owner already had contacts in the fashion industry.

In camps, there’s usually no shortage of young, single men. Many of whom have fled after witnessing the death of family members. Almost all are at risk of being conscripted into the military or forced to fight for rebel militias. Returning isn’t an option so they wait for their paperwork to be processed with the additional stress of an uncertain future.

Many families in these camps worry about protecting their daughters. Harassment and assaults are common and police are rarely involved; those in the camps are wary of authorities and local police forces don’t necessarily have the resources to police the camps as well. Marriage seems to be attractive way of protecting an daughter in her late teens or older. There was a mural in this particular camp, placed there by an international children’s charity. It shows a picture of a girl in a white dress and hijab holding a teddy bear as a warning against child brides. Not marriages, however, will be for protection or transactional.

The images used in the interview were subject to copyright and it is appropriate and impractical for me to travel to the camp just to get a photo for a cover image. The challenge was to find an appropriate image where copyright wouldn’t be a issue.

An image from a bridal shop in the UK would not have worked. The dresses would be pristine and not designed for desert heat. There may have been copyright issues with dress images and designer permissions to negotiate. A bride-to-be taking a photo to show family is fine, but for a cover image permission would have to be sought. It would have to be a public photo, not one take in a private space.

I got lucky. Wandering round Leicester’s city centre, a pre-loved dress hung in a charity shop window and, using some clever angling, reflections weren’t a problem. My photo is my copyright. Photo taken, it was then converted to an embroidery chart and cross-stitched. Fortunately Arachne agreed the the cover should feature sewing. The stitched title was provided by Arachne – it was originally done to feature in the book trailer.

It’s also the first time my embroidery which is strictly a hobby, features on a book cover. In the original embroidery, the dress is white. When I took a photo in daylight, it retained its whiteness. But white is a cold colour. Taking a photo of the embroidery under artificial light gave it a sepia effect and a warmer tone so was the image used in designing the cover.

Please note new date and venue for the launch: 7-9pm Saturday 14 March 2020, Scraptoft Community Hub, Malsbury Avenue, Scraptoft, Leicestershire LE7 9FQ.

 

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Change of Date and Venue for The Significance of a Dress Launch

Please note the change of date and venue for the launch of The Significance of a Dress.

7-9pm Saturday 14 March 2020

Scraptoft Community Hub, Malsbury Avenue, Scraptoft, Leicestershire LE7 9FQ.

Google Maps link.

Unfortunately, due to staff illness, the library is no longer available on the evening of 11 March so an alternative had to be found.

Scraptoft is just off the A47 (eastbound) outside the city border and served by Arriva’s 55 service. If driving along the A47, pass through Evington. At Thurnby turn right at the traffic lights by James Coles Nurseries onto Station Road, stay on Station Road which becomes Station Lane as  you pass over the brook. At the mini-roundabout at the end of Station Lane, take the third exit onto Covert Lane. On Covert Lane, take the third left onto Malsbury Avenue. The Hub is towards the end of Malsbury Avenue.

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The Significance of a Dress Launch

The launch for “The Significance of a Dress” is at the Central Library, Bishop Street, Leicester LE1 6AA from 7pm on Wednesday 11 March 2020. Free entry. Refreshments provided.

The Significance of a Dress is collection of “poems informed by, and immersed in politics. Whether investigating the lives of refugees, families or women in crisis, everything has a significance beyond the surface. Beautiful, hair-raising words and form, utterly from the heart.”

A book trailer for the collection with a recording of the title poem is here.

“Nothing is unimportant in The Significance of A Dress, where next year is not the future but a question. Each refugee, suffragette or shushed voice and narrative encompassed by the poems is personal and individual, yet simultaneously universal in its reach and significance. In ‘Dismantling The Jungle’, flames form “an echo of a former life”. This vivid collection is full of such flames and echoes. Whether it’s “Each dress hangs from a noose” (‘Bridal Dresses in Beirut’) or “Everything Abdel sees is smeared, despite his glasses” (Stories from The Jungle), Emma Lee’s focus is precise, poised and packs emotional punch. Her evocative imagery is reinforced by taut lines, striking juxtapositions and intimate, moving details. The Significance of A Dress is a beautiful, powerful and haunting collection.” S A Leavesley

“From the title page of ‘The Significance of a Dress’, Emma Lee cleverly fashions a feminist metaphor for #MeToo into uncompromising forms. These include the terrible symbol of bridal dresses hung from nooses in Beirut, signifying rapists absolved of their crimes through marrying their victims, a figure walking home in the UK uncertain whether she is safe from rape after a recent attack in the area, and further victims of rape and domestic abuse. The reader is never let go, with head dunked into the murky waters of domestic life until forced to accept Lee’s compelling argument of a grossly unequal world. The poet does this with immense skill in versification, giving her audience no option but to pay attention.

“This is daring, well-imagined poetry with global scope, giving voice to women from myriad backgrounds and cultures. It goes far beyond the boundaries of #MeToo, arguing the world has become one of disturbing realm of sexual inequality, in an atmosphere of constant threat. Lee’s collection addresses unfairness, advocating for those who have been denied the ability to speak for themselves.” Dr James Fountain.

The Significance of a Dress is published by Arachne Press.

The Significance of a Dress

The title poem is set in a refugee camp in northern Iraq, loosely based on a media interview with the owner of a wedding dress hire shop. I think it’s frequently forgotten how long people end up living in these camps, which were only designed to be temporary. Women often take in sewing to earn some money to buy food and electricity to support children. Those living similar camps are expected to pay for food and energy but not permitted to take on permanent jobs. Why would a wedding dress hire shop be successful?

Some matches will be love matches and I’ve no wish to suggest otherwise. Some, though, are arranged. Parents wish to protect their daughters in a camp where young men outnumber other residents (generally because they can travel alone unencumbered by children or older relatives), and see marriage as a way of achieving this in places that are not policed and where sexual assaults are common. In a camp of people who had fled war are still suffering trauma and feel they are still living in limbo: not accepted in the place they have sought refuge but unable to return to their original country, marriage is an act of hope.

There is a danger of child brides. The particular wedding dress hire shop I wrote about has a mural outside showing a young girl in a white dress clutching a teddy bear. However, no one asks how old the brides-to-be are, and it’s not always easy to tell the age of a heavily made-up teenager. For young people who have seen their homelands bombed or escaped conscription, either into the military or guerrilla groups, romance and marriage feels like a future, albeit one lit by cheap diamante.

In 2015, I joined Kathleen Bell and Siobhan Logan in editing “Over Land, Over Sea: poems for those seeking refuge”. One of the criteria for choosing poems for inclusion was that poems shouldn’t focus solely on doom and gloom. The book would be a difficult, but not a harrowing read. I carried that criterion into “The Significance of a Dress”; there are notes of hope, rescue and small but significance acts of kindness.

“Poems informed by, and immersed in politics. Whether investigating the lives of refugees, families or women in crisis, everything has a significance beyond the surface. Beautiful, hair-raising words and form, utterly from the heart.”

“Nothing is unimportant in The Significance of A Dress, where each poem’s narrative is personal and individual, yet simultaneously universal in its reach and significance. Emma Lee’s evocative imagery is reinforced by taut lines, striking juxtapositions and intimate, moving details that pack emotional punch. The Significance of A Dress is a beautiful haunting collection.” S A Leavesley

The Significance of a Dress is published by Arachne Press on 27 February 2020. There will be a launch at the Central Library, Bishop Street, Leicester LE1 6AA from 7pm on Wednesday 11 March 2020.

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