The Emma Press publishes Valerie Bence’s latest pamphlet on grandmotherhood
Valerie Bence, 70, a poet based in Buckinghamshire, will be published with award-winning independent publisher The Emma Press on 27th January 2022.
Overlap (9781912915941 / £6.50) is Bence’s second poetry pamphlet. The collection is a portrait of Bence’s own grandmothers, Winifred and Harriet, and her own experience of becoming a grandmother in very different times, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bence’s collection was selected from the publisher’s 2019/20 call for submissions, and was chosen from 413 entries. Overlap is the 30th publication in the Emma Press Poetry Pamphlet series.
The blurb states: ‘Part memoir, part family history, Overlap is a series of vivid vignettes from the poet’s childhood, courtship, motherhood and grandmotherhood, spanning the 20th and 21st centuries.’
Publisher Emma Dai’an Wright says: “Valerie’s poems are precise and full of warmth. She examines changing generational roles with a light touch and some delightful details, and I’m sure her poems about the lockdown in particular will resonate with grandparents who had to stay away from their families.”
There will be an online launch event for Overlap in late February on Zoom – details will be posted here nearer the time.
About the author
Valerie Bence finished her doctorate in her mid-fifties and completed a Poetry MA at MMU in 2017. She was shortlisted for the Poetry School/Nine Arches Press Primers 4 in 2018, the Fish Poetry prize in 2019, and longlisted for the Ginkgo Prize in 2019. Her first collection, Falling in love with a dead man, was published by Cinnamon Press in 2019. She is a mum and nonna and lives and works in Buckinghamshire.
Paperback ISBN: 9781912915941
Publication Date: 27th January 2022
Page Count: 32
RRP: £6.50
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