Tuesday, August 24, 2021

Lionsheart Bookshop - Woking

I'm pleased to advise that the new Lionsheart Bookshop in Woking has started stocking books by local authors.


The shop at 67 Commercial Way, which also offers coffee, teas and cakes is taking books on a sale or return basis in an initiative to support the work of local writers.


Lelita Baldock, author of 'The Unsound Sister' and 'Widow's Lace'  


Look out for titles from Sunny Angel, Lelita Baldock, Alan Dale, Mal Foster, Greg Freeman, Jacquelyn Luben, Sue Mackender, Harriett Steel and more. 

Bookshop Contact email : bookshop@lionsheart.uk 


Sunday, August 1, 2021

Special Guest : Greg Freeman and his poetry collection, 'Marples Must Go!'

Anyone for poetry? I am absolutely delighted to welcome poet, Greg Freeman and his collection of poems, ‘Marples Must Go!’ to Writers at the Gate.

Read on to find out more…




About the book… 

A mysterious slogan on a bridge across the M1 that remained there for decades denounced a 1960s transport minister who had a finger in the pie of motorway building, and oversaw Beeching’s vandalism of Britain’s railways. Ernest Marples was a politician on the make who also liked to be chastised while wearing women’s clothing. Greg Freeman’s wry and bemused poems meander around this and other subjects such as free school milk, Juke Box Jury, Space Patrol, and the curious appeal of Andy Williams, as well as the first proper sentence of a two-year-old child: ‘Jack see Mrs Thatcher.’ As the years go by, the poet finds himself remembering the cartoon comic heroes of Beano and Dandy, picturing what might have happened to them in later life, and wondering plaintively: ‘Why can’t life still be hilarious?’  



 
About the author… 

Greg Freeman is a former newspaper sub-editor, and now the news and reviews editor for the poetry website Write Out Loud. His debut pamphlet collection, Trainspotters, was published by Indigo Dreams in 2015. He co-runs a monthly open mic poetry night in Woking, Surrey. He watched the second half of England's World Cup drubbing against Germany in a pub in Ludlow with the-then poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy; and with hundreds of others, contributed vocals on Chuck Berry's no 1 hit, My Ding-A-Ling.

 

BUY THE BOOK
(Publisher's Website)

 

Brief Interview…
 

When did you start writing your new book? 

Some of the poems were written several years ago, and some much more recently. I started assembling the collection around the back end of last year, and it was accepted for publication early in 2021. Many of the poems were 'road-tested' at Woking Writers Circle and at Write Out Loud Woking open-mic poetry night, which used to meet at the Lightbox gallery in Woking, and has been sharing poems on Zoom since May 2020. (We hope to return to the Lightbox at the end of September, but to carry on with Zoom as well)  

What was the inspiration behind the book? 

The title poem refers to a dodgy Tory politician from the 1960s. It's not for me to comment if anyone thinks there are any parallels today. There are other political poems in the book - politics is one of my interests - but the subject matter stretches far beyond that to encompass 60s pop music, football, newspapers, the Sean Henry sculptures in Woking town centre - and, of course, Covid. 

What ideas do you have for any future books? 

I hope this doesn't sound too morbid, but I recently had to have two surgical procedures to treat my angina. I've already written quite a long poem about that process and would hope to include it in a future collection.  

Which publishing services (if any) would you recommend? 

My first poetry publisher was Indigo Dreams, which produced my debut pamphlet Trainspotters in 2015. Guildford-based poetry publishers Dempsey & Windle have produced my first full collection Marples Must Go! Both publishers work very hard, publish lots of books, run competitions as well, and in my case have come up with two smashing covers that I have been delighted with. Janice and Donall and D&W even run their own monthly poetry open-mic night in Guildford - and have been doing so since 2010, I believe.