Can you spot my book? Hint, it’s on the top shelf. Dreams do come true! At my local @waterstones in the O2 Centre.
On another note, Happy Halloween!!!! 👻🎃
Paperback release, USA
Here’s the US paperback release of White Chrysanthemum. Hopefully this beautiful new cover will reach many more people across America. There are so few Korean ‘comfort women’ still alive today–eight women died this year. I still meet so many people who have never heard of them, what they endured, or how many perished during WWII. History is written by the victors, yet women’s history is largely ignored. It’s time to remember, to tell women’s stories, so they will be ingrained in our collective memory. White Chrysanthemum tells one story, a historically ‘shameful’ one, hidden for decades, until a woman finally comes forward to tell her loved ones what happened to a sister long forgotten.
Pub Day in Germany!
Translated into German, White Chrysanthemum becomes And Above Me The Sea. I love the cover, the poetic title and the timing. It’s the day after the autumnal equinox and the days grow darker from here. I hope German readers fall in love with Hana and Emi. I hope the story of the ‘comfort women’ translates across language and border and personal experience. I hope so much for this novel. ❤️
The 2018 Forward Prizes for Poetry
The 2018 Forward Prizes for Poetry
— Read on www.litro.co.uk/2018/09/2018-forward-prizes-poetry/
My review of the fabulous Forward Prizes For Poetry award night.
Milton Keynes Literary Festival
This Saturday, 22 September is the Milton Keynes Literary Festival and I’m very much looking forward to this event. Join me for a Book Club talk about White Chrysanthemum. We’ll discuss the book, ‘comfort women’, haenyeo divers, Hana and Emi, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have about writing, publishing, and first books (and the trials of writing the second)! More info here: MKLITFEST
Italian Book Trailer
Here it is again, the Italian book trailer for Figlie del Mare, available now in Italy from Longanesi:
Litro World Series in London
The Litro World Series Summer Literary & Arts Festival ’18 is this weekend in London and will focus on India & South Korea. Join me on Saturday, 26 May (3:00-4:00PM) as I’ll be in conversation with novelists Uzma Aslam Khan (The Geometry of God) and Manu Pillai (The Ivory Throne: Chronicles of the House of Travancore). The session will be chaired by prize winning novelist and scriptwriter Qaisra Shahraz. We will read from our books, discuss our motivations behind writing them, and give you a chance to ask questions. I’ll also have two free paperback copies of White Chrysanthemum to give away if you haven’t bought your copy yet!
So come along to the SOAS university campus to hear from writers with stories spanning across India and South Korea. Follow this link for more information: LitroLive
Published Today: Sweden
It’s pub day for the Swedish translation of White Chrysanthemum! My wonderful publishers at Bookmark Forlag created a stunning cover for Vit Krysantemum. I can’t wait for readers in Sweden to read Hana and Emi’s story.
A writer’s life
My office today…
A new poem
Ruminations
The north wind blows through February trees
starlings take flight in the faded London sky
black shadows ebb and flow
murmurations mirroring my thoughts
Stop worrying it’ll drive you crazy
he likes to tell the future
it makes him feel divine
his words dig deep—roots that take hold
How will I know when it happens
he doesn’t hear me above the wind
it whips against my cheeks
When it happens how will I know
he shakes his head
Panic! I want to grab his throat with clawed hands
a crooked branch twists round my legs
he catches me with a ruthless grip
jaundiced leaves lie unsettled
like a thousand broken hearts scattered at my feet
Does the silver birch mourn
I need to know
the answer hangs between us
he snaps the offending branch in two
I’m free
a fleeting thought
he pulls up my collar stiff against the wind
I can do it myself
rough wool scratches my neck
a banshee’s wail races the wind
invisible fingers that tangle my hair
How long is forever
starlings swarm in the winter sky
inkblot algorithms that endlessly transform
the swirling ciphers hold encrypted answers
Is it happening now
I chew the words over and over again like cud
Everything is happening now
his voice
a gentle push towards an idling van
(M. Bracht, 2015)
Mary Lynn Bracht 