Books
Check out the recent books written by Wendy
Just Launched
Much to my astonishment my first book of poems Lovelines virtually sold out by Autumn 2020. By then we had gone through our first lockdown, and poems were buzzing about in my head, and in lots of other people’s.
I was delighted that my “team” of editor David, Illustrator Jeff and IT guru Cata, were all keen to help again with a second book “The Witching Hour”. It contains earlier poems, many of which were written in the 1980s and 1990s and as well as new ones written during lockdown.
The poems became the bedrock of my life during a difficult time, stories of myself, of other women and travellers that I clung to in the dark winter days of 2020/2021.
Sold Out
I started working on Lovelines about 2 years ago. I never thought my poems were good enough to be published and indeed only started reading them in public recently. I gained confidence through very positive receptions to my poems at small Hackney speakeasies, poetry readings, Labour Party and Stand up to Racism meetings. Some of the poems are very recent, some date back 40 years.
Rosemary Bailey, a well known poet herself, now in her 80s, is my partner’s aunt, and she also gave me great encouragement, reading and commenting on some of the poems in the book. With her help I learnt how to shape my work which tended to degenerate into a personal or political rant, and to try to see things always from the readers viewpoint. Poems need crafting and re-working many times. They almost have a life of their own; they speak to you in the middle of the night or half way through dinner conversations.