Stone Venus
Stone Venus
Jo Reed
Paperback
Jo Reed's encounter with the original 'Stone Venus', entangled amongst seaweed on a Corfu beach, was the source of much inspiration, creativity and comfort to the lifelong artist. Later, it became the seed of her first collection of poetry; a collection you could soon be holding in your outstretched hand, much like Jo held 'Venus' herself on that cold morning.
The poet demonstrates a fascination with objects – as well as people, memories and places – throughout this moving, delicately-crafted debut. She inhabits them, transports them to decades past, then brings them back into the present with a series of skillful literary flourishes. This is writing to touch, inspire and astonish any reader – even those made of stone.
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Imprint: Valley Press
Published: June 2011
ISBN: 9780956890412
Catalogue no: VP0013
Page count: 52
Trim size: 198 x 129 mm
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Praise for Stone Venus:
“Poems which show due care for the reader, often capable of a startling justness of phrase or rhythm ... an attentiveness to both art and experience.”
— W.N. Herbert
“Even if I didn’t know, I’d be able to tell the poems were written by a visual artist; like a stained glass with each bit showing a different part of Jo's life. Lovely.”
— Pauline Plummer
About the author
Jo Reed was born near Durham in 1941. She spent her childhood moving up and down the East Coast, from Northumbria to Norfolk, before arriving in Soho, London in the 1960s. She later lived in rural Surrey and Lincolnshire, before settling in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, at the turn of the century.
She has worked as an illustrator, printmaker and teacher, and has an MA in Creative Writing from Newcastle University. Her debut collection of poetry, Stone Venus, was published by Valley Press in 2011, and was followed in 2015 by a second collection, Life Class.