At last, my new book is real.  TWP (publisher’s shorthand for Travelling With the Wrong Phrasebooks) has arrived.

On the publisher’s information page, under Pitt Street Poetry, these words appear: ‘An Entirely Beautiful Book’.  For both the paperback and the hardback editions, this phrase describes the actual books perfectly.

Here are the covers of the two versions: the simple, elegant paperback on the left, and the special limited edition with its exquisite original drawings by Oliver Watts on the right.

The poems inside have taken a long time to reach this happy point. They began in response to my first experience of living in Paris in 1994, and were finished during my return visit to the Literature Board’s Keesing Studio at the Cité Internationale des Arts in 2011.

Along the way, there’s been much discarded paper, many drafts and revisions and, once all the poems themselves appeared to be respectable, further wondering about how to put them all together to make a book.

But it was worth the wait.

Now it’s time for the words to go out into the world, in their wondrous packaging.

Our first official launch of the book will be this weekend, on my home ground. My local library at Toronto very kindly offered to put on an event, so we will celebrate with Lake Macquarie visible through the windows, just as it was from the back room of my house here, during much of the writing of the poems.

Here are the details of the launch:

Saturday September 29^th, 10.30 a.m.  At Toronto Library, 5 Pemell St, Toronto NSW

Judith Beveridge will speak about the book. All poetry lovers are welcome!

Later in the year, before Christmas, there will be a launch in Sydney. Details of that will come, soon.

As the gorgeous red hardbacks with Oliver’s drawings have to be signed before they can be sold, earlier this week I visited Pitt Street Poetry’s office in Sydney to take care of this task. I wouldn’t believe anything so extraordinary could happen, but here is the photographic proof.

At Pitt Street Poetry, Monday Sept 24th, 2012. The Great Wall of Books and The Great Sign-athon.

Oh, one other thing. You can buy the book online at http://pittstreetpoetry.com/emporium/jean-kent/

I hope you enjoy the poems!