Five Leaves Publications

We're very pleased with this review of Elvire Roberts' pamphlet "North by Northnorth" from Cheryl Moskowitz, in "Magma" 59 (2024)

Elvire Roberts’ debut pamphlet, "North by Northnorth", is a masterclass in laying bare originality and stripping away poetic convention. Roberts is a q***r poet from the LGBTQ+ community in Nottingham. Born in Yorkshire, she spent her early years in Zambia, has an MA in Creative Writing from Nottingham Trent, works as a signed language interpreter in forensic, mental health, academic and arts settings, and has completed a first degree in Chinese studies at Cambridge University.
I was intrigued by the title and made conscious of the many mythical and political associations gathered around the word ‘North’: North, of course is the direction a compass needle normally points; the Global North distinguishes economically advanced societies from those that aren’t; the North Star always leads to home. Or does it?
In "North by Northnorth" Roberts bypasses all that and veers wildly off-compass in search of something newer, stranger, q***rer, less familiar. These are poems that explore fragility, the natural world, metamorphosis in human, animal and mineral form, as well as the supernatural, the spiritual, and the psyche. This may sound like an impossibly intellectual expedition, and it is, but what is most remarkable is the inventiveness with which it is undertaken. Each page presents a surprise, something new to puzzle over and to learn from.
Roberts writes playfully and invites the reader to play along. There are poems here whose sections are segmented by dotted lines marked with scissor symbols, suggesting the work is there for cutting up and messing about with, should we so wish. This is visual poetry. The six-line sonorous verses in ‘Beautiful demoiselle’ are laid out inside hexagonal shapes and tessellated into two flower shapes across a double spread – a fun job for the designer and a delight for the eye of the reader too. The word ‘demoiselle’ has several definitions: a) a small, graceful crane; b) a damselfly; and c) slang: an unmarried girl or woman. Is it mad that I also saw the word ‘mademoiselle’ stripped of its own (mad)ness, as an invitation to lose my mind and not search too hard for logic?
Language, so many languages - from all corners of the globe - feature here. Some real, some invented no doubt, although perhaps their origins are all due north of where our usual encounters take us. In places, certain letters seem to be formed of hieroglyphs, but I trust this poet, and sense that everything has been mined from a true source, has purpose and is waiting to be drilled for deeper meaning.
Queerness is at the heart of this pamphlet. "North by Northnorth" leads us into uncharted territory. One could spend days, even weeks, getting lost in its pages and still find things to wonder at and discover. Take one of the titles for example, ‘Syzygy’. In astronomical terms, this refers to the alignment of three celestial bodies in a gravitational system. In Jungian terms, ‘syzygy’ is the integration of the anima and animus, male and female aspects of the conscious self. Elsewhere I found it as the name of an artwork by Columbian artist María Berrío depicting three women aligned and transforming a fourth into a half-bird hybrid. Roberts’ ‘Syzygy’ appears as a block of text bisected diagonally to form two triangular (winged) configurations, the left in roman, the right in bold. Mirroring? Opposites? Even the title inverts itself at the end and becomes “Ygyzys”. The effect is soaringly joyous, as is the whole of this fascinating, quirky, and deeply intelligent work.

So farewell Harriet Ward, whose funeral was this morning in Ipswich (and livestream). I knew Harriet mainly because of her husband Colin Ward, published several times by Five Leaves, though she was a formidable character in her own right. Daughter of Dora Russell, Harriet had a difficult childhood followed by a variety of jobs including being a factory inspector.
Harriet lived independently to the last supported by neighbours, keeping up with the news, holding strong opinions.
Two specific memories of Harriet - the first when Colin developed dementia and she supported him through his last book launch, a re-issue of Anarchy in Action, still selling after fifty years. And then at the large memorial meeting for Colin, when she insisted that there had to be bookstalls, and in her speech she told us all about how she chased Colin - he being completely oblivious to the fact that her lifts home were in the exactly opposite direction to her own house, and to the coincidence of her happening to drive past his house at the time he was going to work.
Looking after Colin gave Harriet entry to the "dementia gang" in Debenham, which she enjoyed.
Harriet passed a lot of their books and pamphlets to the Nottingham Sparrow's Nest archive.

“The Stories In Between” Teresa Forrest (Five Leaves Publications) – book review Teresa Forrest The Stories in Between book cover A debut pamphlet from Teresa Forrest which explores relationships and heritage with a probing eye that goes beyond personal experience and widens it…

Please share far and wide (across the East Midlands, anyway!).

Text: Five Leaves New Poetry Call for Pamphlet Submissions from under-represented poets.
Five Leaves' new series of poetry pamphlets provides an outlet for East Midlands-based poets who have yet to be published in book or pamphlet form, recognising the abundant talent in our region.
Until now, these pamphlets have been com mis sioned. We do not usually consider unsolicited approaches or unsolicited manu scripts, but in June 2024 we will open a submissions window for under-represented poets.
These include (but are not limited to) poets of colour, LGBT+ poets, poets with disabilities, neurodivergent poets, working-class poets... who live or work in the East Midlands: Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, or Northamptonshire.
Submissions must contain between 20 and 44 poems.
The submission window is open from June 1st to June 30th.
Please ask for full details before submitting by emailing pippa [at] fiveleaves.co.uk

Not often one of our books is featured in the New York Review of Books...

What’s in a Face? | Susie Linfield Two recent books of photographs by David Serry and Robert Stothard suggest there is no truth to the notion of a “Jewish race" with any unifying physical characteristics.

Nottingham folk, summat to do when there's nowt on telly
So here's a run down of our events in April and May: http://fiveleaves.bookshoployalty.co.uk/campaign/20368/email
Fiction, Green, LGBT Nightlife, Poetry, Housing, Anarchist History, Colonial Britain, Modern Fairytales/Disability, Trans Lives, More Bloomin' Poetry, and three book groups.
Our latest events listing. No idea why it says Loyalty.

Bookstore Loyalty Browse your favorite local bookstore's shelves

How is your Danish? From Den daglige Føljeton

One Woman’s War af Dana Mills
Emma Louise Stenholm

Dana Mills er politisk teoretiker og forfatter på den israelske venstrefløj og en del af det uafhængige israelsk-palæstinensiske medie +972. I en ny samling af essays beskriver hun månederne efter den 7. oktober. Føljeton bringer et uddrag.

For omkring seks måneder siden blev jeg bange for at få brystkræft. Jeg kommer fra en familie med en trist historie med kræft, og efter at have fortrængt, hvad jeg tydeligt følte var en knude, fik jeg endelig en tid hos min læge, som sendte mig til hasteprøver. Jeg talte ikke meget om det, da jeg havde et meget anstrengt forhold til min daværende chef og havde følt mig usikker på så mange måder over for hende og andre. Heldigvis blev prøverne taget hurtigt og viste sig at være godartede, selv om lægerne så nogle ting, der bekymrede dem, og beordrede mig til at få en kontrol efter seks måneder. De seks måneder fandt sted i denne uge.

Der var ingen ledige tider i nærheden af, hvor jeg bor, så jeg bestilte en tid i Jerusalem. Det er en by, hvor så mange af os er fanget side om side: sekulære jøder, religiøse jøder, palæstinensiske borgere i Israel, palæstinensere, der bor i Østjerusalem, uden en klar grænse og alle på en eller anden måde tvunget til at leve sammen. Jeg ankom dobbelt nervøs; selvfølgelig var situationen stressende i forvejen, men at gøre alt det her under en krig (er der en alarm på vej derhen? Er der en, når jeg bliver tjekket?) øgede min angst, som jeg tror var tydelig.

Under hele forløbet var den kvinde, der undersøgte mig, palæstinensisk. Hun behandlede mig med en enestående venlighed, hun anerkendte min sårbarhed og tog sig af den. Det var tydeligt, at hun var træt – det er vi alle i de her dage – og jeg var træt og ængstelig. Hun kunne se, at jeg var ængstelig og gjorde alt for at berolige mig. Mens jeg knappede min skjorte, tænkte jeg på det faktum, at vi på trods af alle politiske debatter alle er bestemt til at leve sammen, og at medfølelse er en meget naturlig følelse, når våbnene er sænket.

Husk på, at alle vi israelere i varierende grad bærer survivor’s guilt. Hvorfor var mine fætre og kusiner i beskyttelsesrummet i timevis, mens jeg var langt væk? Hvorfor blev nogle mennesker jeg kender bortført fra deres hjem, mens jeg sover trygt i min seng? Hvorfor bliver soldater dræbt dagligt, mens jeg går i supermarkedet, til dansetime, mødes med venner? Nogle gange er skyldfølelsen mindre udholdelig end andre.

Hvis du er israeler og bevidst følger med i nyhederne fra Gaza (israelske medier viser stadig ikke konsekvenserne af Israels angreb på Gaza), eller endda de rædsler, der udspiller sig på Vestbredden; fra fremskyndet etnisk udrensning til tvangsforflyttelse til administrativ frihedsberøvelse, og listen fortsætter; så har skyldfølelsen en dobbelt facet. Ikke alene overlever jeg andre mennesker omkring mig ved et rent tilfælde, men forfærdelige, forfærdelige ting bliver gjort i mit navn. Hvis det optager dig, er det svært at komme videre med noget, man har brug for at få gjort, selv om det er for kampens skyld.

En anden følelse (bevidst eller selvbevidst), som vi israelere, der er forankret i kampen mod besættelse og apartheid, oplever hele tiden, er skam. Ordet ‘skam’ bliver ofte råbt i demonstrationer her, men vores ledere synes at være skamløse. Og jo flere beviser vi ser fra Gaza; vold udøvet af soldater, ydmygelse for ydmygelsens skyld (et billede, der cirkulerede vidt og bredt i Israel, var af ‘Hamas-militante’, der sad i undertøj med bind for øjnene, bevogtet af israelske soldater), jo mere overvældet føler man sig af skam. Vi hører mere og mere om bortførelser, om hærværk, om ødelæggelse for ødelæggelsens skyld. Det er selvfølgelig ikke hele hæren, men når de beviser dukker op, er det svært ikke at blive ødelagt af skam.

Både skyld og skam, havde Nietzsche lært mig, er ikke generative følelser. Efter mange års aktivistisk arbejde har jeg lært, at hvis du vil have folk til at lytte til dig, får du dem ikke til det ved at kalde dem kollektivt krigsforbrydere, umoralske og elendige. Selvfølgelig kan det være, at du ikke vil engagere dig i det kollektiv, som de handlinger udspringer af, og det er fint, men hvis du vil engagere dig i det samfund, du ønsker at ændre, vil det at påføre folk skam eller skyldfølelse sandsynligvis ikke få dem til at komme til din demonstration.

Desuden, og det er noget, jeg lærer mere og mere, skal det at gå ind i din egen proces med de her følelser og stemninger være internt snarere end eksternaliseret, især ikke over for dine palæstinensiske venner. Når dødstallet i Gaza er over 30.000, vil det være forkert at bede palæstinensiske venner om at bære min skyld og skam og hjælpe mig med at komme igennem dem. Det ville være at påføre dem mere af den skade, som mit samfund alligevel påfører dem.

I min barndom, under Oslo-dagene, troede vi, at hvis vi, palæstinensere og israelere, kunne ‘enes’ som mennesker, ville vi kunne enes som folk. En masse penge udefra og forsoningsforsøg blev brugt på at samle palæstinensiske og israelske unge i store cirkler, hvor vi talte sammen. Forsøget var at vise os, hvor ens vi faktisk var.

Jeg var tretten, da jeg begyndte at deltage. Jeg husker, at jeg mest blev slået af, hvor forskellige vi var. Jeg levede med privilegier og magt, som mine palæstinensiske kammerater kun kunne drømme om. Vi havde meget lidt til fælles. Vi blev kastet ind i det her fantasiteater, hvor hvis jeg og min palæstinensiske modpart begge sagde, at vi kunne lide katte, så var vi ens! Vi er begge trettenårige børn, der kan lide katte! Men det faktum, at hun skulle vente i tre timer i et checkpoint, og at jeg var i familie med de soldater, der tilbageholdt hende i checkpointet, blev tilsidesat.

Hvis der er noget vigtigt, der kom ud af de tre måneder, er det Oslo-paradigmets fuldstændige og totale sammenbrud. Ønsket om at reproducere en slags facade af eksternaliseret liberalt demokrati i Palæstina, uden nogen væsentlig magt eller evne til selvforsvar. I det klassiske to-stats-paradigme har Israel stadig monopol på Palæstina.

Men den anden ting, jeg tænker på, er, at den måde, vi, israelere og palæstinensere, lever sammen, ikke behøver at være styret af modeller for ‘sameksistens’. Vi har brug for et politisk arrangement, sandsynligvis med et form for internationalt tilsyn i starten, sikret af juridiske forbehold og sikkerhed. Vi er nødt til at kunne leve vores liv uden at frygte hinanden. Man kan ikke forlange, at palæstinensere, der har levet under besættelse så længe, skal forsone sig med israelere på et personligt plan.

Jeg ved og har accepteret, at for mange af mine palæstinensiske ligesindede, især på Vestbredden og i Gaza, og på en anden måde i Østjerusalem, er jeg ikke anderledes end den soldat, der holder dem tilbage ved checkpointet, endnu, tredive år efter Oslo; eller i værste fald den soldat, der ser på, når de lever med bosættervold som daglig rutine. Jeg er en og samme person som den regering, der tager deres land fra dem, bid for bid. På en måde har de ret.

One Woman’s War af Dana Mills udkom den 7. marts på det britiske forlag Five Leaves med forord af Sally Abed.

For International Women's Day
fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/product/one-womans-war

This Friday at Scarthin

We're off to Scarthin Books in February, to discuss Jessie Chambers Wood, and our Lawrence books, with Haggs Farm Preservation Society

Due February - copies can be pre-ordered here: fiveleaves.co.uk/product/one-womans-war-essays-written-in-war-for-peace/

musculardystrophyuk.org/news-blogs-and-stories/blogs/writing-for-wellbeing-how-it-works-for-me-by-trish.... Trish Kerrison, that is, author of Beyond Caring, published by Five Leaves. A good introduction to her life of caring for her sons, who have Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Anyone in the North East should give active consideration to attending Iron Press's big bash to mark its fiftieth anniversary as a publisher - details of the line up and event here -

Literature: Fifty at Fifty at The Watch House, Cullercoats IRON Press, the North East-based literary publisher, this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, and to mark the occasion, a bonanza twelve-hour poetry marathon is to be held at an historic sea fron…

“Beyond Caring” Trish Kerrison (Five Leaves) – book review Trish Kerrison Beyond Caring book cover Two of Trish Kerrison’s sons have Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, which triggers progressive muscle failure and usually limits life to eighteen years or b…

Currently, on the blog of the London Review of Books - Gillian Darley on writing about David Attenborough's father, and David's response... his father being the photographer for the book Leaves of Southwell, reissued by Five Leaves in a facsimile edition: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2023/september/the-camera-man:

Last year I wrote a brief introduction to The Leaves of Southwell by Nikolaus Pevsner, a facsimile edition of King Penguin No. 17, in a series that Pevsner himself was editing. Gothic architecture is not my speciality, but I have a lingering interest in the author. Pevsner, whose name is inescapably attached to the Buildings of England, seems to have begun work on this little volume very soon after he was released from internment and had begun to pick up the pieces of academic life in Britain. Although published in 1945, it was probably written in 1942.

The text is a celebration of the naturalistic carvings of Southwell Minster, the work of itinerant craftsmen, whose subtle stylistic differences Pevsner happily puzzles over: ‘The individual craftsman,’ he writes, ‘must have had a considerable amount of personal liberty.’ He continues:

Could these leaves of the English countryside, with all their freshness, move us so deeply if they were not carved in that spirit which filled the saints and poets and thinkers of the 13th century, the spirit of religious respect for the liveliness of created nature?

Pevsner prefaced his text with St Francis’s ‘Canticle of the Sun’ and some verses from the Carmina Burana. ‘In an inconspicuous part of central England,’ I wrote in my introduction, ‘he had found and could celebrate a distillation of art and life from across continental Europe.’ Born a Jew, Pevsner was not protected by his conversion to Lutherism. He lost his university post in Göttingen in 1933 and left Germany for England two years later. His mother, who stayed in Germany, took her own life early in 1942 to avoid deportation.

But the richness of the book lies above all in the photographs, printed in the best photogravure available in the postwar months. They were the work of an Anglo-Saxon historian, the principal of University College Leicester, a man with a particular passion for the camera. They are evidence of an intensely collaborative project. In the clear light and unimpeded space of the minster’s chapter house, Frederick Attenborough mastered the capturing of natural light on stone and the framing of carved vegetation that, in places, breaks away from the capitals and creeps up the mouldings. I confess I had given the technology of the process little thought, seduced rather by the results.

The book was published in July by Five Leaves Publications of Nottingham. Copies were sent to the copyright holder. Soon afterwards, I received a letter. ‘I can claim to have played a small part in the book’s creation,’ David Attenborough wrote:

When I was a boy I regularly accompanied my father on his photographic forays carrying his huge plate cameras, and I guess I must have been about fifteen when he started on the Southwell project. He did not use any artificial lights, so one of my jobs, apart from porterage, was to sit looking at the sky, trying to predict when there might be a shaft of sunlight and exactly where it would fall. So I remember some of the Southwell capitals very well indeed!

Over the years, the photographer’s assistant told me, he had picked up second-hand copies but a new edition makes him ‘hugely grateful’.

This is our former (mostly) and current (a bit) publishing worker Pippa in one of her other lives

Inspire Poetry Festival 23: Digital Poetry - Workshop & Performance | Inspire - Culture, Learning, Libraries Reading & Libraries Inspire Poetry Festival: Digital Poetry - Workshop 23 September 2023 Beeston Library

North by Northnorth | Five Leaves Publications In her debut pamphlet North by Northnorth, Elvire Roberts goes off-compass to find the vanishing point towards True North. She treads her way through q***rness

emmalee1.wordpress.com/2023/09/06/jane-bluett-she-will-allow-her-wings-five-leaves-book-review/

Lovely review for the first of our new poetry series by Emma Lee.
The series, by the way, if for new work by East Midlands poets who have not published pamphlets before. We commission the work (as we do all our books) and the series editor is Pippa Hennessy. Our aim is to build a team of page poets (some of whom will be performance poets) and get them on the road.
We have about six collections due in the next year, covering various types of poetry.
Sorry, not sorry, but we commission, we don't look at unsolicited submissions. We have our spies out there, listening and reading the little magazines!

Jane Bluett “She Will Allow Her Wings” (Five Leaves) – book review Jane Bluett She Will Allow Her Wings book cover Jane Bluett explores tales, familiar and unfamiliar, how to make sense of a place in the world and find a path through it. She doesn’t restrict herse…

Five Leaves launches Beyond Caring

Trish Kerrison has two sons with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder found primarily in boys which causes progressive and life-limiting muscle failure. In her debut poetry pamphlet she explores her role as carer and mother with no trace of sentimentality.

There is anger, fear and regret, but also the day-to-day joys and flashes of humour that most families experience. Tough subjects such as the challenges of caring for those with extreme disabilities and contending with other people’s attitudes are addressed matter-of-factly.

Trish Kerrison was a nurse for thirteen years, and is now a tutor of Adult Literacy. She is also the mother of four children, the eldest two of whom have the condition. In 1996, when her sons (then
aged two-and-a-half and one) were diagnosed, their prognosis was eighteen years. They are now in their late twenties.

Cathy Grindrod, poet and playwright, and former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, says:

Honest, poignant and true, these poems give us a startling insight into one carer’s life, with all its extremes and mixed emotions, not excluding real joy and humour. The poems open our eyes to how much more empathy and understanding is needed from a complacent world, and leave us strengthened by the power of human resilience and love.

Beyond Caring is the second in a new series of debut poetry pamphlets by emerging East Midlands writers, published by Five Leaves as Five Leaves New Poetry. The first pamphlet in the series was She Will Allow Her Wings by Jane Bluett.

Five Leaves' poetry editor, Pippa Hennessy, says:

We’re excited by the opportunity to work with talented emerging poets from our region and bring their work to publication. Forthcoming pamphlets in the series by Teresa Forrest, Elvire Roberts, Roy Young, Jan Norton, Nathan Fidler and Fiona Theokritoff will keep poetry-lovers happy into 2024 and beyond.

Beyond Caring will be launched as part of the Inspire Poetry Festival 2023. The launch event will take place at Beeston Library at 4pm on Friday 22nd September, and will include a reading by Trish Kerrison, with additional poems from Jane Bluett, Cathy Grindrod, Teresa Forrest and Roy Young.

Two poems from Beyond Caring

The Same Boys They Were Yesterday

Beep
sorry we are unable to take your call…
we are fully occupied with building
our ginormous LEGO tower,
the biggest in the Universe, ever,
with four doors, twenty-three windows,
and every single brick we own,
because I promised…
Beep
sorry, we are…
busy with our chocolate cake,
big brother, in charge of decoration,
sorts smarties into rainbow piles,
buttercream smile smeared on face,
smaller brother puffs into icing sugar,
claps his hands in fluffy white clouds,
laughs as only a toddler can…
Beep
sorry we…
have gone to the park
to run, swing, climb, slide
before it’s too late…
Beep
sorry…

Saint for a Day

7.16 am: I have patience enough
for a saint. I respond to all requests
without so much as a huff,

no matter how often a hand
needs moving up, down, left, right, forward,
back to the start, because one millimetre
makes all the difference.
I say ‘just a minute’ and mean it,
suppress the urge to finish his sentences,
ignore sarcastic comments.
I swear,
but only under my breath.
10.34: I am not a saint,
nor, apparently,
a very good actor.

ENDS
Five Leaves Publications is an independent press based in Nottingham, alongside its sister
business Five Leaves Bookshop. Both are owned and managed by Ross Bradshaw. Five
Leaves publishes 12-16 books a year on an eclectic range of topics including regional
interest, poetry, social history, politics, Jewish interest, London interest.
Inspire Poetry Festival 2023 takes place across Nottinghamshire libraries from 16
September to 24 September. Further information can be found here:
https://www.inspireculture.org.uk/whats-on/events/inspire-poetry-festival-2023/
and information about the Beyond Caring launch event is here:
https://www.inspireculture.org.uk/whats-on/events/inspire-poetry-festival-23-beyond-
caring/
Trish Kerrison is available for interviews and readings. For more information, to request a
review copy or interview, please contact Pippa Hennessy ([email protected]) or Ross
Bradshaw ([email protected]).

www.fiveleaves.co.uk www.fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk

We're going through a DH Lawrence period - or, to be more exact, a Jessie Chambers period, with two books going to press on Monday (we didn't manage July):
fiveleaves.co.uk/product/lawrences-muse-jessie-chambers-wood-through-her-own-writing/
and
fiveleaves.co.uk/product/miriams-farm-the-story-of-haggs-farm-d-h-lawrence-and-the-chambers-family/
The first reveals more about Jessie Chambers, Lawrence's first love, her intellect, her pacifism... and her attitude to Lawrence years after they broke up.
The second is a new edition of a companion book, previously published by the Haggs Farm Preservation Society.
We are launching the books at the DH Lawrence Festival in September, in Eastwood of course. You are welcome to join us.
fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/events/book-launch-lawrences-muse-jessie-chambers-wood-through-her-own-writing/

As published by...

What Does a Jew Look Like? | Bradford Literature Festival What does a Jew look like? All too often the response is someone who wears a black hat and coat and has a beard. The real answer to the question is far more complicated and much more interesting. This question is at the heart of a collaboration between writer and sociologist, Keith Kahn-Harris and a...

A harbinger of Curious Hampstead, to follow our earlier books by Andrew?

Anarchy in Hampstead’s North End Anarchy in Hampstead’s North End

Next year we are publishing a history of LGBT+ Nottingham(shire). covering from the 60s to date. Caroline Barry is interviewing people about their memories, mundane or exciting. If you would like to be interviewed (fifty people, and rising) contact [email protected]. Thanks

Under review in the Morning Star, Chris Searle's The World is on our Words:

Poetic justice ROGER McKENZIE recommends the memoir of a gifted teacher whose belief in the human values of poetry informed his work and activism

On the off chance... does anyone have a contact for the photographer, Nicholas Breach, or his family, whose work we used in the book Streets of East London. Please contact us on [email protected] if so. Thanks

His book... our book....

Keith Kahn Harris, Antisemitism and Jewish Diversity: When Celebration Becomes Dangerous Lecture presented at University of Wiconsin-Miwaukee on March 2, 2023