Shed Stories #14 ‘I can see clearly now’

Primroses, violets, crocuses, celandines and wood anemones are flowering, scattered along the banks of the Marcher lanes, the birds are singing in fine voice and the sun, the sun, is shining down upon us with kind, gentle warmth. So many things moved on in so many ways since my last newsletter in February.

Much of the winter was dominated by anxiety for me although it wasn’t something I could talk about. This was because there was a lot of uncertainty about the future of the book, ‘Wild Folk’, that I have been making with Jackie Morris and that so many of you have funded through Unbound the publisher.

This process of creating the book design and the filling in of gaps with additional vignettes of illustrations continued on and off until about October at which point Wild Folk hit 400% funding and Jackie and I were on cloud nine. We felt that, with the help of all of you, we were nearing the completion of something rather wonderful.

However, since then everything stalled and I know that many of you have been feeling this too. Winter storms shook the fabric of the country and darkness seemed to penetrate all areas of life. The book languished. Like Seren I just wanted to hunker down and hide.

Before Christmas we discovered that all was not well at Unbound and some serious changes had to take place within the company before Wild Folk could be born for real and be delivered into your hands all around the world. The last few months have felt like an eternity of waiting but finally we had the good news we had hoped for throughout this difficult time. Although Unbound has gone into administration a new company, Boundless, has been formed and the Unbound name has become an imprint of this new company and we are lucky in that our book is safe. A week ago I received the colour proofs and by the time you receive this I should have seen the few proofs that needed minor amendments and Wild Folk will soon be at the printers. Unbound has promised that we will be able to meet our publication date of June 19th. Hurrah!

We will be celebrating the release of Wild Folk with several events throughout the UK starting with the amazing Seven Fables at Simonsbath on Exmoor, North Somerset over the weekend of 21st and 22nd June, and followed up by an event at Tinsmiths, Ledbury on the 26th June (tbc) and then a special evening with Mr. B’s Emporium, Bath on the 16th July, a date at Toppings, St Andrews (22nd or 23rd September tbc). More events are in the pipeline and will be announced soon.

The Simonsbath launch will take the form of an exhibition of the stained glass panels from the book (most of which will be for sale), and Jackie and I will be present throughout the weekend. The event will take place at a beautiful old schoolhouse, White Rock, surrounded by the stunning Exmoor landscape, where there are glorious walks and wild swimming for those that wish to make a day or weekend of it (to arrange yourselves).

Please do sign up for Seven Fables, ‘Fable Folk’ newsletter for further information as they are organizing the weekend. https://www.sevenfables.co.uk/ We realise that it will have been a long wait, especially for those of you who pledged for the book back in January 2023!! Thank you all so much for your patience and faith, much of which rested on a wing and a prayer when we first launched the idea for the book.