Devolutionary Readings

Finishing up a book for publication is always an exciting moment - all that work coming to fruition, and the sense of a long-term project being wrapped up. Of course, there are nerves, too.  Are readers going to like it? Will reviewers think it's a good thing? Will it make an impact, or sink without a trace? Did I catch that last, lurking typo when I was proof-checking? 

It's been no different with my latest edited volume, Devolutionary Readings: English-Language Poetry and Contemporary Wales, which is in the final production stages with the simply excellent Peter Lang and is due out later this year. I'm excited to have such a fine array of contributors - and have fingers firmly crossed that their work gets the enthusiastic reception I honestly think it deserves. The proof-checking stage is great for getting an overview of what's been done, and I enjoyed the care, detail, and punchiness of what my authors had produced. Will readers agree with me? I hope so!

Checking proofs is always a time-pressured business. You usually have between one and two weeks for turning round first proofs, and then a 24-48 hour window for second proofs. That latter time-frame may sound incredibly tight for a 105,000-word book (as this is), but it's exactly right: the last thing you want at second proofs stage is to let your author or book editor stew over further changes he or she might potentially make. Check the corrections from the first proofs; check the index. That's it. Sign it off.

The other great pleasure at this sort of stage, of course, is getting to see the cover. I've been lucky with cover images for previous books, and this one is no exception. It features a great piece of artwork by Kathryn Le Grice called 'Swansea (Blue Chapel II)', which dates from 2009. I couldn't be more pleased with how it looks.

Devolutionary Readings, featuring Kathryn Le Grice, 'Swansea (Blue Chapel II)', 2009.