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  • Larder… the Book!

    There is this now obligatory photo of authors opening a box of their books, the first glimpse of the real object. You can send off pages to a publisher, you can get typesetting proofs, you can see the cover image, but it’s not real until it’s in your hand. E-books have their place in our world nowadays, but nothing beats a well-designed, genuine book, printed on real paper.  Here’s mine.

    I’ll be reading from it at the Fat Oyster reading series, in Fanny Bay Hall on Vancouver Island, a week from today, May 12. If you’re within reach, it would be great to have you in the audience! This marks the return to face-to-face readings for the series, post-pandemic.

    There will be 3 of us reading: another Caitlin Press author, Arleen Paré, whose latest collection, Time Out of Time, riffs on the work of another poet, the Lebanese-American poet Etel Adnan. Comox Valley poet Kelly Madden will be there too, reading from her first collection, If I’d Known.

    Here’s our poster:

  • Larder.. the cover!

    And the winning cover image turns out to be.. Still Life with Bowl of Citrons, by Giovanna Garzoni. Very pleased with the look of this one.

    Much as I would have liked to feature the work of a living woman artist, Garzoni is an impressive figure in art history, and the Italian connection is satisfying, given the presence of poems written during my studies in Italy.

    I had wanted something food related, but also to bring in the natural world. The insect figure may or may not be a wasp; but for purposes of this collection, that’s what we’re calling it, to chime with the wasp poem within!

    The book will be out sometime in May, but pre-orders can be taken now by visiting Caitlin Press.

    Upcoming readings and appearances are on my News page, which I’ll update as details change or get added. But here’s what’s coming up in the next couple of months:

  • Covering poetry

    We’re getting close – the new poetry collection heads to the printer late next week! Over the past month I’ve looked at thousands of images, trying to reconcile the themes in the book, the title (Larder), cost (small press, no budget for images), orientation (vertical preferred for ease of design), size (bigger than 1mb)… my head spins.

    I loved so many of the images I saw, so here are a few that didn’t make the cut but which I offer for your enjoyment:

    Raspberries on a Leaf (1858) oil on panel painting by Lilly Martin Spencer

    I simply love this surprising still life for its simplicity and unexpected juxtaposition of raspberries and the cabbage leaf.

    Mason Jar with Blackberry Fruit by Joanne Thomson

    Victoria artist Joanne Thomson painted a whole Mason Jar series which is incredibly beautiful. I liked this jar in particular because it had blackberries in it, and blackberries do occur in my poetry.

    Still Life with Birds and Fruit by Giovanna Garzoni & Jacopo Ligozzi c. 1650

    I would happily have anything by Giovanna Garzoni on my book cover. Discovering her 17th century still life paintings, which look fresh and contemporary to me, was a delight. They frequently include birds or insects, which combines the natural world with food items, and my poems address both.

    from shutterstock

    I have been looking for images with that ‘look again’ quality, which somehow integrate food imagery with the natural world. Brussels sprouts do look egg-like, and I like the loose and leafy basket.

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Book cover of Rhona McAdam's book Larder with still life painting of lemons and lemon branches with blossoms in a ceramic bowl. One of the lemons has a beed on it.

In her latest collection, Rhona McAdam navigates the dark places of human movement through the earth and the exquisite intricacies lingering in backyard gardens and farmlands populated by insects and pollinators, all the while returning to the body, to the tune of staccato beats and the newly discovered symmetries within the human heart.

Enjoy

“…A beautiful, filling collection, Larder is a set of poems to read at the change of the seasons, to appreciate alongside a good meal, and to remind yourself of the beauty in everything, even the things you may not appreciate before opening McAdam’s collection….”

Alison Manley

Rhona McAdam is a writer, poet, editor, and Registered Holistic Nutritionist with a Master’s in Food Culture from Italy and a deep-rooted passion for ecology and urban agriculture. Her work spans corporate and technical writing to poetry and creative nonfiction, often exploring the vital links between what we eat and how we live. Based in Victoria, BC, and available via Zoom, Rhona is always open to new writing commissions, readings, or workshops on nutrition and the culinary arts.

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