I’m delighted to invite you to the launch of Origin, a new collection of poems about what it is to be alive and to help new life enter into the world.

Origin is the story of a baby becoming, and of her first year in a world altered beyond recognition by a virus born into our lives at nearly the same time. It is a song of breath, and of light. It is a collection of love poems, and a cry flung into the universe echoing the cry of all babies, a cry of loss and of nearly unbearable love. It is a book not just for pregnant women, or new mums and dads, but for all people who have entered through that small crack into the light of this life, and for all who have parents and have grappled with the joys and challenges of those most intimate of relationships. It is a song of light, and of breath. It is a story of where we come from.

“This collection not only exalts, is frightened for, and treasures new motherhood, but allows for its complexities and the terrible potential for loss, and especially I like how it doesn’t amputate mother-love from just the way we love as humans, sensuously and sometimes messily. It never slips into ‘saintly mother’ territory – it seems to recognise the burden that particular role has placed on women – for those who chose to have kids and those who didn’t.” —Lynn Davidson

It will be launching at Blackwell’s Edinburgh at 7pm on Thursday, 7th April 2022. Here’s the link to book your place:

Hope to see you there or somewhere soon!