A Book of Poetry about Love, God, Madness and Sexuality – Mairead Meade

I'm happy to have helped poet Mairead Meade to publish her collected work on Blurb. Here's her introduciton to the book.
"I started writing poetry to handle my feelings of love as an adolescent teenager. At 17, an event happened in my life that would forever shape me. I began to question my sexuality. Soon after, I fell for a boy and was convinced he was my soulmate. I wrote much poetry through this period of unrequited love. At 18, I fell in love again, this time with a girl, and I became convinced not only was I gay but that she was my true love. This was the beginning of my journey into Paranoia and Schizophrenia as this love grew. In 1995, I found God through various metaphysical experiences. I travelled to Sunderland in the U.K. in 1996 to study B.A. Communications Studies at the University of Sunderland. By early 1997, I had a nervous breakdown and was in hospital in St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London. "Blossoms" is a collection of poems from that period. My poetry is about Love, God, Madness and Sexuality. To me, every poem is a blossom of feeling and thought through words.

 I'd like to share my poetry with the world as I believe there is a lot in my writing that can help heal people. By reading my words, I am sure many others can relate to me. "

 Mairéad Meade

Blossoms by Mairead Meade is available to buy on Blurb

A Bookmaking Workshop with the Sherkin Island Poets

In the winter of 2013, a group of Sherkin Islanders, along with artist Tess Leak (centre front), undertook an adventure together: to create a collection of haiku poems inspired by life on the Island in all its forms and complexities. Traditional Japanese Haiku are three line poems with seventeen syllables and are, according to a member of the group, “like little islands” themselves. 

A limited edition of 50 books containing a small part of the collection and was made at a day-long workshop by the hands of the Haiku-Island Poets in their community centre, November 2014. I helped with the setup and layout aspects but was highly impressed at their steady hands on the production line, cover Haiga and beautiful marbled end papers the poets brought to the edition.

The project was kindly supported by the Sherkin Island Development Society and the Cork Education and Training Board. Many thanks to Aisling Moran (Development Officer for Sherkin) and to all the Haiku Island Poets.