A new bloom in the Blown Rose garden: here come Handbooks, a series of handmade micro-published collections of poetry, prose and images.
Handbook: ‘a book giving information such as facts on a particular subject or instructions for operating a machine’. Our Handbooks are leporello (concertina) books of newly commissioned and collected work, where authors and artists range at will. The wild rose has five petals, the hand five fingers: our books have five spreads, we publish five titles per set, and five sets in total over the next five years. The print run for each title – just 25.
The first set of Handbooks features new cocktail poems from Clare Pollard illustrated by Zoë Taylor, asemic writing from the late Chris Meade, durational theatre in short story form by Will Ashon, a state of the nation spy story by Will Harris with photographs by David Sims, and some bloody, hefty, beautiful poetry by Ollie O’Neill, illustrated by Steph Harn.
- Handbooks Set 1: flowers Spring 2025. Order details coming soon.
- Free Verse, 26 April 2025: we’ll be there, selling hard – come and say hello.
- Handbooks Sets 2-5: follow along. Got an idea for an author or want to know more? Contact us at [email protected]
Thank you to Arts Council England for the love.