AGOG by Pete Marshall
pre-order: out October 2011
Pete Marshall brings a great deal of pressure to bear on his work both linguistically and visually. The use of images and found material adds not only literary but artistic impact whilst his pieces are densely layered and stylistically fresh and engaging.
There is not only a great deal of allusion but also a lively wit at work in the pieces and the combination makes Pete Marshall a unique literary voice. He is able to marry cultural or social commentary (sometimes with a critical edge) with a passion for place with a fluidity that is seamless. Similarly he can move from the lyrical to the colloquial with ease.
Pete’s rootedness in the landscape and mythology of North Wales is a strong through line in a wider narrative and brings an original perspective to bear. The voice is wry, witty, often linguistically playful and the style pushes at the boundaries of free verse and concrete poetry. The result is an innovative, often-thought provoking, sometimes openly proactive collection that works on many levels.
Pete Marshall was born in Liverpool in 1958. He has worked at many occupations, from a soldier to a social worker. His writing appears regularly in literary magazines and his first collection was published by the Frogmore Press in 1989. His second collection, In Loco Parentis, explores child abuse and children in care was and his third collection, The Vale, was written during a six months writer’s sabbatical in the Vale of Glamorgan. His collection AGOG is forthcoming from Cinnamon Press. Pete is married with three children and lives on a traditional Welsh smallholding in the Conwy Valley.