Books by Frances Presley

"Born Chesterfield, Derbyshire 1952, of English and Dutch-Indonesian parents. I grew up in the country and had freedom to roam, although the agribusiness was already changing the landscape. I was educated at Grantham Girls' Grammar School, where I rebelled against the rounded vowel, and at Minehead Upper School. My defining moment in poetry came in 1969 when I first read Ezra Pound's 'Lustra'. My poetic and political interests developed as an undergraduate in the 70s at the University of East Anglia, studying American literature and history. I completed an M Phil, which was a critique of the contemporary French poet Yves Bonnefoy, and of 'logocentrism' in French poetry. In 1980 I moved to London to work as a librarian, and later branched off into research and information for community development. I joined a housing co-operative in North London, which is where I still live. Although I had been writing throughout the 70s, and publishing in university arts magazines, my own writing and performance came into focus in the 80s. I was involved in the Sub Voicive readings in their various incarnations, and it was through these that I met my partner Gavin Selerie. North and South published my first collection of poems and prose: "The Sex of Art". In the early 90s I established my own small press, and published my second book "Hula Hoop". Ian Robinson, of Oasis Books, published my third collection, "Linocut" in 1997. I embarked on a major collaboration and performance with the artist Irma Irsara, based around the fashion industry and women's clothing, and part of this project is available in book form as "Automatic cross stitch" (Other Press, 2000). I have also collaborated on a simultaneous email text with the poet Elizabeth James - "Neither the One nor the Other" (Form Books 1999). My next book, "Somerset Letters" (Oasis, 2002) was an exercise in experimental prose writing, as well as exploring landscape and rural society." (Frances Presley, in the journal "How2")