On Friday June 28th 2019, Local West Midlands Poet Scarlett Ward launched her debut poetry collection ‘ache’ at Waterstones in the Bullring. On the second floor of the towering building, the floor of the bookshop was turned into a mini stage, dressed with Waterstones backdrops and rows upon rows of chairs, all of which were filled with an eagerly awaiting audience.
A usually hushed room came to life with performances from supporting acts, Jess Davies, Sallyanne Rock, and Jacob Bennett. Then Scarlett herself took to the stage to engage people with her poetry, speaking up on topics ranging from trauma recovery and growth, through to sunflower seeds and deer culling.
In order to make her words as accessible to everyone, Scarlett handed out free coloured overlays with every book bought in order to help people with dyslexia.
Scarlett has been writing for around ten years, taking creative writing at Keele University and graduating in 2015. Her debut collection ‘ache’ tackles such topics as mental health issues, self identity, heartache and love in a modern era.
The blurb reads: “quite startling poetry -at times as light as petals, at others as heavy and violent as a hob nail boot. Read, gasp, enjoy.”
About her book, Scarlett comments “I hope that this collection might be a friend to the lonely or a beacon of hope for anyone struggling. I was very aware that in writing about mental health I didn’t want my book to wallow it its own misery, I wanted to ensure that it gives people hope.”
The touching devotion at the start of the book reads “For Jacob, you are the reason I stayed alive long enough to write any of this. You are, honestly and without any exaggeration, the reason I breathe at all. I love you”
Waterstones is more than just a bookshop, offering events such as spoken word evenings, writing groups and author ‘meet & greets.’
You can buy a copy of ‘ache’ from Waterstones or you can purchase it directly from the Verve website https://vervepoetrypress.com/product/ache-scarlett-ward-pre-order-free-uk-pp/
