LeBlanc – War and Place, Dugas – Vivres, Tremlett – Horse-Woman: Basic Bruegel Editions launch at Frye Festival
I am very pleased and proud to announce that my poetic memoir Horse-Woman will be launched at Frye Festival, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada on Thursday 24th April. It is part of the exciting new Chapbook publication series by Basic Bruegel Editions – the brainchild of leading Canadian poets and video poets Valerie LeBlanc and Daniel H. Dugas. They tell me this is Atlantic Canada’s biggest literary happening and takes place over ten days of events. https://events.frye.ca/sites/frye
‘Horse-Woman is a poetic memoir about working as a fashion model, whilst trying to write and paint, in bohemian late-1970s London bedsit land. As a socially and emotionally isolated child of elderly parents, Sarah Tremlett was given a young horse to look after, which ultimately was sold against her wishes, due to studying for A-levels. In this account of events, in order to survive, Sarah’s autistic psyche creates a mythical, ‘otherkin’ horse persona which protects and interweaves with her experiences in the fashion world.’
I am thrilled to be part of this new and highly assured series; and in such talented company, with detailed editorial nurturing, I have striven to produce something worthwhile. It has also been beneficial to me to be able to revisit this ‘hidden’ part of my life, where two worlds collide and merge, and also reflect on paintings from the time, which has proved to be a healing experience. Cowboy Riding the Horse of the World to Death – the painting on the cover of the book (and in the featured image here) depicts my feelings about what was happening in London at the time, and also paralleling my own life. In that period you could still find cheap places to live and thrive, but old, decayed, poetic buildings were on the cusp of being torn down by developers, and money became king.
At the Frye Festival Valerie will be reading from her publication War and Place and Daniel from Vivres (both part of the series) and it appears they are also one of the first events in the festival, alongside poet and multidisciplinary Canadian artist Paul Bossé and Canadian poet, actor and musician Rose Després. I will also be presenting Horse-Woman and reading an extract from it (via recorded video) see below.
War and Place embodies Valerie’s unique ability to condense large-scale propositions or events into a few words, and often as short, spare narratives that contain a deep, profundity. It is also particularly prescient as a theme in relation to contemporary Trump insanity and the provocations from Canada’s disturbing neighbour. Here, she covers ‘memories, disasters of war, and the re-viewing war movies’ (such as War and Peace and A Time to Love and a Time to Die. As with Nanook of the North you get a particular view from the eye of a girl raised in Churchill, Manitoba, looking back, with all the political ramifications (then and now) and relating to the appropriate entertainment for post-World War II Allied Forces. One of the most memorable accounts is about her father, who returned to being in the army in ‘Inheriting a War in a Chinashop’. Apparently, he had dreamt of running a china shop, but this never came to pass. He gifted his wife china objects, but suffering PTSD at times would smash them. LeBlanc weaves this dark memory with a particular moment in Slaughterhouse-Five. Like the rest of this book, it will stay in your psyche for some time. Vivres, which I am excited to read, centres on Daniel’s long-abiding connection to nature, the planet, ecology, pollution and memory. As a team Valerie and Daniel were the first to produce sublime and yet vatic video poems on climate change and are amongst the leaders in the field.
This is a very special occasion, not least because of its bilingual (English and French) nature, and I really wish I could have been there in person. On a broader note, not only are Basic Bruegel setting out from New Brunswick on a pioneering adventure, with a fresh and invigorating, Atlantic spray-washed collection of themes and authors, but, as you can see from the various images here, the design of the website is absolutely stunning, and a journey of discovery in its own right. Finally, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Valerie and Daniel for their painstaking advice and support throughout the production of Horse-Woman. After all, this is so much more to me than simply a book, but a record of my life.
A Video Presentation and Reading excerpt from Sarah Tremlett
To order paper copies of all the books mentioned go to:
https://boutique.basicbruegel.com/index.php/product-category/books-livres/
and also for Horse-Woman only, if you are in the UK or Europe, please go to: poemfilmeditions@gmail.com
NB: All PDFS can only be purchased from the Boutique at Basic Bruegel Editions (until October 1, 2025), at which point Horse-Woman will also be available as a PDF from Sarah Tremlett, as well.
