Rosemary Nissen-Wade — poet, author, memoirist

I’m excited that I can now share with you the covers of the Pentridge trilogy, as I am calling the forthcoming three books.    (To see the writing on the back covers more clearly, click on each pic.) The trilogy label might be a little misleading, as I wrote only two of the three, although I have some writing in the third (which was actually the first). But I can claim a degree of authorship of that one too.   The first edition of Blood from Stone, the poetry anthology emanating from Pentridge Prison, was published in 1982 under my then imprint Abalone Press. I am also the publisher of this new edition, under my own name. Simultaneously with writing my memoir of that time in my life, and with all the renewed interest in both the history of Pentridge and that of the Melbourne poetry scene of the eighties, it seemed   the time was right for a new edition of Blood from Stone . The Memoir, as you 'll see from the first illustration, is called Breaking into Pentridge Prison: Memories of

Oh wow – with what I am now calling The Pentridge Trilogy   (i.e. my memoir, Breaking Into Pentridge Prison; a new edition of the prison anthology Blood from Stone; and my spin-off chapbook, Letters to a Dead Man ) everything keeps falling readily into place.  The latest is that just when I need the printer, who lives in Melbourne, to show me some cover stock to make a choice from, it happens that he is visiting this area and will be in my town tomorrow!  How's that for perfect timing, synchronicity etc.? My lovely book designer and her husband and young daughters came through on a holiday road trip not long ago, and took a quick detour to meet me over coffee. A lovely family altogether, delightful to meet. She and I already had great rapport via emails and texts; getting acquainted in person only confirmed it. She has been working extraordinarily hard on my project, even while travelling. I have been doing a fair bit of work myself, to make sure the manuscripts are perfect. It’