'McCready is an intensely physical and embodied writer with a forensic gaze on the world around her' 

'a very feminine collection, centring on the experiences, desires and the bodies of women'

I was very pleased to read this new review by Elizabeth Rimmer of Look to the Crocus and particularly delighted with her focus on my ballad-inspired poems, which were my favourite to write.  

Also happy to have a couple of poems in the recent issue of Causeway/ Cabhsair, magazine of Scottish and Irish writing from Aberdeen University Press. 

"In ‘Look to the Crocus’ Marion McCready truly and vitally does dwell in poetry and produces a work of both necessity, illumination and efflorescence as well as spiritual and aesthetic pleasure."

I was delighted to read this thoughtful and generous review by Richie McCaffery of Look to the Crocus in the Association for Scottish Literature's The Bottle Imp magazine. A gift to be read with such careful, intuitive understanding.

Poetry for Christmas...

Looking for Christmas gift ideas??? 

Look to the Crocus is available to buy from here - Look to the Crocus 

Or signed copies can be purchased directly from myself, email me at - sorlil@hotmail.co.uk

And here it is!

 

 It's nearly here!

It's been a long journey getting to this point with Look to the Crocus but I'm delighted with it. 

Through the creating and editing process, the manuscript has gone through many shapes and forms like a snake shedding skin. The final result is a tripart collection: Flowers & Trees, The Long Water, and Mother Moon, and each section is prefaced with a quote from Theodore Roethke. 

It contains my versions of Scottish ballads, close encounters with nature, my relationship with the Firth of Clyde, and elegies to my parents. The presiding poets include Roethke, Transtromer, Plath, W.S. Graham, Sujata Bhatt and D.H. Lawrence.

The cover art was created by Irish artist Brigid Collins after I met her in a special garden.

John Killick was central to bringing this book to publication and I'm hugely grateful for his support for my work. 

New bumper issue of Northwords Now is out with a couple of my poems in it. Always a pleasure to have work in Northwords Now which is freely distributed across Scotland and every edition fully available to read online which you can access here. Lots of poems, short stories, non-fiction writing and book reviews from across Scotland, a fab read! 

So, Look to the Crocus is due to be published spring next year and my manuscript is now pretty much ready for publication. It's nice to be able to sit the ms aside for a sort of resting period which means I can go back to it closer to publication with fresh eyes. 

This also means I have the sort of feeling of a blank slate in front of me for new writing...!