'Part of the Dark' by Scott Elder

ISBN: 978-1-907435-45-4

66 poems, 78 pages

15cm wide x 21cm tall

£7.99 + p&p
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To be released on 1st September 2017

Part of the Dark is Scott Elder's first full collection. In 2015 his pamphlet, "Breaking Away" was published in the Salzburg Poetry Pamphlets Series to critical acclaim. This extended collection is in three parts and continues the emotional journey begun in "Breaking Away".

Reviewing 'Part of the Dark', Mandy Pannett writes :
​"For me the cover picture juxtaposed with the title is a central motif. How can such vibrant colours, such light, be part of the dark? How, as in the opening poem, can we see a portrait at midnight? Who is the enigmatic 'lady' glimpsed and hinted at throughout? These are poems of mystery and question, paradox and ambiguity.  Absence here is as strong as presence, the counterfactual overlays the past. 'You'll need a password', says the author. 'It'll be your link to darkness, as such, a link to light.' We are on a journey with this fine collection. Savour the quest."

About the author:
Scott Elder was born in California and moved around with his family every two years or so until leaving their moving home at seventeen. He began writing during his early twenties while living in Paris. Always keeping notes and jottings, he lived from day to day as a street musician, and worked as a mime artist in France and Portugal before taking vows and spending 12 years in a Buddhist hermitage in France. Now ‘home’ is in Auvergne, France, with his three young children. 

Scott Elder's poems have been widely published in literary journals, including:
Acta Victoriana, The Antigonish Review, Cake, Crannog, Coffee House Poetry (online), Cyphers, Dream Catcher, The Journal, Morphrog, The Moth, Nimrod International, Obsessed With Pipework, Poetry Salzburg, Quiddity International, Sentinel Literary Quarterly and Wild Atlantic Words Anthology 2015. 

Prizes and Commendations:
Longlisted twice in the Plough Prize (2015 and 2016)
Commended in the Wild Atlantic Words Competition 2015
Highly commended in the Segora Poetry Competition 2015 
Runner-up in the Troubadour Poetry Competition 2016.
Third prize in the Southport Writers' Circle Poetry Competition 2017
Highly commended in the Brian Dempsey Memorial Poetry Competition 2017.
Shortlisted in Fish Publishing Poetry Prize 2017
Third prize in the Southport Writers' Circle Poetry Competition 2017