PALEWELL PRESS

Join Palewell Press as two of our brilliant authors read from their books on dealing with and recovering from mental health issues:

The Box by Susan Jordan is a beautifully observed novel about loss and its aftermath, full of intelligence and subtlety. Readers have found it engrossing, moving, perceptive and skilfully written; and the two main characters, Richard and Jo, psychologically convincing. The novel depicts their grief and pain without drawing us into a miasma of darkness, and the ending leaves room for hope. Susan Jordan a published poet and The Box shows that she is also a powerful novelist.

Kelly Davis works as a freelance editor and helps run a refugee support group. Her debut solo collection, The Lost Art of Ironing, was published by Hedgehog Poetry Press in 2024. The poems in Portrait of My Father as a Snail, due to be published by Palewell Press in 2026, explore Kelly’s relationship with her reclusive father. While focusing on a particular relationship, they examine universal experiences – both the darkness of loss, loneliness and old age, and the light of empathy, understanding and compassion.

Both authors will read from and sign copies of their books. The Q&A session will look at how the books came to be written. If asked, we will signpost people to services, but the reading is not intended to address audience members’ personal issues.