Thursday, May 11, 2006

Olive Dehn

HappenStance Press are about to release a new chapbook, Out of My Mind, and it looks fascinating. It’s by Olive Dehn who, in 1933, was staying in Germany when her satirical poem Goebelchen was intercepted on its way to Punch magazine in London. It was regarded as so dangerously subversive that its 19-year-old author was deported under armed guard.

I’ve heard that she has a really interesting life-story, which (with any luck) might bring media publicity to HappenStance.

She has written children’s books, but even though she has written poetry throughout her life, this is her first poetry collection, and she is now 91 years old! Just goes to show it's never too late.