PJ Harvey will showcase new material at the London Literature Festival held at the city’s Southbank Centre later this year.
The event coincides with the publication of her new poetry and photography book, The Hollow Of The Hand; a collaboration with photographer Seamus Murphy.
The book of poetry and images was created during Harvey and Murphy’s travels to destinations including Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington, DC between 2011 and 2014.
The event will include “poetry readings and new songs performed by PJ Harvey alongside images and a short film by Seamus Murphy”.
It is not clear whether these new songs will be taken from the Recording In Progress sessions that took place at London’s Somerset House earlier this year. Click here to read Uncut’s report of those sessions.
Harvey’s event at the London Literature Festival will run on October 9 and 10. Tickets will go on sale to the public on Wednesday (July 22) at 10am. You can find more details by clicking here.
Harvey previously said of her book: “Gathering information from secondary sources felt too far removed for what I was trying to write about. I wanted to smell the air, feel the soil and meet the people of the countries I was fascinated with.”
“My friend Seamus Murphy and I agreed to grow a project together – I would collect words, he would collect pictures, following our instincts on where we should go.”
Murphy added: “Polly is a writer who loves images and I am a photographer who loves words. She asked me if I would like to take some photographs and make some films for her last album ‘Let England Shake’. I was intrigued and the adventure began, now finding another form in this book. It is our look at home and the world.”
According to The Bookseller, the book will be released in four different editions simultaneously on October 8.
It will appear as a limited edition with original artwork for an as yet unannounced price; a £45 large format cloth-bound hardback; a £16.99 trade paperback readers’ edition; and a £13.99 enhanced e-book.
Alexa von Hirschberg, commissioning editor at Bloomsbury, said: “We always wanted to do a digital edition of the material and now the printed book is sort of done, we’re finalising content. The e-book has been designed by the same designer as the print books, [freelancer] Lizzie Ballantyne, and it’s a fixed-format electronic edition that will include audio of Polly [Harvey] reading her poetry, audio from Seamus giving background to the photography, and hopefully moving images.” Von Hirschberg added: “The limitations of the format means it will probably only be available within Apple iBooks.”
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