Renard Acquires Simon Mundy’s Waiting for Music

Renard Press is pleased to announce that it has acquired world rights to the timely poetry collection by Simon Mundy, Waiting for Music, featuring poems written for a wide variety of works as varied as Brahms’ piano works and a soprano’s solo by Roxana Panufnik inspired by a 16th century portrait.

Synopsis:
Waiting for Music is the fifth collection of poetry from the acclaimed writer Simon Mundy. A great champion of the arts, his relationships with musicians, visual artists and dancers are the main driving force behind his poetry, and this book sets out a playlist of poems inspired by music – from the classic strains of Brahms’ piano works to a soprano’s solo by Roxana Panufnik which never came into being (itself inspired by a 16th-century portrait).

Published after a year spent waiting for music to appear on our land­scape once more, Waiting for Music collects the voices of an array of composers, cultures and forms, set against backdrops ranging from Valparaiso to the Veneto, and celebrates the depth of talent and sound that has been missing from our lives this last year.

‘Mundy can be cheeky, he can be rueful, but he is always passionate.’

(on By Fax to Alice Springs) — DALJIT NAGRA

‘A book I will take with me as my companion everywhere… Beautiful.’

(on More for Helen of Troy) — BETTANY HUGHES

Simon Mundy studied drama at university, but soon veered towards writing poetry and reviews, and at 23 he found himself a music critic and arts journalist. A champion of the arts, he has served as Director of the National Campaign for the Arts and Vice-President of PEN International’s Writers for Peace Committee, and he co-founded the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage; he remains an adviser to the European Festivals Association. His writing includes biographies, novels, non-fiction, playscripts and poetry. Waiting for Music is his fifth poetry collection. For the last 40 years Simon has bounced between Mid Wales, the far north of Scotland, London and Brussels. He likes his indecision.