For almost ten years my wife has been patiently waiting to have ‘Grace Notes’, the creative part of her PhD thesis, published. Without compromise there was only one publisher acceptable to her: Salmon Poetry, based in Ennistymon, in the west of Ireland.

When she first cast her line we were living in Australia. It was a particularly long cast to be sure, but this was a fish she was determined to catch by hook or by crook. It took a few years but eventually she got ‘the rise’ she’d been angling for, the salmon took the lure, and the long play to where we are now began.

Nearly ten years on and we are living in Ireland, have entered the hallowed abode, and Jessie Lendennie will publish Jennifer’s work later this year.

They say that nothing teaches patience like fishing, especially when fishing for salmon.