I'm really pleased to report that support for my new translation of King Arthur (taken from the anonymously-written Alliterative Morte Arthure of c.1400) has reached 83% funding so is now just 17% away from being fully funded. As a supporter of my previous translation of an alliterative masterpiece (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight), would you be interested in helping this new translation become reality too?
I know some supporters have already generously pledged to support my new book; if this applies to you, can I first thank you and then also apologise for contacting you?!?
If you've yet to support the book, and would like to know a little more about it, the attached video gives a flavour of the material I am working with and how I am approaching the translation. You'll also get a feel for some of my illustrative work - some of which is designed to capture some of the darker elements of this magnificent poem from the time of Richard II/Henry IV.
If you would like to support the book, please do pledge here.
This poem is different to Gawain on several levels - and there's more to it than Arthurian romance, containing as it does some probing observations of its times. If you do decide to pledge, there are lots of pledge options too, including a range of original linocut prints, hand-cut and hand-pressed by me - and signed by me too.
As with Gawain, this new book has been a labour of love. I could not have made all this progress without your continued support. Please do feel free to pass on this message to others you think would like to support the book; we are so close now to the next phase in its journey!
Meanwhile, talking of Gawain...
Finally, the photographs below show a images from bookshops selling my translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which you generously made possible. These photographs were sent to me by pledgers who were delighted to see the book actually in the shops.
As you know, the Unbound process helps authors gain wider exposure through the bookshops. While every pledger receives a special, de luxe version of the book (as will those who support Arthur), your support also made it possible for the standard edition to be produced and sold - the editions which appear in the trade and sold throughout the world. The four images show the book for sale in Foyles, The British Library, Daunts and Blackwells in Oxford.
You made that possible and, with Arthur, can make it so again. With just 17% left to fund, will you help make it so?
Do pledge here
And, once again, thank you.
Kind regards
Michael Smith
Author, Translator, Printmaker
Above: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Blackwell's, Oxford
Above: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, British Library Bookshop, London - home of Cotton Nero A.x
Above: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Daunts, London - notice it appears in "Staff Favourites and Notable Editions"
Above: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London
Thank you again for all your help in supporting my work and enabling these important fourteenth century works reach new audiences. Michael.