The Apricot Memoirs

By Tess Guinery

What started as a break from Australian artist Tess Guinery’s rapidly growing design business turned into an instinctive, playful experiment with words, colors, and sounds—and eventually into a tangible book, The Apricot Memoirs.

This collection of poetry and prose, thoughtfully illustrated and printed on colored paper, is infused with grace and playfulness. It explores love, personal growth, creativity, spirituality, vulnerability, and motherhood in the art medium of words, all the while creating a rich portrait of a deeply empathetic, talented, and whimsical artist. Esoteric, mysterious, and unfailingly beautiful, The Apricot Memoirs is an invitation to dig deep, embrace the uncomfortable, and free your creativity, unbound.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781524870416

Book preview

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Kind praise for The Apricot Memoirs

"Women are beginning to speak in so many ways, but one of the most exciting moments for me personally is when they sing in the sound of poetry and creative prose. Tess Guinery’s language and form are reminiscent of R. M. Rilke and Nayyirah Waheed, and she is distinguishing herself through a voice that continuously pours contemplation in an unhurried and hopeful stream. The Apricot Memoirs as a collection is like a psaltry for the dreamer within us, and it’s hard to read these pages without feeling close to the woman herself. Guinery has taken her gaze for design and transformed the seeing eye into the eloquent pen. I’m excited for women everywhere to benefit from a writer who is like the wise older sister we all wished we had. Maybe we still do."

—Teresa Archer, Darling magazine

It is hard not to be immediately drawn into Tess’s world—with its ethereal language and heartfelt guidance. We are excited about everything she does, and this work is no exception!

—Emma Roberts & Karah Preiss, Belletrist

‘Within poetry, there is painting, within paintings, there is poetry’—Su Shi (1037–1101). When I came across this quote, Tess Guinery’s work immediately came to mind as among those that really embodies the interwoven nature of these artistic forms. She paints with her words and speaks poetry with her paintings. I have found much encouragement from her prose, which have been songs and psalms for my own soul. So much gratitude for the warmth and truth that they hold. Thank you, Tess, for your willingness to share your soul through your poetry and paintings.

—Allison Chan, reader of The Apricot Memoirs

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The Apricot Memoirs copyright © 2021 by Tess Guinery. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

Andrews McMeel Publishing

a division of Andrews McMeel Universal

1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

www.andrewsmcmeel.com

ISBN: 978-1-5248-7041-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020948533

Editor: Kevin Kotur

Cover Art and Creative Direction: Tess Guinery

Production Editor: Elizabeth