Winter Into Summer

Lapland Diary, 1945-1946

Naomi Jackson Groves

8 X 10 inches, 184 pages
50 b&w photos, 20 colour reproductions

THIS IS THE REMARKABLE AND PERSONAL STORY of the American Friends Service Committee (Quakers) post-war involvement with the relief effort in Finnish Lapland from 1945 to 1947. From her diary of that time, Naomi Jackson Groves recounts with enthusiasm, openness and humility how the spirit of volunteerism helped to overcome the suffering and horror of war. The work is climaxed by a stunning collection of photographs, illustrations, and oil sketches by the author.

Naomi Jackson Groves

(1910-2001)

Author

Naomi Jackson Groves has been a boon to Penumbra Press, helping to shape Penumbra's sensibility, while proffering an oeuvre that shows remarkable range. As a diarist, opening up the diaries from her youth abroad exploring the intellectual and artistic life of Europe in the 1930's and 1940's. As the author or editor of books about her uncle, Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson. ("A courageous little cuss" is how her uncle sized her up, after her wartime travel in waters infested by German submarines.) As the translator of works by Greenland artist and author, Jens Rosing. As the generous spirit encouraging several other Penumbra projects off the ground. She is renowned for her critical writing and translations of German sculptor and dramatist Ernst Barlach.

Naomi Jackson Groves specialized in German and northern languages. Born in Montreal in 1910, she would graduate from McGill University with a B.A. in 1933 and an M.A. in 1935, from Radcliffe College in 1937, and from Harvard with a Ph.D. in 1950. In addition to teaching German at McGill and Carleton Universities, she re-established and headed the Fine Arts Department at McMaster University (1951-57). Active into her tenth decade, she passed away in December of 2001.

Remembering Naomi Jackson Groves ...

__________

Marigolds in Snow

Jocelyne Villeneuve
Artwork by Peter Schwarz

6 X 9 inches, 110 pages

Penumbra Press Poetry Series, No. 34

IN THIS COLLECTION OF HAIKU, Jocelyne Villeneuve blends the brevity and precision of the genre's form with the faith and essence of her own life. It is a poetry of insight, where strength, wisdom, and joy help us not only to observe but also to share in her personal story. There are battles here—of snow against the window pane, of her father in a hospital bed, of absent lovers. And there are small victories—of smiles like ornaments, of kisses like hidden flowers.

Jocelyne Villeneuve's haiku are already familiar to audiences in Japan, the United States, and Canada. Marigolds in Snow is her first book-length publication of haiku in English.

a new friend—
sky filtering through
heavy clouds

—from Transition


worrying about you
bare branches
scratching at the window

—from The Letter


wanting
to write your name
in the window frost

—from Musings

Jocelyne Villeneuve

(1941-1998)

Author

Perhaps better known for her writing of French-language stories, poetry and journalism, Jocelyne Villeneuve was nonetheless no stranger to publishing in English. She lived in Sudbury, where she was a champion of Franco-Ontarian culture. Wheel-chair confined as a result of illness and a car accident in 1967, the former librarian worked for many years as a freelance writer.

Peter Schwarz

Cover Art

Peter Schwarz lived and worked as a full-time artist in Grafton, Ontario. His bold-stroked paintings, pastels, and prints have graced the covers and interiors of numerous Penumbra Press books. His work embraces the human range from agony to ecstasy and inspires with its resilience.