Violet Chevasco-Luis launches poetry book ‘In the Absence of…’

A lifetimes collection of poetry by author Violet Chevasco-Luis was recently launched at BookGem.
Ms Chevasco-Luis was unable to attend her book launch due to ill health.

Instead, in a short TV clip made by GBC was broadcast at the launch and her close friend from school days, Connie Attwood, together with the book’s producer/publisher Jennifer Ballantine Perera and Violet’s sister-in-law, Karen Avellano, jointly presented the launch at Book Gem.

Violet’s poetry first came to public attention in 1991 when, as a teacher, her then headmaster Cecil Gomez, put on a recital of her poems with Group 2000 at the Garrison Library.

Soy Mujer was a recital of Violet’s work and, nearly 20 years later, Jennifer Ballantine Perera befriended the author in 2008 and, at her request, set about collecting and curating “drawerfuls of poems on scraps of paper and even on table napkins,” with a view to publishing them in future.
That future took another fifteen years to materialise and now we were told that there is enough material for a second book which will shortly follow this one.

After introductions by Ms Attwood, the video clip saw an emotional former pupil, GBC’s Kelly-Anne Borge, speaking to a bedridden Violet about inspiration and trying to read one of her poems.

The author was asked by Kelly-Anne to read a random poem and it was quite touching to see her and have to imagine the force she would have been in her prime. She was a significant writer since school age and, despite suffering a debilitating stroke which saw her having to relearn to speak (circa 2018-19), she wrote about her struggles trying to recover from it and afterwards.

To this day she continues to write in a compelling way.

Jennifer Ballantine Perera talked about her friendship with Violet and how she eventually curated the recovered poems which had so impressed her and painstakingly transcribed them to turn them into an engaging book of bilingual poems and prose of remarkable depth.

Violet’s sister-in-law, Karen Avellano, then read from a Spanish piece called Aquello. We were told that Karen was instrumental in obtaining a cultural grant to help publish the book.

I have the book and picked up on a fascination Violet had with the subject of time on p30 – 31, Beyond Time on p116, and Las Alas del Tiempo on p135. I also enjoyed a beautiful section called Proverbios del Cristal, p149 - p160, in 31 stanzas and well worth engaging with, especially if you like to reflect on life while you hold a glass of wine.

The author dedicated this book to her late husband who, although he wanted to, was never to see its publication. Her daughter Miranda, who was present at the launch, was thanked for her support throughout the book’s preparation.

The book’s concluding section of various proverbs in Spanish p161(46 in number), I also found enlightening, as it was engaging with any other section of this collection, which perfectly introduces readers to a writer who, up to now, we know little about and who certainly knows how to write about emotions, life, love and loss. And that is only a fraction of her poetic arsenal.

Ms Ballantine Perera said that this book and indeed the next one, should be well supported in order to elevate Ms Chevasco-Luis to a proper standing among local poets.

The book is available at BookGem.