Advance Information Sheet

The Studio

A Psychoanalytic Legacy

By Dr. Gill Gregory

Genres: Art History, Literature, Memoir

Published: 1^stSeptember 2015, Free Association Books

"A poetic memoir that maps the struggle to be free from a paralysing past by way of an exploration of paintings and psychoanalysis."

The Studio: A Psychoanalytic Legacy, published in September 2015 by Free Association Books, is a unique and exciting work, referencing Freud and other psychoanalytic writers to examine a difficult past - loss, trauma and the complexities of life are addressed and explored. Each chapter takes a painting as its focus, holding it up to the light as the author's engagement with each work is interwoven with memoir and her thoughts on the psychoanalytic processes that inform her life.

The Studioexplores Gregory's love of paintings, her engagement as a patient in psychoanalysis and as the daughter of Dr. Basil Gregory, a psychiatrist who pioneered group analytic therapy at St. Mary's, Paddington in the 1960s. Despite

having firmly established herself as a valued writer and academic, it took a long time for Gregory to recover from the trauma of her brother's very severe epilepsy. Up until 15 years ago she struggled to overcome many addictive problems. Gregory was inspired to writeThe Studioafter reading Andrew Marr's A Short Book About Drawing. Time spent with Michael Morpurgo, who taught her on an Arvon writing course many years ago also contributed to its creation. Morpurgo is quoted on the cover sleeve of her poetry book, In Slow Woods.

About the author

Dr Gill Gregory is a lecturer at the University of Notre Dame in London. Her teaching focuses on nineteenth and twentieth-century British literature. As a biographer, poet and literary critic, she has published in a range of genres. Her latest book, The Studio: A Psychoanalytic Legacy, combines memoir, art history and psychoanalytic ideas.

Gregory reviewed for The Times Literary Supplement 1998-2005 and her publications include The Life & Work of Adelaide Procter: poetry, feminism & fathers (1999), The Sound of Turquoise (2009), In Slow Woods (2011) and The Studio (2015). Dr. Gregory's poems and articles are published in a range of literary critical books & journals, including Critical Survey, The Dickensian, English, Poetry Review, Stand Magazine, Tears in the Fence and Women: a cultural review.

WebsiteLiterally PRFacebookTwitter

Advance copies for review, interviews with the author (telephone, Skype, face-to-face), images & editorial commissions to be discussed with:

Helen Lewis, Director, Literally PR Ltd

helenlewis@literallypr.com

+44 (0) 8709619069

"Gill Gregory's poetic memoir maps the struggle to be free from a paralysing past by way of an exploration of paintings and psychoanalysis. The Studio breaks the mould of autobiographical writing like Marion Milner's On Not Being Able To Paint, and tells a story that is at once lyrical and scholarly, emotionally gripping and historically intriguing - moving above all. This is an outstandingly gifted and rare book."

Isobel Armstrong, Professor Emeritus at Birkbeck College, University of London

The Essential Details

Price: £24.99 hardback

ISBN: 9781853432217

Available for pre-order:Publisher's website

Release Date:1^stSeptember 2015 (national sales & distribution)