It was Jean's copy of The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair that really got us started. It's a beautiful book that tells the history of pigments and colours in art, fashion and design. St Clair lays out ten main colours: white, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple, blue, green, brown and black. I began the conversation with a white poem, Jean responded; I replied with a yellow poem. And so it went on, a series of colourful poetic letters back and fore, sometimes across oceans as we fitted in the collaboration around our lives and travels.
After seven very busy weeks, we edited our manuscript, sent it off, and forgot about it. It was very lovely to receive an offer of publication a few months later.
