Not so retiring author
Peach publishes book of poetry at age 84
LeRoy Peach may have retired almost 30 years ago but that hasn’t stopped the 84-year-old from publishing what he claims will be his last book of poetry, “Rhymes of a Grateful Caper.”
“This is my fourth poetry book,” said Peach in a recent interview. “I want to put this one out as my last hurrah in regards to poetry because these poems are poems that rhyme.”
Peach retired to Cape Breton in 1989 after a teaching career that started in Nova Scotia and took him to Ontario where he taught for 26 years.
“I was the head of an English department of a high school in Ontario for several years and over a long period of time I wrote a lot of poetry that wouldn’t have seen the light of day. A lot of it rhymed and I continued to write that
poetry when I came back here so I thought I would put it together in a little collection. And of course, I included some poems that appeared before but half of them are new.”
While this may be his last book of poetry, it won’t be his last book. Peach is currently working on his memoirs. In addition to writing, he also
runs his own small press, The Peachtree Press, which has published and distributed his work.
“Today, the stigma of publishing your own poetry isn’t the same as it once was,” said Peach, adding one of the biggest selling poets today, Rupi Kaur, self-published her first work, eventually selling more than a million copies.
Peach’s aspirations for “Rhymes of a Grateful Caper” are more modest. He had hoped to be selling the books by now but because of a manufacturing delay, he won’t have them until at least Tuesday. When they do get here, they will be for sale at the Cape Breton Curiosity Shop, Indigo and from Peach himself.
“It’s been a disaster for me in a way,” said Peach who acknowledges he’s been missing fairs and markets where he could have sold quite a few.
But he’s hopeful fans of his previous books will still support him once the books arrive.
“If I get it on the 15th of the month I only have 10 days to sell it before the end of the fiscal year — I know I can sell copies of it but I would have sold a lot more if I had had it earlier.”