Collaborating

By accident and design I’ve worked with a range of musicians, artists, photographers and writers over the years. I’m going to namecheck a few of them now…

David O’Connell gets a mention in the “Performing” section of this website. We spent a decade writing songs and had the most fun with Robert Bassett and John Jones in pop rock quartet Micklewhite. You can download Micklewhite tracks in the “Downloads” section. David was also involved in my bookselling business, Cusack Books.

Buy Princess Rocks But Gently CD

In 2013 and 2014 I produced poems to complement artist Anne Proctor’s images which she turned into handmade books. Signed copies of the three titles Allotments No.1, Swifts Screech and Circle in the Afternoon Sun and Souvenir of Tynemouth can be purchased here

Here is a link to Anne’s site https://printanneproctor.wordpress.com/

Messrs Cordes und Keys messing aboot outside Newcastle’s Lit and Phil

Paul Cordes is a specialist camera dealer and sells around the world via his website Classic Photographics. He has a passion for pre-digital photography techniques and is a mine of information on wet plate collodion, cyanotype etc.

I helped Paul plan and run the Newcastle Photography Festival in 2014 and 2016. The festival brought me into contact with a range of photographers including Jonathan Keys, Juan Fitzgerald, Phil Punton and Keith Moss.

I also met Bulgarian photographer Rossena Petcova through the festival. I fell in love with her work and crowdfunded her first UK exhibition here in 2018. Rossena also produced the amazing photographs in The Princess of Felling (click here)

The supremely talented Rossena Petcova.

The Princess of Felling is a classic example of Cusack collaboration. As well as Rossena’s images, I enlisted Whitley Bay poet and illustrator Steve Lancaster to design the cover and the magical maps inside. My friend Colin Scarr took the publicity photos for Princess and Mike Waller helped me realise my musical aspirations with The Princess and the Piano project. Download the tracks here. The book’s publisher is Angie Stanger-Leathes and it’s fair to say the Princess would not exist without her. Antiquarian bookseller, entrepreneur, publisher and all-round life enthusiast: Angie I salute you, ma’am!