Newly published author Melany “M.P.” Slaughter will release her debut poetry collection, “Until the Cardinals Carry Me Home,” on Friday, Sept. 26.
The Gloucester-Mathews Gazette-Journal, where Slaughter has worked as a reporter for the past six years, will host a book signing from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 25.
While covering an event for the Gazette-Journal, Slaughter met Mermaid Cove Publishing, located on Gwynn’s Island. On a whim, she decided to send in her manuscript which centers around the loss of her grandmother, Janis Bing Slaughter, who was born and raised in Mathews County.
Wanting her project to stay as local as possible, finding a publisher in the same area her grandmother spent her entire life was perfect for Slaughter. “It felt like a way I could honor her,” she explained.
“I don’t say this lightly, she was my best friend,” said Slaughter. “I always felt like we were two halves of the same soul, just in two different bodies. When she died it felt like half of my soul...