Published by purpleprosepress, 2005 under Rosie Garland's stage name of Rosie Lugosi
Poem excerpt –
“Lights Go Out
The lights go out; there's a rustle of silk at the corner of earshot
The dark swims in, and ink closes over your head
Back row or back room my hand finds yours
Pulls you cheek to cheek, lip to lip
Go down for the third time and come up choking
And down again with my hand on your head.
The lights go out.
You said you wanted this
Screamed and bawled till mommy said
Come and tuck your little head in here
And I will stroke you, stroke you, stroke you
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have left the bed that you lie on
As you lay you down to sleep
Pass your soul to me to keep
I'll lock it in a box and prick it with a pin
And you will never see morning again.
The lights go out...”
“A delightfully eccentric and funny collection… I found the book to be like a favourite record or cd that you will return to time and time again.”
“Coming out at night is the latest collection of poetry by the ever charismatic Rosie Lugosi… pure comic genius”
“Witty, entertaining, thought provoking, funny, sad and spooky all in one delicious package. I liked it so much, I had the cover picture tattooed on my thigh. No, really.”
Thrilled that 'Now that you are not-you' is Guardian Poem of the Week!
"A very modern, secular kind of elegy reflects on death with a surprising lightness" - Carol Rumens
"This week’s poem is from What Girls Do in the Dark, the latest collection by the multi-talented Rosie Garland. It stands alone, while extending the narrative of the short poem that immediately precedes it, Stargazer. The setting of Stargazer is a hospital bedside, where the dying patient’s visitor must navigate “the vertigo tilt / of old words like spread, outlook, time.” That poem ends with the metaphors that will be reconfigured in Now that you are not-you. “Doctors / murmur the names of new constellations / - astrocyte, hippocampus, glioblastoma – and calculate / the growth of nebulae; this rising tide of cells that climbs / the Milky Way of the spine to flood your head with light.”
Read the whole article here...
7.30pm GMT
Join us to celebrate the launch of What Girls Do in the Dark by Rosie Garland, with guests Tania Hershman & Ian Humphreys
About this Event
Join Rosie Garland, plus guest writers Tania Hershman & Ian Humphreys to celebrate the publication of Rosie's new poetry collection What Girls Do in the Dark.
Thursday 12th November 7.30pm (GMT)
This event will be streamed live & can be viewed now, through the Nine Arches Press YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Z7yq1Ey_U&feature=youtu.be
I thought it wasn't possible to feel any more thrilled about joining Nine Arches Press
- then I see the stunning cover of my new poetry collection, 'What Girls Do In The Dark'.
Out October 2020
https://www.ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/what-girls-do-in-the-dark.html
Dystopian classics to modern crime - Nine must-read Manchester novels
“Fantasy, romance, sci-fi, comedy…we’ve got a genre for everyone
There’s a very good reason Manchester is a UNESCO City of Literature, as we highlighted before its bid to join the prestigious network in 2017. Innovative publishers, diverse bookshops and a lively events scene make it an unrivalled literary melting pot.
Rosie Garland’s The Night Brother is our historical highlight
Ever the entertainer, Rosie Garland sung in post-punk band The March Violets and now performs ‘twisted cabaret’ as Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen. But she’s also a literary maverick with an array of essays, short stories and poetry to her name (much of which she also reads at spoken words events citywide) and three acclaimed novels. Her latest, The Night Brother, navigates themes of gender and identity through two siblings in Victorian Manchester. Rich and Gothic, it’s a must for fans of Angela Carter.”
https://confidentials.com/manchester/dystopian-classics-to-modern-crime-nine-must-read-manchester-novels
An unexpected & encouraging piece of news!
Northern Soul has selected 'The Night Brother' as a Best Northern Read
Desmond Bullen, Northern Soul writer
“In days that can seem desolate and uncertain, there’s a lot to be said for windows into a better world and, ultimately, joyfully, that is exactly the view that The Night Brother by Rosie Garland affords. Not that its window seat is cheaply achieved. Far from it.
Rooted with disbelief-suspending specificity in Manchester at the end of the 19th century, Garland’s novel blossoms compellingly from the exquisite simplicity of its central conceit, one which owes the tiniest debt to the 1971 horror film Dr. Jekyll And Sister Hyde. Edie and her brother Gnome are joined in a very particular symbiosis, so that their singular sibling rivalry threatens to be the undoing of both. Themes that could be leaden in other hands emerge from the premise with a beautiful lightness of touch, developing into a persuasive fable of inclusivity and self-acceptance. This is a book that sings a rainbow at its end.”
https://www.northernsoul.me.uk/books-best-northern-reads-part-one/