7th June 2018
The Manchester Histories Festival launch was a great event. I was invited to read my commissioned piece 'Syrinx' next to the painting that inspired it (‘Syrinx’ by Arthur Hacker). And I was surrounded by the paintings targeted in the 1913 Suffragette direct action – a truly atmospheric experience.
Proud to share the evening with marvellous writers Kate Feld, Michelle Green & Maz Hedgehog.
Thank you Manchester Histories Festival!
I am delighted to announce the launch of ‘As In Judy’ – my new poetry collection with Flapjack Press. It’s my first solo poetry publication since ‘Everything Must Go’ (Holland Park Press 2012). I’m really excited.
I wish to express heartfelt gratitude to Char March for her generous editorial input, without which this collection would be far weaker.
And to Ruth Fainlight, for her inspiring suggestion that ‘As In Judy’ would make a great title.
Both John Hyatt and David Hoyle have made blushingly complimentary comments about the poems.
“The reason I love Rosie’s work so much is that she provides food for thought. She addresses issues that need addressing, and imagines the inner and outer landscapes we all inhabit with eloquence and grace. Shed your light, Rosie.” David Hoyle 2016
“You spend all that time trying to understand the world, its family relationships,
friendships, social systems through a serial adventure of episodes mundane and
or memorable. You spend all that time trying to fit into the human. Then, you are
propelled into realisation through a life-threatening disease. Travelling not
outward into the world but inward to the beating heart of the matter, you dive
deep into the DNA. You are the resplendent there. You are the clicking queen of
the insects. When you dress again in flesh and skin, you go amongst the sleeping
humans and new and glittering worlds are left in your wake. Welcome to Rosie!”
John Hyatt 2016
Flapjack Press, 2016
I wish to express heartfelt gratitude to Char March for her generous editorial input, without which this collection would be far weaker.
And to Ruth Fainlight, for her inspiring suggestion that ‘As In Judy’ would make a great title.
‘The reason I love Rosie’s work so much is that she provides food for thought. She addresses issues that need addressing, and imagines the inner and outer landscapes we all inhabit with eloquence and grace. Shed your light, Rosie.’ David Hoyle 2016
A poem from the collection:
At night, she leaps and does not land. Spreads her arms and soars
above the fenced and neatly weeded garden. Her dreams
are practice sessions where she lifts cars, sees through walls, fights
dragons. She is a pirate captain, a queen, a horse. She is neither girl
nor boy: the distinctions are irrelevant when her small body encompasses
male and female; human, beast. A turbulent child figure-heading
the prow of her beaked ship, she buckles on armour, rescues
princesses from charming princes and spinning wheels,
fearless of the shapes beneath the bed. Too soon
she hears the summons: Breakfast! Now!
Blinks this world into focus. Hushes battle cries,
sheathes her sword between the pages of her book.
Every bedtime her mother tucks in
the sheet of marriage, husband, children: tucks it in tight.
© Rosie Garland 2016
Burnage Library,
Burnage Lane,
Manchester M19 1EW
Monday 8th April, 2019
7pm start – 9.30pm
Free event
Back by popular demand! Following the success of our event in 2018, we are delighted to welcome Manchester writer Rosie Garland back to our special open-mic reading event at Burnage Library! Come and hear Rosie read from her sparkling works, and take part yourself in the open mic.
Burnage Library is located in the Activity Hub on the corner of Burnage Lane and Shawbrook Road.
Jill Abram presents
Conversation and poetry with Henry Normal, Rosie Garland and
Jackie Hagan of Flapjack Press.
Wednesday 18th October,
6.30pm. Readings start promptly at 7pm
Waterstones Birmingham,
24-26 High Street, B4 7SL
£5 advance booking https://www.waterstones.com/events/stablemates-with-flapjack-press-featuring-henry-normal/birmingham
Raining Upwards is Henry Normal’s first all new poetry collection in over 20 years. In the meanwhile he was making comedy for TV and film, including The Royle Family, Mighty Boosh, Gavin & Stacey and the Oscar-nominated Philomena. Earlier this year he was honoured with a BAFTA Special Award but Henry has retired from all that and returned to his first love – poetry!
Rosie Garland is a novelist, poet and singer with post-punk band The March Violets. She also performs twisted cabaret as Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen. She was described by Apples and Snakes as one of the country’s finest performance poets. As In Judy is her sixth poetry collection and goes behind the scenes in her life and mind.
Jackie Hagan’s first solo show Some People Have Too Many Legs, written while she was in hospital having her leg lopped off, won the Saboteur award for Best Spoken Word Show. Her second, Jumble Soul, is about to premier at Contact Theatre, Manchester. She is one of three inaugural Jerwood Compton Fellows for making a significant contribution to the poetry community.
Flapjack Press explores the synergy between performance and the page.
https://www.waterstones.com/events/stablemates-with-flapjack-press-featuring-henry-normal/birmingham
Blacks Club,
67 Dean St,
Soho
London, W1D 4QH
7.30-10.30pm
PLEASE NOTE: Tickets are free but in order to secure a place, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Special Guest - ROSIE GARLAND
Tagged ‘literary hero’ by The Skinny, Rosie Garland is an award-winning poet, novelist and singer. She started out in spoken word, garnering praise from Apples and Snakes as ‘one of the country’s finest performance poets’. She is the author of Vixen, a Green Carnation Prize nominee. Debut novel, The Palace of Curiosities, was nominated for both The Desmond Elliott and the Polari First Book Prize. Her latest novel The Night Brother is out now from Borough Press and her most recent poetry collection, As In Judy, is out with Flapjack Press.
MICHELLE MADSEN
Michelle Madsen is one of the UK's best known performance poets. She is a regular at Glastonbury, Latitude and the Edinburgh Festival and has performed her poetry on four continents. She is the host and creator of the world's only poetry panel game, I'm Sorry I Haven't Haiku and writes as a journalist for Private Eye and the Independent. Michelle's debut collection Alternative Beach Sports is published by Burning Eye books and she is developing a solo show called What Goes Up which is about flight, falling and the end of the world with support from the Battersea Arts Centre and the Nuffield Theatre, as well as a clowning and storytelling show, Tales from a Satellite City with Elizabeth Margereson.
Your Host – Sophia Blackwell
Saturday 2nd September
Rosie Garland book launch and reading
The Gothic Café,
De Grey Rooms,
St. Leonards Place,
York YO1 7HD
2pm-3pm
£4 advance, £5 on the door
Special Black Rose Ball event.
Come and meet Rosie Garland – singer with the legendary March Violets - and hear her read from her latest book 'The Night Brother'!
She will also be more than happy to answer any questions regarding her work and sign her books.
Book your ticket now via our ticket page.
Fri 25 Aug
19:30 – 20:30
Banshee Labyrinth (Venue 156)
Banqueting Hall
29-35 Niddry St,
Edinburgh EH1 1LG
Free, with a collection afterwards / 0131 558 8209
Part of PBH's Free Fringe.
The Royal Albert Hall and the National Slam Final await nightly poetry slam winners. Open to all, wow the randomly chosen judges with your 3 minutes of original spoken word (book a slot This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or turn up at the start). With a brilliant programme of special guest artists including ROSIE GARLAND on Friday 25th!
http://www.hammerandtongue.com/
Black Market Room 1,
Venue 399
32 Market Street,
Edinburgh
EH1 1QB
19:20-20:20pm
She Grrrowls makes its debut appearance at the PBH Free Fringe in Edinburgh from 6th - 27th August this year at Black Market!
Featuring Rosie Garland, Carmina Masoliver, Rorie Evans & Drastik Measures on 23rd August.
She Grrrowls is an arts event featuring poetry, spoken word, comedy and music and everything in between. The event features talented women, including transgender and non-binary people.
https://tickets.edfringe.com/venues/black-market
Bar Bados, Venue 32
65 Cowgate,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1JW
17.45 – 18.45
The 'biggest spoken word night in London for women' (Evening Standard) makes its Edinburgh Fringe debut. A different line-up every night of incredible, irreverent poetry, performance, stand-up and storytelling by women, with featured headliners including 'one of the country’s finest performance poets' (ApplesandSnakesBlog.org) Rosie Garland on Tuesday 22nd August.
Expect fierce, feminist truth and fiction from the best and boldest emerging and established women spoken word performers and writers around. Open-mic available, tweet @forbookssake to grab yours.
Absolutely thrilled to announce this new film poem – created over 2021 in collaboration with amazing filmaker Jane Glennie. Inspired by the life of dancer and choreographer Tilly Losch, the film explores notions of erasure, strategies for persistence and the centrality of creative expression for the life of a woman in perpetual motion.
We are delighted with the reception the film is receiving! A list of film festivals is below.
AND there’s a ‘Book of the Film’!
'Because Goddess is Never Enough (Peculiarity Press, 2022)
Available from Blackwell’s (Waterstones, Amazon, etc)
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Because-Goddess-Is-Never-Enough-by-Rosie-Garland-Jane-Glennie/9781912384167
Flick through the book here –
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zzDN5KKbUccqPZsQ7
Film festivals & events 2022 that have selected & featured 'Because Goddess is Never Enough'
Moving Poems May 2022
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – selected as one of ‘the best poetry films on the web’
https://movingpoems.com/2022/05/because-goddess-is-never-enough-by-rosie-garland/
Fringe Arts Bath Festival 27 May - 12 June 2022
Bath’s annual free festival of visual arts
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – selected for WORDPLAY programme
https://www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/festival-2022
https://www.fringeartsbath.co.uk/wordplay
Tranås at the Fringe International Arts Festival 2-9 July in Tranås, Sweden
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – selected for the LIVING FEMININITY programme.
https://www.atthefringe.org/film-program-2022
Women X Film Festival 2-4 September in Darlington, UK.
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' - Honourable Mention
https://riannepictures.com/womenx
Women Over 50 Film Festival
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – nominated for Best Experimental film, selected for the AT MY CORE programme
https://wofff22.eventive.org/films/62e15892943cb70054a692d9
https://wofff.co.uk/2022/08/wofff22-films-announced-find-out-more-about-our-fantastic-official-selections/
Athens 10th International Video Poetry Festival 28 September - 1 October 2022
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – screened 29th September within 'Feminist Struggles' programme
https://theinstitute.info/?p=5226
HOME Manchester, Filmed Up 28th September 2022
‘Because Goddess is Never Enough’ selected for Filmed Up programme.
https://homemcr.org/event/filmed-up-sep-2022/
The Feminist Film Festival, Bucharest, 13-16 October 2022
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – Official Selection
https://filmfreeway.com/TheFeministFilmFestival
Sunderland Shorts Film Festival October 17th, 2022
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – selected for the Art & Experimental Films programme
https://filmfreeway.com/SunderlandShorts
Zebra Poetry Film Festival, Berlin 3-6 November 2022
'Because Goddess is Never Enough'.
We are very proud to be selected for Zebra, the oldest and largest international festival of poetry films.
https://filmfreeway.com/ZEBRAPoetryFilmFestival
https://www.haus-fuer-poesie.org/en/zebra-poetry-film-festival/home-zebra-poetry-film-festival/
Still Voices Film Festival, Ireland 9-13 November 2022
'Because Goddess is Never Enough' – Official selection Experimental
https://stillvoicesfilmfestival.com/
It's 40 years since The March Violets released our 1st 7" EP (seriously, FORTY).
So it’s a great time to announce that this tasty 5 CD Box Set is now up for pre order from Jungle Records!
The Palace of Infinite Darkness - In addition to all the singles plus all the extended versions, the box has six excellent BBC sessions, 23 tracks with 9 unreleased songs (also reissued as Big Soul Kiss 2LP yellow vinyl after a sold-out RSD release). Then there are two whole discs of unreleased demo sessions – one from the early period 1982-84 and another from 1985-87. Founder-member Rosie Garland recounts the band’s story in a 44-page booklet.
Check out the link:
https://smarturl.it/MV5CDbox
A wonderful experience – for the first time, I co-tutored a residential writing week for the prestigious Arvon Foundation! It was such a thrill to work alongside inspiring co-tutor Keith Jarrett and electrifying guest reader Jay Bernard.
A very special week. I won’t forget it.
Monday June 27th - Saturday July 2nd 2022
Totleigh Barton, Sheepwash, Beaworthy Devon
https://www.arvon.org/writing-courses/courses-retreats/residential-writing-week-queer-poetry/
Thrilled and honoured to have my poem ‘Now that you are not-you’ featured in this groundbreaking new anthology!
‘Mary Jean Chan and Andrew McMillan's luminous anthology, 100 Queer Poems, is a celebration of thrilling contemporary voices and visionary poets of the past. Featuring Elizabeth Bishop, Langston Hughes, Ocean Vuong, Carol Ann Duffy, Kae Tempest and many more.
Encompassing both the flowering of queer poetry over the past few decades and the poets who came before and broke new ground, 100 Queer Poems presents an electrifying range of writing from the twentieth century to the present day.’
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/445204/100-queer-poems-by-chan-edited-by-andrew-mcmillan-and-mary-jean/9781529115321
I’m honoured – my essay ‘Don’t Fence Me In’ is included in this wonderful collection! (Nine Arches Press, ed Ian Humphreys)
‘What motivates poets in the 21st century? How do they find their voice? What themes and subject matters inspire them? How do they cope with set-backs and deal with success? What keeps them writing?
In Why I Write Poetry twenty-five contemporary poets reflect with insight, wit and wisdom on the writing life, each offering their distinctive take on what inspires and spurs them on to write poetry. Also - individual writing prompts to help you create your own new poetry.’
https://ninearchespress.com/publications/poetry-collections/why-i-write-poetry.html