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/

Huge thanks to Kaite Welsh, Books Editor at Diva Magazine for this superb review of The Night Brother!
Here’s the full text of the review…

Diva review October 2017

"A must for anyone missing Sarah Waters’ foray into the Victorian era, siblings Edie and Gnome explore the delights of 19th century Manchester in Rosie Garland’s third novel - he during the night, her during the day. The prose is lush and vivid as gender fluidity mingles with magical realism. Edie grows increasingly jealous of her brother’s freedom and exhausted by her double life and the restrictions society places upon her. In The Night Brother, Garland crafts a study in dualism that would make Henry Jekyll jealous, and establishes herself as one of Britain’s best new historical novelists."

Kaite Welsh

http://www.divamag.co.uk/

Edinburgh Book Festival & Fringe 2017

I’m very excited to announce my debut appearance at Edinburgh International Book Festival 2017! The event is ‘Fluid Love’ (with the lovely Jess Richards) on Sunday 27th August.
And that’s not all – I’m headlining at ‘That’s What She Said’ (Bar Bados, 22.8.2017 – voted Top Ten LGBT shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2017 by Vada Magazine)

She Grrrowls (Black Market, 23.8.2017)
Hammer & Tongue (Banshee Labyrinth, 25.8.2017)
AND
The Freak Circus Poetry Bordello (Woodland Creatures, 10.8.2017)

http://vadamagazine.com/entertainment/arts/top-12-lgbt-shows-edinburgh-fringe-2017

Please check my Gig Page for more details…

Delighted to be featured as Commonword Writer of the Month, June 2017!

Thank you for the interview... it was a lot of fun talking with you.

Tell me about you, as an artist. How do you define art? What art do you make?

I come from the DIY ethic of punk: my post-punk band The March Violets set up its own record label in the 80s. When I moved to Manchester in the late 80s its industrious, can-do, will-do, stuff-you-if-you-say-I-can’t-do attitude was a good fit, right from the start.
I write. Not to provide answers. Rather, I’m exploring the questions that roll around in my head, and am wary of easy conclusions. I’m not interested in creating narrow worlds. I want to tell stories that create possibilities of non-conformity. It’s always been important, and never more so than now. Stories that break the mould and toss out the template. Stories that aren’t part of the relentless onslaught of blue for boy meets pink for girl. In the words of Emily Dickinson, ‘to tell the truth but tell it slant’. Stories where we celebrate ourselves – complete with all the marvellous, uncomfortable, colouring-outside-the-lines contradictions we encompass.

Continues…
Full text of the interview:
http://www.cultureword.org.uk/writer-of-the-month-rosie-garland/

The Night Brother – publication day 1st June 2017

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who packed out Waterstones, Deansgate, Manchester for the sold-out launch of ‘The Night Brother’!
It was a wonderful evening for my new novel, dedicated:

‘To Manchester
and all the wanderers
who have found a home in this Rainy City’

You can order it here…
https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-night-brother/rosie-garland/9780008166106

The first reviews have come in for ‘The Night Brother’ – and they’re both 5/5. Wow!

Thank you to Happy Meerkat and Little Bookness Lane for loving my words. It means so much.

“Once again I find myself lost in the reverie of Rosie Garland’s exquisite writing. Extraordinarily enchanting, The Night Brother’s emotional bounty caresses each page… Embracing the intimacies and complexities of the heart and soul, The Night Brother doesn’t feel like a story, but a delectable gift. All that remains is for me to offer a thunderous round of applause for what is simply an expressive, breath-taking wonder.”
Little Bookness Lane – read the full text here
https://littlebooknesslane.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/book-review-the-night-brother-by-rosie-garland/

“The Night Brother is a wonderful historical fiction novel with an amazing and intriguing twist… From the moment I read the first page I was hooked… A real exciting and also thought-provoking page-turner that I can really recommend.”
Happy Meerkat – read the full text here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1888724819

‘For Books’ Sake’ most hotly anticipated books of 2017

Wow – how fantastic. The lovely people at For Books’ Sake have named ‘The Night Brother’ as one of their most hotly anticipated books of 2017!

Listen to the full podcast here – I’m mentioned around the 7min 30seconds mark.

http://forbookssake.podbean.com/e/101-most-anticipated-books-of-2017/

“The For Books' Sake podcast returns! Hosted by Jane Bradley and Paul Forster with correspondent Rebecca Smith, this fortnight you can hear Jane and Paul discuss their most anticipated books of 2017, including...

Defender by G. X. Todd (January, Headline); Not Just Jane by Shelley DeWees (January, HarperCollins); A Beginner's Guide to Losing Your Mind by Emily Reynolds (February, Hodder Stoughton); Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls (March, Timbuktu Labs); Come Let Us Sing Anyway by Leone Ross (March, Peepal Tree Press); The Night Brother by Rosie Garland (June, Borough Press).

Until next time: get in touch via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or email to tell us which books you're most excited about in 2017!
Editing by Rebecca Smith // Music by She Makes War”

Bridgeman Studio Award 2016: And the winner is....
http://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-GB/blog/bridgeman/post/9211/preview
Standing in The News Building at London Bridge last Thursday the view of London was extraordinary, but for once it paled in comparison to the wealth of talent on display inside the room. The judging for the Bridgeman Studio Award 2016 was an incredible mix of styles, media and the highest levels of creativity.
From almost 1,000 entries from every corner of the globe our Bridgeman Studio team of Lucy Innes Williams and Charlotte Proctor Smith had their work cut out to create a shortlist. The eventual shortlist ended up at 80 entries from over 20 different countries... and the standard was exceptional.
Judging this was not a quick process....
Rosie Garland (Author), Claire Ward (Creative Director Fiction and Non Fiction - HarperCollins), Susie Doore (Publishing Director – The Borough Press), Patrick Burgoyne (Editor – Creative Review), Victoria Bridgeman (CEO Bridgeman images) and Lucy Baxter (Commercial Director – CultureLabel.com) spent nearly three hours selecting and discussing the different entries trying to find a winner.
At stake was an incredible prize of a £1,000 commission for best-selling author Rosie Garland's next title. Rosie was an absolute joy to be around and was so honoured by all the incredible entries. Every single artist who entered this year's competition should be very proud as they made the decision very challenging.
But there has to be a winner.
And what a winner she is! Aitch, An illustrator from Bucharest, Romania is the winner for the Bridgeman Studio Award 2016. Her style of work was captivating and jumped off the wall during judging with its playful, colourful illustrations which were full of depth and charm. Congratulations Aitch!
They came so close!
Three runners up that really came close to winning the BSA2016 this year were Robert Hunter, Isabel Grosse Holtworth and Mary Kuper who each will receive a £50 gift voucher from CultureLabel.com and a selection of books from HarperCollins.
Due to the overwhelming response to the 2016 Bridgeman Studio Award we will be making further announcements for some of the artists who were chosen by each of the sponsor brands and judges. Which brand would you have liked to been chosen by?
Author: Alan Firmin
Website: http://bridgemanimages.com
Digital Marketing Director for Bridgeman Images. Strategic, Creative and Digital professional with 30 international awards, over 20 years of experience with Grey, DraftFCB, Young and Rubicam, Landor and VML. Responsibilities included managing the worlds leading companies Brand, Advertising, Marketing and Digital ecosystems.

I am immensely honoured that the cover design commission for my next novel has been chosen for the Bridgeman Studio Award 2016!
The theme is 'Night'.

It's free to enter, with a closing date at the end of June. There's also a £1K commission prize for the winning artwork.
It's also worth pointing out that it's worldwide, too.

Click for info and entry to the BSA2016

There's even a link for US folk...

Click for info & entry to the BSA2016 if in the USA

‘Writing the North West’, Manchester Metropolitan University

Part of the Long Nineteenth Century Symposium
by Manchester Metropolitan University

Fri, June 4, 2021
2:00 PM – 7:00 PM BST

Delighted to present a paper ‘Manchester’s grime & grandeur in The Night Brother’.

About this event
In order to foster collaboration across the post-graduate community within the field of the long 19th century, this event seeks to explore some of the cross-thematic research priorities at the centre of doctoral studies. Each of these three panels offer opportunities to present and discuss cutting-edge approaches and findings to key topics of concern during a period of immense change that continues to inspire reflection. As such, the following themes will be addressed, consisting of short presentations, followed by round table discussions:
* New approaches to gender in the nineteenth century
* Reading the nineteenth-century North West.
* Decolonising methodologies in nineteenth-century studies.
In addition to these thematic panels, a Workshop on Navigating nineteenth-century Archives and Special Collections will also take place.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/long-nineteenth-century-symposium-tickets-152187648353