I've been invited to be guest lecturer at the Creative Writing Department of Staffordshire University. It's a great honour. It's also open to interested members of the public – the date is Thursday 30th January 2-4pm. For details see the Gig List page.
I shall be focussing on editing and rewriting, especially fiction.
‘Dark in the Day’ book launch
City Central Library
Bethesda St,
Stoke-on-Trent ST1 3RS
7pm
Please join Storm Constantine, Rosie Garland & Creative Writing students for a reading event to celebrate Dark in the Day (Immanion Press).
…In the blink of an eye, around the corner, The Weird is everywhere. It’s in the bird that turns out to be a fluttering newspaper, that white shoe left in a ploughed field, or the curdling smoke on the windscreen of a car, caused by the fast-moving reflection of clouds overhead. Normal is often weird and vice-versa. We’re used to weird dreams but what about the wide-awake weird? This collection celebrates evocative tales of oddness that span the genres of magic realism, the supernatural, the fantastical and the speculative.
Dark in the Day is an anthology of weird fiction, penned by established writers and also those new to the genre – the latter being authors who are, or were, students of Creative Writing at Staffordshire University, where editor Storm Constantine occasionally delivers guest lectures. Her co-editor, Paul Houghton, is the senior lecturer in Creative Writing at the university.
Contact Theatre
Oxford Road, M15 6JA Manchester
6pm-8pm
I love visiting Creative Writing groups, and this is no different! Looking forward to meeting the University of Manchester Creative Writing Students.
"Enjoy writing? Or simply want to give it a try? Maybe even you enjoy being around writers?
Then join us!
As a society we bring together writers to share their work, learn from others and simply have fun.
We run fun workshops at least once a month, such as feedback sessions, writing together and experimenting with different styles. We also try to vary our socials between a relaxed night a the pub and alcohol friendly and daytime socials too. This year we hope to extend our society and hold spoken word events, run a member-led blog and some inter-society projects, such as with the History society and the Drama society. Please contact us with ideas too as we're always open to trying new things out.
Our facebook group is https://www.facebook.com/groups/454110951444006/
See you soon!
https://uomwriters.wordpress.com/
Axis Arts Centre
Cheshire Campus,
Manchester Metropolitan University,
Crewe Green Rd
Crewe, Cheshire
CW1 5DU
Featured guest – Rosie Garland
CreativeWritingPlus features an eclectic mix of practitioners from the world of literature, specifically those working in fiction, memoir, scripts, poetry and media writing. The format is simple: from 1-1.50pm, in the informality of the Writing Room on the MMU Cheshire Campus, the guest writers read from and talk about their work and, in the final ten minutes, invite questions from the audience. Entry is free.
Contact: Box Office 0161 247 5302
Box Office0161 247 5302
Click to go to Axis Arts Centre site
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
A wonderful way to end a difficult year – ‘What Girls Do in the Dark’ selected by Pippa Hennessy as a Poetry Society Best Book of the Year!
https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poetry-news-best-books-of-the-year/
“Finally, Rosie Garland’s What Girls Do in the Dark (Nine Arches) – Garland is a true gothic polymath. This is reflected in her poetry, which roams through astrophysics, war zones, quantum theory, human biology, history, relationships and non-relationships, and more. The poems in What Girls Do in the Dark take this variety to extremes, yet somehow manage to bring concrete details and abstract ideas from all these areas together into a coherent, explosive, dazzling, gorgeous whole.”
– Pippa Hennessy is a bookseller at Five Leaves Bookshop, Nottingham.
Thank you Henry Normal for selecting What Girls Do in the Dark for Northern Soul’s Best Reads of 2021!
Books: Northern Soul’s Best Reads of 2021
Henry Normal, poet and writer
What Girls do in the Dark (Nine Arches Press) by Rosie Garland is my favourite poetry book of the year. Garland was a singer in the 1980s post-punk/goth band The March Violets. More recently, she’s established herself as a poet and novelist with several titles. I had the honour to read with her in Birmingham a while back, so when her new collection was released I was already interested. From the first poem I was captivated. She has a way of keeping one foot tentatively in the world we know with the other searching for a foothold in an unseen or imaginary world. I was inspired and transported by these poems in a way I’ve not experienced since first getting excited by the possibilities of poetry in my teens. I suspect it would not be good form to choose one of my poetry books for this feature but even if it was, I would choose Garland’s What Girls do in the Dark.
https://www.northernsoul.me.uk/books-northern-souls-best-reads-of-2021/
Thank you Vive le Rock magazine, for the great feature on The March Violets!
https://vivelerock.net/product/vive-le-rock-84-motorhead-girlschool-preorder/
Well, look at what happened on Record Store Day UK on July 17th 2021!
The March Violets ‘Big Soul Kiss’ - all the 1980s BBC Sessions in one place.
And PURPLE vinyl too #RSD21 #rsddrops
UPDATE – the entire pressing sold out in 24 hours. Jungle Records are releasing a CD version in 2022… plus more releases planned. Watch this space!
https://www.facebook.com/JungleRecords/