Finally, I can announce that I am inaugural Writer-in-Residence at The John Rylands Library in Manchester. It’s fantastic news.
How? I put together a proposal, & asked. The power of asking, indeed.
Read the article in the University of Manchester magazine, here:
“When I first moved to Manchester I was stunned to discover this incredible library with such a surprising history,” remembers Rosie Garland, singer with Leeds post-punk band The March Violets and writer-in-residence at The John Rylands Library.
“It’s always been one of my favourite places in Manchester and the idea that I’m now working in it and writing about it as the Library’s first writer-in- residence is a dream come true.”
Read full article here
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/magazine/features/novel-library-research/
i was honoured to be inaugural Writer-in-residence at The John Rylands Library, Manchester from 2018-2019.
Photos by Jill Jennings. Please contact for permissions.
http://www.jilljennings.com/
The John Rylands Library
150 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 3EH
6pm-8pm
Free event
Peterloo: Fake news. Fractured politics. A state against its people. Discover the story of the Peterloo Massacre in The John Rylands Library’s latest exhibition.
Come to the promenade and chaired debate event on Thursday 20th June and hear the conflicting views! Rosie Garland is proud to be enacting the character of Jemima Bamford.
https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/rylands/whats-on/peterloo/
Location: John Rylands Library Historic Reading Room,
Deansgate,
Manchester M3 3EH
6-7pm
Free event
Introduced and chaired by Dr Xavier Aldana Reyes (Manchester Met).
Tagged ‘literary hero’ by The Skinny, Rosie Garland is an award-winning poet, novelist and singer with post-punk band The March Violets. With a passion for language nurtured by libraries, 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, won Book of the Year in the Co-op Respect Awards 2013 and was nominated for both The Desmond Elliott and the Polari First Book Prizes. Her latest novel The Night Brother (Borough Press) was reviewed in The Times as "A rich and ambitious tale set in late Victorian Manchester... Garland's prose is a delight: playful and exuberant. There are shades of Angela Carter in the mad world she creates... Full marks.'
Her most recent poetry collection, As In Judy, is out with Flapjack Press. She is half of The Time-Travelling Suffragettes. #gothfest17
https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/artshumanities/rah/gothic-manchester-festival/detail/index.php?id=6561
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/